Magnificent 7 (2005 Tour de France 12-Hour DVD; 6 pc.) That force of nature called Lance Armstrong concluded his unique reign as the King of the Tour de France in a manner that in hindsight seems inevitable, though there were moments when the ending of this tale of fortitude and determination could not be foretold with certainty. The Tour itself, of course, will continue in all its glory. As Lance put it on the podium in Paris, “Vive le Tour. Forever!” But the cyclist who set a new standard of six consecutive wins last year and topped it with number seven in 2005 has retired from the world s most popular sport. What a way to go! Featuring extended coverage of the critical mountain stages, World Cycling Production s two DVD editions four hours and 12 hours in length are truly artifacts of history, to be watched intently many times, shared with friends, and treasured for all time. Talk about drama! There s the emergence of CSC s David Zabriskie, Lance s former teammate, edging Armstrong by nine seconds to win the prologue and wear the yellow jersey for three stages before crashing just before the finish in the team time trial and withdrawing from the Tour the next day. There s Lance s friend Ivan Basso, also a CSC rider, trailing him by less than three minutes for most of the race, and finishing second overall. There s the amazing, and then astounding, performance of Rabobank s Michael Rasmussen, who won the climber s jersey but plummeted from third overall to seventh after two crashes and three changes of bicycle in the final time trial. And, of course, ever threatening and supplying suspense, there s Jan Ullrich, who seemed to have the individual time trial in his pocket, until Armstrong, determined to win a stage as well as his seventh tour, pulled out all the stops and bested Ullrich s seemingly unbeatable time by 23 seconds. It was a feat that left the race commentators totally depleted of superlatives and thrilled viewers throughout the world.
Customer Review: Great DVD
The audio is fine. It’s the same quality of what we saw live on OLN. Sure it’s spotty at times, but it’s not as bad a some of the reviews make it sound like.
Customer Review: Horrid Audio
I cannot over emphasize how frustrating it is to attempt to hear the fine commentary while it is being almost totally obliterated by noise from helicoptors, bells, whistles, horns and other crowd noise. How could this product be released with such inept audio mixing? Didn’t anyone listen to it before it was released? I often must turn off the audio as all I can hear is noise. Anyone who owns this DVD should be given a new one that is mixed correctly.
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