Eurosport, all sports, live, results, standing, football, formula 1, tennis, cycling, golf, motorsport, athletics, rugby, basket, Olympics, Athenes 2004: "Listen up! Everyday, follow the Tour de France in LIVE AUDIO with Mike Smith and the rest of Eurosport's commentator team "
I listen to this radio
and watch the pictures from Norwegian or Danish TV2 or Eurosport
Eurosport - all sports, live, results, standing, football, formula 1, tennis, cycling, golf, motorsport, athletics, rugby, basket, Olympics, Athenes 2004: "The peloton welcomes a flat 14th stage with open arms on Sunday after enduring two gruelling days in the Pyrenees at the Tour de France. Sprinters who are still left in one piece head for the valleys for a 192.5 kilometres ride from Carcassonne to Nimes while young Thomas Voeckler relishes another day in yellow."
and the commentary as text
15:41 REMINDER: THE BREAK 10 ARE -- Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak), Santiago Botero (T-Mobile), Inigo Landaluze and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Liberty Seguros), Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo), Pierrick Fedrigo (Crédit Agricole), Marc Lotz (Rabobank), Christophe Mengin (FDJeux.com) and Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner).
15:40
7 MIN 11 SEC... THAT'S THE NEW -- AND STILL GROWING -- LEAD FOR THE BREAKAWAY 10...
15:37 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
15:32 IF THE PACK IS GOING TO CHASE, IT BETTER DO IT NOW... There are a lot of sprinters (McEwen, Zabel, Hondo, Hushovd) itching for a mass-pack thunder finish... But with this big group of 10 chugging strong -- now 5 min 47 sec clear -- this stage may already be decided...
70 km Charging in a double pace-line formation, the breakaway 10 are now 5 min 16 sec free, navigating these wide-open and sun drenched southern-France roads.
15:23 Today's destination town is the ancient Roman enclave of Nîmes, which has hosted a Tour de France finish line 14 times in the race's history -- although nine of those happened before World War Two. The last time the Tour raced to Nîmes? 1986, a stage won in a sprint finish by Belgian Frank Hoste.
15:20 The red jerseys of Brioches La Boulangere are congregating at the front of the pack, controlling the pace for their yellow-jersey wearing lieutenant Thomas Voeckler. The pack is vigilant but far from chasing... As there are no overall threats in the break 10. The race is content -- for now -- to let them go...
15:15 The pack -- it seems -- has cut its chase, allowing the breakaway ten to fly 2 min 28 sec free...
85 km AND THE BREAK 10 ARE: Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak), Santiago Botero (T-Mobile), Inigo Landaluze and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Liberty Seguros), Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo), Pierrick Fedrigo (Crédit Agricole), Marc Lotz (Rabobank), Christophe Mengin (FDJeux.com) and Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner).
87 km FINALLY... A group of 10 riders may finally have broken the will of the peloton. 55 sec if the current advance for the 10... Their ID's coming right up...
15:04 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
14:59 And the attacks continue... One after the other... But the peloton is thus far having none of it. The pack, however, is burning serious gas and at this pace one of these moves should eventually get free...
95 km THE GROUP OF 12 HAS BEEN GOBBLED BACK, unable to ever get more than 25 seconds...
97 km US Postal begins to show itself at the front ranks of the pack, lending a chasing hand to Quick Step...
102 km Another hour of racing down and the pace -- despite this brutal head-cross wind -- is mind-boggling... 46.5 kmh is the average for the last 60 minutes...
14:45 As the pace continues to scorch, a fierce head-cross wind is beginning to shatter the pack. Echelons are forming as this race struggles to get back together...
108 km CRASH! Jean-Patrick Nazon (Ag2R) takes a solo digger, fortunately falling in a soft patch of grass on the roadside. He's back up and unhurt...
108 km 12 RIDERS 20 SEC OFF THE FRONT: Rolf Aldag (T-Mobile Team), Matteo Tosatto (Fassa Bortolo), Julian Dean (Crédit Agricole), Nicki Sorensen (CSC), José V. Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears), Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), Jan Hruska (Liberty Seguros), Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Carlos Dacruz (Fdjeux.com), Salvatore Commesso (Saeco), Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo), Guillaume Auger (RAGT).
