TDF: Phil Liggett's Final Journal Entry for 2004

The old timers say that the Tour de France, and pro cycling in general, has changed over the past decade or two. Pro cycling has become so competitive that, in order to win, an athlete must focus on just one or a handful of specific events each year. If they want to have a shot at the Tour de France, they pretty much have to focus on that one event because it is so challenging.

Phil Liggett seems to agree. "Armstrong's secret is that he races to win only one race a year, while his rivals perform around the world at other events. Instead, he studies the route and then rides all the sections he sees as strategic points. He learns them by heart, and his stage win at Villard de Lans came because he remembered the sharp turns into the finish there."