Thursday, July 08, 2004

team postal delivers.....

ok, so yesterday's team time trial was a spectacular event.....in the rain...through twisted roadways, cobbled streets..........quite dramatic........us postal delivered a remarkable performance.......riding in such an orchestrated aerodynamic formation that one would suspect that they trained in a wind tunnel......it was a sight to see.......team phonak, with tyler hamilton, also had an impressive ride.....finishing with only 5 men...the minimum required to record a team time......their team was behind the clock at each of the checkpoints but managed to rally and pull off a top 5 team ride anyway......quite gutsy for a team to do this, as the more men ride in formation, the less time any of them has to ride up front.......the front guy takes the brunt of the wind....the guys in back get to rest depsite the fact that they are turning rpm's......9 guys are on a team...postal had already lost one guy...and finished with 7...the straggler came in 4 minutes behind....the team time trial win gives us postal a time boost....... from s.i.com..........Armstrong and five teammates are among the top seven riders in the overall standings -- a clear sign of strength. George Hincapie is No. 2, 10 seconds behind. He is followed by No. 3 Floyd Landis, No. 4. Jose Azevedo, No. 5. Jose Luis Rubiera and No. 7 Viatceslav Ekimov..........of the 'posties', hincappie and ekimov are the pace setters...the guys who take turns riding out front in groups of mixed team riders......the other team members then ride around lance to protect him from mayhem.....several of the postal service guys are mountain specialists....and they will pace lance on mountain stages.....so much strategy goes into a win for lance.......but as yesterday proves.....when strategy and training come together, it is a beaultiful sight to see.........

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