14:37 The race for the green jersey of the Tour's best sprinter is far from decided. THE CURRENT TOP THREE: 1. Robbie McEwen (210 pts) 2. Erik Zabel (201 pts) 3. Thor Hushovd (195 pts).
110 km The pancake-flat profile of today's 192.5 km stage is tailor-made for a mass sprint -- and it's a day the pack's speed demons can't miss, as this is the last possible-sprint stage before the race's final-day arrival on the Champs-Elysees on July 25...
14:31 The pace thus far has been demonic, despite a stiff headwind gusting down these flat and open highway-wide roads...
14:28 Carlos Da Cruz (FDJ.com) takes a flyer... Off the front by some 70 metres... 60 metres... 50... 30 and he's... cooked...
14:27 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
14:25 With a rest day tomorrow, the race has decided to go absolutely ballistic today... Stretched single-file in one thundering string, the peloton could be shattered soon, as this pace is pushing everyone into oxygen debt...
14:22 Weaving through the old-city of Beziers, France, throngs of fans are lining the sidewalks five deep. The attacks continue to bubble off the front, AND GUESS WHAT??? There goes the yellow jersey of Thomas Voeckler (Brioches) jumping away and into a break. The pack, however, is hyper vigilant and is letting no one go free...
127 km Super stretched, the pack is flying after the five-man break. Quick Step has congregated at the front -- working for designated sprinter Tom Boonen -- AND THAT'S IT! THE BREAK IS COOKED, gobbled back by the pack.
14:12 FIVE AND FLYING... Dutch national champ and four-time Tour stage winner Erik Dekker (Rabobank) bridges up to the lead four. FIVE RIDERS JUST 10 SEC FREE...
138 km
The breakaway four are barring down on the first (of two) bonus sprints on today's 192.5-km menu... TOP THREE AT THE LINE: 1. Gonzalez (6 pts) 2. Robin (4 pts) 3. Flecha (2 pts). The pack -- hunting hard -- is just 20 sec adrift...
141 km THE PACK IS HUNTING HARD after today's lead four -- Santos Gonzalez (Phonak), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJ.com) and Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis) -- bringing the break back to 29 sec...
13:55 Miss yesterday's Stage 13 or just want to re-live the magic made by Lance Armstrong? Click the link for our race report.
Tour 2004: Stage 13 Race Round-up
13:54 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
13:53 Santos Gonzalez (Phonak), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJ.com) and Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis) working well... Each taking powerful pulls at the front, the quartet have edged 55 sec up the road...
13:51 After one hour of racing, the average speed of today's 192.5-km flat stage from Carcassonne to Nimes is hovering at 44.6 kmh...
13:49 Santos Gonzalez (Phonak), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJ.com) and Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis) are the latest to break... The quartet are hauling hard, currently 25 seconds free...
13:42 CHAOS as everybody -- it seems -- wants to take a shot at flying off the front... The peloton, however, is thus far keeping a vigilant watch on anything that moves...
13:31 Six hours on the bike and nary a loo in sight. When a Tour de France rider's gotta go, just how exactly does he go? Click the link for the very candid truth...
Bike Shorts: Taking care of business
13:26 THE 20 OR SO RIDERS BUSTED OFF THE FRONT JUST MINUTES AGO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BACK... but the pace is scorching just 26 km into this flat and fast 192.5-km effort from Carcassonne to Nimes...
13:24 "Ivan Basso (CSC) is the rider of the future." -- CSC team director and former Tour de France winner (1996) Bjarne Riis. For more race reactions after yesterday's Stage 13, click the link...
Tour 2004: Stage 13 Race Reactions
13:20 "If it was just pain," I could have continued, Tyler Hamilton -- who finished fourth at the Tour last year with a broken collarbone -- said after abandoning the Tour de France on Saturday's Stage 13. "Because pain... I can take it. But with this lower back injury, I can't push in the mountains. I have no force... Nothing."
175 km 18 km into this flat transition stage between Carcassonne and Nimes in southern France, a bust-up move of 20 riders is trying to fly free from the pack... They've got 50 metres and counting...
