JULY 6 - JULY 12, 2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
27
Kealing
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28
And that's exactly why J.R. will have success, wherever he ends up. J.R. has so much natural talent; this incident could be the catalyst to create a new man.
We should know in about a year if that has happened or not.
Self and J.R. made the best possible decision. Fans in Manhattan and Columbia would have never let J.R. forget his recent run-in with the law. And that would have distracted J.R. and his teammates.
This way, the Jayhawks can focus on really embracing the Self era - only Jeremy Case, Jeff Hawkins, Christian Moody and seldom-used Stephen Vinson remain as players recruited under former coach Roy Williams - and J.R. can focus on his dream of playing basketball for pay. Another season like his freshman year would probably be enough to ensure he makes the pros.
Kealing is a Chesterfield, Mo., Junior in journalism and political science. He was the spring Kansan associate sports editor.
It's a new era for J.R. and it's a new era for the Jayhawks. Good luck J.R., wherever you end up.
Lance takes lead in last tour
TOUR DE FRANCE
BY JAMES KEATEN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BLOIS, France — Lance Armstrong is wearing his favorite Tour de France outfit again — the yellow jersey.
In a thrilling finish — during which the overall race leader crashed into a barricade — Armstrong and his Discovery Channel mates set a record of 35.54 mph July 5 and won the team time trial. The victory handed the 33-year-old Texan the lead after only four stages.
Armstrong will ride July 6 wearing the distinctive yellow shirt — the 67th time he has done so — and maintaining a critical edge in his bid for an unprecedented seventh straight victory in his farewell Tour.
"It was the plan to take the jersey, but the priority was to have the best race possible, and gain time on our adversaries," a beaming Armstrong said.
That's exactly what happened.
Armstrong chiseled out a 1:21 lead over T-Mobile's Alexandre Vinokourov, while CSC's Ivan Basso was 1:26 back. Germany's Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour winner, was 1:36 behind the leader.
The victory marked the third straight year that Armstrong's squad won the team time trial, clocking 1
hour, 10 minutes, 39 seconds in the 41.85-mile trek from Tours to Blois.
Discovery Channel now commands seven of the top 15 spots in the standings, with Armstrong sidekick George Hincapie in second.
"The Dream Team," Armstrong said. "For me, in the last year, it's special to have a team like this."
Now, Armstrong and Discovery must decide strategy: maintain the race lead or relinquish the yellow jersey, and the resulting pressure, for now, in hopes of regaining it by the July 24 finish in Paris.
"It's always nice to be in yellow," Armstrong said. "There are three or four flat stages coming, so it will not be easy to defend the jersey."
Armstrong insisted the yellow jersey did not mean the rest of the race would be easy.
Team director Johan Bruyneel said he was happy the race went according to plan, and that Discovery met the challenge of strong teams such as CSC and Switzerland's Phonak.
"There's still a lot of racing to go, a lot of nervous days. Anything can happen, crashes here, crashes there, especially the stages in the (next) few days, which are tricky," he said.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Discovery Channel team leader Lance Armstrong pedals with his teammates towards victory in the last meters of the fourth stage of the Tour de France July 5.