Tour de France 2001 Stage 12 - Part 3 (Plateau de Bonascre/Pyrenees) w/ Phil Liggett & Paul Sherwen

Tour de France 2001 Stage 12. Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich duel again in this classic tour. Armstrong appeared super-human, because he was (like most of the contenders in the tour) on a doping program. EPO, blood transfusions, etc. He trained specifically for the tour, and had his doping regimen for him and his team structured around it.
I had been watching cycling in the small amounts we were given in the USA since the late 80s. During the late 80s and 90s, while France was most likely getting full stages broadcast, I was happy just seeing a half hour recap of Greg LeMond, Miguel Indurain, Claudio Chiapucci, Gianni Bugno and the rest. Seeing Andy Hampsten win on top of Alpe d'Huez, LeMond win in Paris by the slimmest of margins, and "Big Mig" dominating.
So when Lance came back from Cancer, and a cable network started showing live broadcasts that were several hours long...well, that was something! The casual fan in me ignored all the negative news around Lance, I was just enjoying the drama. I believed the repeated statements of Paul Sherwen about how Lance's power to weight ratio was much better because of the "kilos" he had lost during his Cancer treatments. How Phil would say when Lance dropped Jan that he made him look like a "club cyclist. As they say, ignorance is bliss.
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"And a counter has gone!" - Phil Liggett :D