13:14 "Tyler, for as long as I've known you, I've never seen you like this. For once, don't think about the team. Think about your health." Fellow Phonak rider Nicolas Jalabert to Tyler Hamilton during yesterday's Stage 13, just before the American abandoned the race.
13:05 Tyler Hamilton packed his bags and returned home to his in-season training base in Girona, Spain last night after abandoning the Tour de France on the race's 13th stage. Wracked with back pain since a crash on Stage 6 last week, the American couldn't find the force to continue: "I didn't come here to finish off the back. I came here to win. To finish on the podium..."
12:58 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
12:56 RESPITE? WHAT RESPITE? Despite a grueling two days in the high Pyrenees, the pack is again raring to go, as attack after attack bubbles off the front in the first minutes of racing. Jimmy Casper (Cofidis) takes a flyer followed by a handful of others -- notably Irishman Marc Scanlon (Ag2R) -- but the pack is having none of it. The break has been gobbled back. ONE BIG BUNCH JUST 5 KM INTO THIS 192.5 KM STAGE...
12:50 WEATHER WATCH: Hot and humid -- that's the weather word of the day, with temperatures cresting near 30 degrees Celsius. Skies are partly cloudy (but with no risk of rain) and the air heavy and humid.
12:45 NUMBER OF THE DAY: 0... The number of stages won by the disappointing -- and disappointed -- Spanish contingent on the 2004 Tour de France. Arriving with grand ambitions (Mayo, Zubeldia, Heras...), the Spaniards have suffered through a very black Tour de France...
12:32 The pack is rolling off for its daily ceremonial start, shaking out the cob webs and just dinking until 12:50 CET when Jean-Marie Leblanc, the race's director, will pop from the sunroof of his pace car, waving the official-start flag for this dead-flat 195.2-km stage...
12:30
Welcome to Stage 14 of the 2004 Tour de France, a thankfully flat 192.5 km from Carcassonne to Nimes. After two super-vertical days in the Pyrenees, today is a transition stage, really just a transfer of venues, as the Tour moves ever closer to the Alps, which debut on Tuesday after Monday's second (and final) rest day.
I listen to this radio
and watch the pictures from Norwegian or Danish TV2 or Eurosport
Eurosport - all sports, live, results, standing, football, formula 1, tennis, cycling, golf, motorsport, athletics, rugby, basket, Olympics, Athenes 2004: "The peloton welcomes a flat 14th stage with open arms on Sunday after enduring two gruelling days in the Pyrenees at the Tour de France. Sprinters who are still left in one piece head for the valleys for a 192.5 kilometres ride from Carcassonne to Nimes while young Thomas Voeckler relishes another day in yellow."
and the commentary as text
 | Refresh |  |  | Last twenty comments |  |
15:41 REMINDER: THE BREAK 10 ARE -- Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak), Santiago Botero (T-Mobile), Inigo Landaluze and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Liberty Seguros), Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo), Pierrick Fedrigo (Crédit Agricole), Marc Lotz (Rabobank), Christophe Mengin (FDJeux.com) and Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner).
15:40
7 MIN 11 SEC... THAT'S THE NEW -- AND STILL GROWING -- LEAD FOR THE BREAKAWAY 10...
15:37 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
15:32 IF THE PACK IS GOING TO CHASE, IT BETTER DO IT NOW... There are a lot of sprinters (McEwen, Zabel, Hondo, Hushovd) itching for a mass-pack thunder finish... But with this big group of 10 chugging strong -- now 5 min 47 sec clear -- this stage may already be decided...
70 km Charging in a double pace-line formation, the breakaway 10 are now 5 min 16 sec free, navigating these wide-open and sun drenched southern-France roads.
15:23 Today's destination town is the ancient Roman enclave of Nîmes, which has hosted a Tour de France finish line 14 times in the race's history -- although nine of those happened before World War Two. The last time the Tour raced to Nîmes? 1986, a stage won in a sprint finish by Belgian Frank Hoste.
15:20 The red jerseys of Brioches La Boulangere are congregating at the front of the pack, controlling the pace for their yellow-jersey wearing lieutenant Thomas Voeckler. The pack is vigilant but far from chasing... As there are no overall threats in the break 10. The race is content -- for now -- to let them go...
15:15 The pack -- it seems -- has cut its chase, allowing the breakaway ten to fly 2 min 28 sec free...
