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(More customer reviews)If you are a bike racing fan, a Lance Armstrong Fan, a Tour de France fan, or all three, which I am, this will be a great addition to your DVD library. Watching bike racing for anyone else is like the proverbial drying paint, but while you are on the trainer or rollers, this is what you want playing on the tube. Lance is on top of his game in 2002, asserting his authority whenever necessary, and being the consummate sportsman throughout. He wins when he needs to, doesn't when he doesn't need to, all the time seemingly almost without effort. The sport hasn't seen domination of the peloton like this since the Eddie Merckx was at his best. The only downside of this is that there is little question as to the eventual outcome, and consequently less drama to the whole affair. One cannot help but be awed by his demonstration of athleticism in this Tour.
The coverage of the race presented in this set is variable. The flat stages are often condensed to a few minutes, with just the final sprint shown. Most of the time is devoted to the big mountain stages. I think this is as it should be, because those stages have the most drama, and always determine the outcome of the race, but I was surprised to see continuous, minute-by-minute coverage of the final 30 minutes or so of some of the big climbs. Waiting for the outcome of one of these stages, I had to keep pedaling the trainer for an hour and half. This is not a criticism, just a comment on what to expect.
I have to admit disappointment with much of the commentation by Phil Leggett and Paul Sherwin. I usually enjoy them both, and they are certainly the best in the business, but I found this sound track tedious - their overuse of superlatives (especially the word 'absolutely', which seems to be in every other comment.) Every time some minor rider made a move, he was 'Absolutely doing the ride of his life', even if his break lasted 2 minutes, and he ended up bonking at the back of the peloton later. Every mountain descent was done at '90 kilometers per hour'. I've been riding and racing for decades, and believe that to be a pure exaggeration. Exaggeration characterizes most of the commentation, and is my major criticism of the coverage. It may not, however, diminish the enjoyment of this set by the average racing fan. I hesitate to give any criticism, especially since coverage like this of the tour wasn't available in any form just a decade ago; we cycling fans were forced to watch ridiculous, american network produced coverage with commentators who barely knew which end of the bike to point down the road, distilled into hour-long segments covering a full week of the tour. Having a full ten hours with expert commentation and superb cinematography is indeed a dream come true.
'Absolutely' add this to your collection of Tour coverages. You will 'absolutely' enjoy it. Then watch it in small segments so you don't feel like turning the audio off.
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With a stunning win in the 2002 Tour de France, Armstrong became the fourth cyclist ever to win four consecutive Tours. This Tour is marked with stunning break-aways, brilliant attacks, and an extraordinary effort by Postal. A win in the prologue time trial signals Lance's plans to win, but a wild first week ensues. When he loses the Stage 9 time trial to Kelme's Botero, many believe Armstrong has slipped. But he answers the critics on the first day in the Pyrenees. Roberto Heras devastates the field with a powerful pace on the climb to LaMongie. Near the summit, Armstrong jumps clear for a stage win and a lead he'll never relinquish. Lance wins the next stage, too, but not before swashbuckling star Laurent Jalabert launches a stunning breakaway. Ja-Ja fails to win, but he keeps attacking on Stages 16 and 17. ONCE battles to find a chink in the Postal armor, but the boys in blue dominate the race to the end in what Lance calls the year of the team. Lance caps the race with a convincing victory in the final time trial. With commentary and analysis from Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwin, and Gary Imlach, the 2002 Tour de France is an instant WCP classic!
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