Well the VeloNews commentator called it:
4:25 p.m. News from the road, shows that Armstrong is gaining time on Ullrich's time. The big question is how these men will handle the closing 7km... The danger is traffic roundabouts, with that slippery paint - the same kind that caused Christian Vande Velde to crash in the TTT in 2001
Ullrich went down after sliding in one of the traffic circles, and opted to ride to protect his podium position thereafter. Armstrong finishes 3rd, with Ullrich another 11 seconds down.
The real story of the day though is Tyler Freakin' Hamilton, as Frank Steele would say. He pounds his way to second place, and puts enough time into his rivals to vault to 4th. place in the overall General Classification! I can't help wonder if we'd have had a 3 way duel for the yellow jersey today if he'd been healthy for the whole tour, and not nursing a broken collarbone since day one. A gritty performance. It'll be interesting where he goes from here. Another American star on the rise to help maintain interst in cycling over here "across the pond"?
I sure hope so.
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