85 km AND THE BREAK 10 ARE: Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak), Santiago Botero (T-Mobile), Inigo Landaluze and Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Liberty Seguros), Aitor Gonzalez (Fassa Bortolo), Pierrick Fedrigo (Crédit Agricole), Marc Lotz (Rabobank), Christophe Mengin (FDJeux.com) and Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner).
87 km FINALLY... A group of 10 riders may finally have broken the will of the peloton. 55 sec if the current advance for the 10... Their ID's coming right up...
15:04 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
14:59 And the attacks continue... One after the other... But the peloton is thus far having none of it. The pack, however, is burning serious gas and at this pace one of these moves should eventually get free...
95 km THE GROUP OF 12 HAS BEEN GOBBLED BACK, unable to ever get more than 25 seconds...
97 km US Postal begins to show itself at the front ranks of the pack, lending a chasing hand to Quick Step...
102 km Another hour of racing down and the pace -- despite this brutal head-cross wind -- is mind-boggling... 46.5 kmh is the average for the last 60 minutes...
14:45 As the pace continues to scorch, a fierce head-cross wind is beginning to shatter the pack. Echelons are forming as this race struggles to get back together...
108 km CRASH! Jean-Patrick Nazon (Ag2R) takes a solo digger, fortunately falling in a soft patch of grass on the roadside. He's back up and unhurt...
108 km 12 RIDERS 20 SEC OFF THE FRONT: Rolf Aldag (T-Mobile Team), Matteo Tosatto (Fassa Bortolo), Julian Dean (Crédit Agricole), Nicki Sorensen (CSC), José V. Garcia Acosta (Illes Balears), Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), Jan Hruska (Liberty Seguros), Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Carlos Dacruz (Fdjeux.com), Salvatore Commesso (Saeco), Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo), Guillaume Auger (RAGT).
14:37 The race for the green jersey of the Tour's best sprinter is far from decided. THE CURRENT TOP THREE: 1. Robbie McEwen (210 pts) 2. Erik Zabel (201 pts) 3. Thor Hushovd (195 pts).
110 km The pancake-flat profile of today's 192.5 km stage is tailor-made for a mass sprint -- and it's a day the pack's speed demons can't miss, as this is the last possible-sprint stage before the race's final-day arrival on the Champs-Elysees on July 25...
14:31 The pace thus far has been demonic, despite a stiff headwind gusting down these flat and open highway-wide roads...
14:28 Carlos Da Cruz (FDJ.com) takes a flyer... Off the front by some 70 metres... 60 metres... 50... 30 and he's... cooked...
14:27 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
14:25 With a rest day tomorrow, the race has decided to go absolutely ballistic today... Stretched single-file in one thundering string, the peloton could be shattered soon, as this pace is pushing everyone into oxygen debt...
14:22 Weaving through the old-city of Beziers, France, throngs of fans are lining the sidewalks five deep. The attacks continue to bubble off the front, AND GUESS WHAT??? There goes the yellow jersey of Thomas Voeckler (Brioches) jumping away and into a break. The pack, however, is hyper vigilant and is letting no one go free...
127 km Super stretched, the pack is flying after the five-man break. Quick Step has congregated at the front -- working for designated sprinter Tom Boonen -- AND THAT'S IT! THE BREAK IS COOKED, gobbled back by the pack.
14:12 FIVE AND FLYING... Dutch national champ and four-time Tour stage winner Erik Dekker (Rabobank) bridges up to the lead four. FIVE RIDERS JUST 10 SEC FREE...
138 km
The breakaway four are barring down on the first (of two) bonus sprints on today's 192.5-km menu... TOP THREE AT THE LINE: 1. Gonzalez (6 pts) 2. Robin (4 pts) 3. Flecha (2 pts). The pack -- hunting hard -- is just 20 sec adrift...
141 km
THE PACK IS HUNTING HARD after today's lead four -- Santos Gonzalez (Phonak), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJ.com) and Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis) -- bringing the break back to 29 sec...
13:55 Miss yesterday's Stage 13 or just want to re-live the magic made by Lance Armstrong? Click the link for our race report.
