Main Page
- Start List
- Tour News
- Village Voices
- Int. TV Schedule

87th Tour de France - Grand Tour

France, July 1 - 23, 2000

Tour News for July 24

2000 Tour De France - some views

By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Lance, Luke and Kristin
Photo: © AFP

"It's bigger than last year, more emotional," declared Lance Armstrong, as for the second consecutive year, the Star Spangled Banner played and the Stars and Stripes waved on the Champs Elysees, as Armstrong (USPS) won the 2000 Tour De France. And a special yellow Nike T-Shirt made for Maillot Jaune Armstrong's victory in the 2000 Tour said it all today...."this is my moon"; an allusion to Astronaut Armstrong's moonwalk.

Armstrong's competitors were impressed. "For the second year, Armstrong has shown that he was the strongest in the mountains, and strongest in the time trial. He's the real boss of the Tour; a real champion," said Festina's Christophe Moreau, 4th in the 2000 Tour.

Lance was certainly no spaceman in this year's Tour, but the American was clearly over the moon with happiness as he played with his son Luke on the podium in Paris. "It's a good moment," said Armstrong. "This little guy (his son Luke) gave me a lot of motivation over the last year; it's been a hard Tour De France." Lance's wife Kristin echoed Lance's joy in her excellent French. "C'est incroyable!" (It's incredible!)

Armstrong's victory this year was on a more difficult course, with unseasonable weather and above all, a more competitive field than in '99. Despite the fact that his top rivals Ullrich and Pantani were not as prepared as they might have been, Armstrong himself was so well prepared it didn't make much of a difference. His USPS squad was criticized in some quarters as lacking strength from last year. Perhaps Tyler Hamilton wasn't as sharp in the mountains as last year, but after his Dauphine win Hamilton proved that he is a force to be reckoned with in his own right. USPS finally finished 8th on team GC, but in the end, it was Mission Possible for the American squad to support Armstrong on the way to his win.

After a wide open race to the foot of the Pyrenees, Armstrong demonstrated on the cool, stormy mountain Stage 10 to Hautacam that he was the man to beat in this year's Tour. On a stage that was similar to his win in Sestriere last year, Lance finished 2nd on the stage, took over the race lead and never looked back as his rivals Ullrich, Pantani, Zulle, Virenque, Escartin and the others were knocked for a loop by the Texan.

On Le Mont Ventoux, Lance and Pantani demonstrated that they were the best climbers on a windy, cold day where Pantani won and later, some strained feelings emerged between the American and the Italian. Although Armstrong didn't win a mountain stage and bonked on Stage 16 to Morzine, Lance was always there when it counted on the mountain stages in this year's Tour. In the "race of truth" as Armstrong called the final time trial of Stage 19 in front of record setting crowds, the American had another tough challenge: beat reigning World Time Trial champ Jan Ullrich (Telekom) on his home turf in Germany. Not only did Armstrong beat Ullrich by a close 25", he set an average speed record in the test. So after Le Tour 2000 win, what's next for Armstrong?

In the short term, an Olympic Gold Medal in the Time Trial is on the American's radar, where Ullrich will certainly be his chief rival. Although it's too early to predict much of the 2001 Tour De France, it's safe to say that Armstrong will face two riders more motivated than ever: Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani. Both Ullrich and Pantani lacked the complete and focused preparation that Lance had this year, so both riders will likely be seeking to prepare better and give Armstrong a real run for his money in his quest for the hat trick of three consecutive Tours De France.

But Ullrich and Pantani will have their hands full trying to beat Armstrong going forward. Despite Lance's lack of interest in the role, he has now become the "patron" of Le Tour with his second consecutive win. The American has now learned how to win Le Tour. His tremendous confidence and drive, coupled with his winning experience and unmatched preparation with his coach Chris Carmichael will give Lance Armstrong a real advantage of the competition in the years to come.

Armstrong's 51st

Winning the time trial on Friday was victory number 50 for Lance Armstrong, since he became professional in August 1992, and his overall GC win counted as number 51. Since he came back from cancer, he has won 19 races.

Palmares

1992: [Motorola]: 2 victories (incl. stage in Tour of Galicia)

1993: 10 (incl. Trofeo Laigueglia, US road champion, stage in
Tour de France, stage in Tour Du Pont, world road champion in Oslo)

1994: 3 (incl. stage in Tour Du Pont)

1995: 9 (incl. stage in Paris-Nice, 3 stages and overall classification Tour Du
Pont, stage in Tour de France, Clasica San Sebastian).

1996: 8 (incl. Waalse Pijl, 5 stages and overall classification Tour Du Pont).

1998 [US Postal]: 5 (incl. stage and overall classification Tour of Luxembourg)

1999: 11 (incl. stage in Dauphine Libere, stage in Route du Sud, 4 stages and
overall classification Tour de France)

2000: 2 (stage in Dauphine Libere and stage and overall classification in Tour de France)

Zabel - the winningest rider of 2000

Telekom's Erik Zabel has won the most races of any professional rider this year. Saturday's win was his 17th, out of a total of 114 victories. In addition on Saturday, he equaled Rudi Altig's most number of German stage wins in the Tour - 8 in total.

Palmares

1993 [Telekom]: 5 victories (incl. stage in Tirreno-Adriatico)

1994: 9 (incl. 3 stages in Tour of Aragon, 4 stages in Tour l'Avenir and Paris-Tours)

1995: 9 (incl. stage in Tirreno-Adriatico, stage in Tour of Aragon, 2 stages
in Tour du Suisse, 2 stages in Tour de France)

1996: 12 (incl. 3 stages in the Setmana Catalana, stage in Tour of
Luxembourg, 2 stages and green jersey in Tour de France)

1997: 27 (incl. stage and overall winner Tour of Andalusia, stage in Tour of
Valencia, Milan-San Remo, stage in Tour of Luxembourg, Grote Scheldeprijs,
stage in Tour du Suisse, 3 stages and green jersey in Tour de France)

1998: 19 (incl. stage in Tour of Valencia, 3 stages in Tirreno-Adriatico,
Milan-San Remo, 2 stages in the Tour of Aragon, stage in Tour of
Luxembourg, stage in Route du Sud, German road champion, green jersey in Tour de France)

1999: 16 (incl. stage in Tour of Valencia, stage in Tour
of Aragon, Rund um den Henninger Turm, stage in Tour of Germany, 2 stages in
Volta a Catalunya, green jersey in Tour de France)

2000: 17 (incl. stage wins in Tour de France, Tour of Andalusia, Tour of Valencia, Tirreno-Adriatico, 2 stages in Setmana Catalana, 2 stages in Volta a Catalunya, 3 stages in Tour of Germany, Milan-San Remo, and Amstel Gold Race)

Boogerd in hospital

Michael Boogerd, who crashed out of the Tour on the penultimate stage stayed in a hospital in Troyes under observation on Saturday night. According to some of his teammates, the fall in the peloton happened when a guest car passed by. Bart Voskamp (Polti): "I saw Bernard Hinault and Miss France in that car. Maybe some riders were looking too much at her. And there was a crash just when the car passed."

Tour official Jean-Francois: "The car was right, the riders left. And Michael Boogerd wasn't so fit at the start".

After the fall, Boogerd first was brought by soigneur Ton van Engelen and team doctor Leinders to the Rabobank hotel in Troyes. Leinders related "But there, Michael was dizzy. He didn't know where he had fallen. And he had problems with the same shoulder which he fell on earlier this season. That was the reason he's now in hospital."

back to top