Today Basso won the stage (results), and really shows that one of the primary features to win a Grand Tour is not to have any bad days. Basso got sick last weekend and lost any hope of finishing on the podium. Today he looked great. For me that is what makes Lance's run and before him Indurain's run in the Tour so amazing is that neither had a really bad day. They had some off days, but always limited their losses and never had two poor days in a row. Hinault had a bad day in 1985 to Luz-Ardiden that was a few days after he broke his nose, but limited his to teammate LeMond (and LeMond was told not to work with 3rd place Roche). Roche had a heroic comeback in 1987 to limit his losses on La Plagne to Delgado, after looking bad. LeMond while not as good as Fignon in the mountains in 1989 did not have a bad day while Fignon lost time to LeMond on one mountain stage to Briancon. Lance had a weak day in the mountains in 2000 and the bad time trial in 2004, but there he limited his losses.
Sean Kelly always seem to have at least one bad day in the mountains in the Tour de France, but he did win the Vuelta once and could have won it another time if not for a saddle sore at the very end of the race that forced him to pull out while leading the race.
Looks like Bajrne Reis was right. If BAsso had not gotten sick he would be in pink right now. Quite a comeback, from puking one's guts out to winning a stage of a grand tour.
Posted by: fixedgear | May 27, 2005 at 03:25 AM
So true about Lance and Big Mig, Tim. Even when Lance was suffering severe hydration in the '03 time trial, he still managed to finish second on the stage...
Posted by: VinoVelo | May 31, 2005 at 10:06 AM