Tour 2004: Stage 13 Race Round-up
13:54 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
13:53
Santos Gonzalez (Phonak), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJ.com) and Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis) working well... Each taking powerful pulls at the front, the quartet have edged 55 sec up the road...
13:51 After one hour of racing, the average speed of today's 192.5-km flat stage from Carcassonne to Nimes is hovering at 44.6 kmh...
13:49
Santos Gonzalez (Phonak), Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo), Jean-Cyril Robin (FDJ.com) and Christophe Edaleine (Cofidis) are the latest to break... The quartet are hauling hard, currently 25 seconds free...
13:42 CHAOS as everybody -- it seems -- wants to take a shot at flying off the front... The peloton, however, is thus far keeping a vigilant watch on anything that moves...
13:31 Six hours on the bike and nary a loo in sight. When a Tour de France rider's gotta go, just how exactly does he go? Click the link for the very candid truth...
Bike Shorts: Taking care of business
13:26 THE 20 OR SO RIDERS BUSTED OFF THE FRONT JUST MINUTES AGO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT BACK... but the pace is scorching just 26 km into this flat and fast 192.5-km effort from Carcassonne to Nimes...
13:24 "Ivan Basso (CSC) is the rider of the future." -- CSC team director and former Tour de France winner (1996) Bjarne Riis. For more race reactions after yesterday's Stage 13, click the link...
Tour 2004: Stage 13 Race Reactions
13:20 "If it was just pain," I could have continued, Tyler Hamilton -- who finished fourth at the Tour last year with a broken collarbone -- said after abandoning the Tour de France on Saturday's Stage 13. "Because pain... I can take it. But with this lower back injury, I can't push in the mountains. I have no force... Nothing."
175 km 18 km into this flat transition stage between Carcassonne and Nimes in southern France, a bust-up move of 20 riders is trying to fly free from the pack... They've got 50 metres and counting...
13:14 "Tyler, for as long as I've known you, I've never seen you like this. For once, don't think about the team. Think about your health." Fellow Phonak rider Nicolas Jalabert to Tyler Hamilton during yesterday's Stage 13, just before the American abandoned the race.
13:05 Tyler Hamilton packed his bags and returned home to his in-season training base in Girona, Spain last night after abandoning the Tour de France on the race's 13th stage. Wracked with back pain since a crash on Stage 6 last week, the American couldn't find the force to continue: "I didn't come here to finish off the back. I came here to win. To finish on the podium..."
12:58 QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? Hit us up at: ataber@eurosport.co.uk -- We'll answer what we can in-house, but we'll also relay your most percolating queries on to our commentator team: Mike Smith, David Harmon and Sean Kelly. Start sending and listen for your name and question LIVE on-air!
12:56 RESPITE? WHAT RESPITE? Despite a grueling two days in the high Pyrenees, the pack is again raring to go, as attack after attack bubbles off the front in the first minutes of racing. Jimmy Casper (Cofidis) takes a flyer followed by a handful of others -- notably Irishman Marc Scanlon (Ag2R) -- but the pack is having none of it. The break has been gobbled back. ONE BIG BUNCH JUST 5 KM INTO THIS 192.5 KM STAGE...
12:50 WEATHER WATCH: Hot and humid -- that's the weather word of the day, with temperatures cresting near 30 degrees Celsius. Skies are partly cloudy (but with no risk of rain) and the air heavy and humid.
12:45 NUMBER OF THE DAY: 0... The number of stages won by the disappointing -- and disappointed -- Spanish contingent on the 2004 Tour de France. Arriving with grand ambitions (Mayo, Zubeldia, Heras...), the Spaniards have suffered through a very black Tour de France...
12:32 The pack is rolling off for its daily ceremonial start, shaking out the cob webs and just dinking until 12:50 CET when Jean-Marie Leblanc, the race's director, will pop from the sunroof of his pace car, waving the official-start flag for this dead-flat 195.2-km stage...
12:30
Welcome to Stage 14 of the 2004 Tour de France, a thankfully flat 192.5 km from Carcassonne to Nimes. After two super-vertical days in the Pyrenees, today is a transition stage, really just a transfer of venues, as the Tour moves ever closer to the Alps, which debut on Tuesday after Monday's second (and final) rest day.
posted by Hugh W at 1:44 pm
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