Tour de Francia 2003 - 08 - Sunday, July 13: Sallanches - L'Alpe d'Huez, 219 km
Cote du Megeve (9.9 kilometres at 5.1 percent)
Côte des Rafforts (2.7 kilometres at 8.5 percent)
Col du Telegraphe (12.1 kilometres at 6.8 percent)
Col du Galibier (18.5 kilometres at 6.7 percent)
Alpe d'Huez (14.1 kilometres at 8 percent)
Results
1 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.57.30 (36.75 km/h)
2 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 1.45
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 2.12
4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com
5 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
6 Joseba Beloki (Spa) ONCE-Eroski
7 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC
8 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo
9 Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
10 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) Alessio 3.36
11 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole
12 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor
13 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi
14 Denis Menchov (Rus) iBanesto.com 4.15
15 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-So.Di 4.46
16 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner
17 Jorg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski
18 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor
19 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 4.59
20 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 5.26
21 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2R Prevoyance 6.04
22 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone 6.09
23 Peter Lüttenberger (Aut) Team CSC 6.52
24 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) iBanesto.com
25 Ivan Parra (Col) Kelme-Costa Blanca
26 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis, Credit Par Telephone
27 Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) Team Telekom 7.46
28 José Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor
29 Didier Rous (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 7.51
30 David Plaza (Spa) Team Bianchi
General classification after stage 8
1 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal-Berry Floor 35.12.50
2 Joseba Beloki (Spa) ONCE-Eroski 0.40
3 Iban Mayo (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.10
4 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom 1.17
5 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) iBanesto.com 1.37
6 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC 1.52
7 Roberto Heras (Spa) US Postal-Berry Floor 1.58
8 Jan Ullrich(Ger) Team Bianchi 2.10
9 Ivan Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2.25
10 Jorg Jaksche (Ger) ONCE-Eroski 3.19
A dream can become reality, as Euskatel-Euskadi's Iban Mayo found out today when the talented 25 year old Basque climber from Igorre rode to a prestigious solo stage win on L'Alpe d'Huez. "To win here was a dream that became reality today. I was able to profit from attacking at just the right moment."
Mayo, who was 40th on GC, 6'11" behind Maillot Jaune Richard Virenque at the stage start in Sallanches this morning, leapt to third on GC, 1'10" behind new Maillot Jaune, four-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Mayo's time up l'Alpe was 39'06", short of Marco Pantani's record of 37'35" set in 1997 or Armstrong's 38'01"of 2001.
Armstrong already knows very well how the dream of winning the Tour de France can become a reality. Today the reality of winning his fifth consecutive Tour is one step closer as Armstrong donned the Maillot Jaune once again at l'Alpe d'Huez. "I didn't have the greatest sensations or the greatest legs today", the four-time Tour de France winner was third on the stage and took over the lead at the 2003 Tour de France.
"It was a hard day [today] with a lot of attacks, with a long, tough day yesterday. So two days in a row like this [were hard]." After controlling the race for the second half of stage eight, Armstrong's US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor squad hit the base of l'Alpe like a runaway blue train. Armstrong said, "There's no doubt that Triki [Beltran] went too hard at the base of the climb, but he's new to the team and I guess the system isn't clear enough yet. A fast tempo is a good thing but that tempo was supersonic and that's not a good thing. Immediately, the tempo put Chechu Rubiera in trouble. We'll talk about that tonight and it won't happen again. I can confirm if it looked fast, it was very fast!"
More: autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2...