One by one they all fall down...

Stage 10:
What a stage it was, Lance Armstrong's team didn't worry about early escapes and later on as a complete team set such a scorching pace that only 4 riders including Armstrong, finished in the first group out of the 40-50 sized group that was together at one point. It was a sight to see as the threats faded, the riders falling behind with their tanks below the empty mark.
Armstrong finished with Valverde (team IBA) at the top with the other 2 riders coming 9 seconds back.
Vinokourov finished 5 minutes 18 seconds behind. Ullrich finished 2 minuets 14 seconds back thanks to his team mate Kloden who helped him during the last kilometers. Basso was the only one who kept some respectability finishing a minute back.
It felt like you were seeing something special the way Lance rode the last section.

Stage 11:
One category-1 climb and 2 category-H climbs on this stage...
Vinokurov set out to prove himself and did that by finishing first on this stage. Armstrong’s team didn’t really chase him down abut kept a high tempo and limited the final difference to about a minute and 15 seconds.
The downhill ride was breathtaking with the riders hitting speeds in the excess of 60 kilometers an hour.

Stage 12 and 13 are fairly flat, ;-) at least compared to the previous two stages (10 & 11).

Stage 10 - Here come the Alps...

Stage 10 of the Tour De France will take place today.

Lance Armstrong lost the yellow jersey to Jens Voigt on stage 9. Armstrong is currently third but Voigt and Moreau (currently 2nd) are not mountain climbers and are expected to drop in the coming days. Armstrong maintains his lead over Vinokourov (T-Mobile), Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Basso (CSC).

Today's stage (192.5 Kms) is extremely grueling. First real test on the Alps and sorting of the front-runners is expected to start. There are two category 1 climbs with the second one leading right up to the finish. Here are the details of the climb they are both longer than 20Kms and have a gradient of about 6%.

Km 118 - Cormet-de-Roselend (D.217-D.902) - 20.1 km climb to 6 % - 1 Category
Km 192.5 - COURCHEVEL (Altiport) - 22.2 km climb to 6.2 % - 1 Category

Very exciting day in the tour…

Movies

Saw a few hindi movies in the last month, overall a couple of good ones that should not be missed. Read on...

Must Watch:

• Parineeta: This is the latest one I saw and probably the best of the lot. Parineeta (The Married Woman) is a adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel. The leads Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan have done a wonderful job. I liked the music and it blended well with the movie.
• Sarkar: Ram Gopal Varma's tribute to the "Godfather". This is a mix of the classic Godfather story and Bal Thackery's life. Amitabh Bachchan plays the lead and is supported well by the rest of the cast. The two sons played by Abhisekh Bachchan and K K Memon have acted really well. I felt that the movie could've have been made in a much better way by giving Amitabh more screen time and making the comeback by the "good" side a little more complex. All in all a good movie.

Can Watch:

• Bunty Aur Bubli: Story about a couple, driven by circumstances into conning. Overall a time pass movie, quite funny at places with the usual loud songs and masala of hindi movies.

Watch if there is nothing else to do:

• Paheli: Amol Palekar's film based on a folk story (from Rajasthan I think). Its a watchable film but at the end of it the story doesn't hold very strong.

Don't Bother:

• None

Tour De France 2005

The tour started on Saturday with a bang! David Zabriskie who is not even the leader of his team CSC came first riding the 19 Kilometers in 20 minutes 51.840 seconds. Lance Armstrong came in 2 seconds behind on Saturday's individual time trials. Both men had an amazing ride with the 3rd place rider finishing 51 seconds behind.

This is Lance's last year and he plans to retire. He has already made good start building about a minute of lead over his main rivals...LIVE STRONG!

The Tour Live