Thursday, July 28, 2005

Le Tour by the numbers

Tour '05 by the Numbers

 

1 -- days that the yellow jersey was not worn by an American (Dave Zabriskie had it for three stages, Lance Armstrong for 17 stages, Germany's Jens Voigt for one stage)

2 -- crashes in the nightmarish stage 20 time trial of Denmark's Mickael Rasmussen, which, along with one puncture and three bike changes knocked him from 3rd to 7th in the final GC (he did win a stage and King of the Mountains, though)

3 --  Americans in the general classification's final top 10, the most of any country (1. Armstrong; 6. Levi Leipheimer; 9. Floyd Landis) along with 14. George Hincapie; 17. Bobby Julich; 33. Chris Horner; 132. Fred Rodriguez; 139. Guido Trenti; DNF: Zabriskie

3 -- stage wins by Aussie sprinter Robbie McEwen, the most by any rider

4:40 -- Lance's winning margin over second-place Ivan Basso, the second smallest of his 7 Tour victories (1:01 in 2003)

7 -- finishes on the podium in 8 starts for Germany's Jan Ullrich (third this year after finishing fourth in 2004)

8 -- rookie Cadel Evans' GC finish, the best for an Australian since Phil Anderson's two fifth places in the 1980s

10 -- American victories in the Tour in the last 20 years

25 -- career stage wins for Lance, counting three team time trial victories

26.8 -- Lance's average speed in miles per hour for the Tour's 2,228 miles (41.6 kph for 3,593 km)

28.8 -- Lance's average speed in miles per hour (46.4 kph) in stage 20's 34-mile time trial, his first victory of the season

30 -- percent chance of Lance living in 1996 after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain

30 -- Americans who have raced in the Tour de France since Jacques Boyer was the first in 1981

45 -- riders who started in the field of 189 but did not reach the finish line in Paris

83 -- yellow jerseys won by Lance, second only to Eddy Merckx's 111

500,000 -- spectators that saw this 92nd Tour finish in Paris

536,330 -- difference in euros between Discovery Channel's Tour winnings and those of Spain's Euskaltel-Euskadi, which took home 9,310

 

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