American cyclist Floyd Landis battled on the final climb to take the yellow jersey in the Tour de France on Thursday, highlighting the most exciting stage so far in this year's race.
Russian Denis Menchov, riding for Rabobank, won the stage in a small breakaway of three survivors that also included Landis and another American, Levi Leipheimer.
Leipheimer, who sat in 58th place Thursday morning after a lackluster early Tour, catapulted himself to 13 place overall — 5:39 behind — at the end of the stage with his gutsy 2nd place finish.
Another American favorite didn't fare so well, however. Discovery team's George Hincapie seriously cracked on the final climb, finishing 21 minutes behind the stage winner. That puts Hincapie in 40th place, 23 minutes behind the Landis. It also leaves Discovery with a huge question to answer: Who's our leader? (Jose Azevedo sits highest among his teammates, in 18th place 7:27 behind.)
Landis, who becomes the 5th American to wear the yellow jersey, might hold the overall lead for at least the next three days that feature transitional stages over rolling terrain leading to the Alps next Tuesday.
“I would like to keep it 'til the end,” Landis said after the race, adding, “It might be hard to control.”
The pundits talked about how most of the peloton saved itself Wednesday for the 11th stage, which covered 128 miles over 5 rated climbs, including the beyond category Tourmalet and the finishing climb up Pla de Beret.
An early breakaway of four riders, which dwindled down to a solo David De La Fuente of Saunier Duval by the base of the final climb, led over most of the passes.
T-Mobile riders can take credit for making the stage's decisive move. They blew apart the peloton by accelerating on the fourth climb of the day, the Col de Portillon. Their effort to pull Andreas Kloden into the lead succeeded in culling about 20 top riders from the peloton. That group didn't include yellow jersey wearer Cyril Dessel, whose AG2R team had controlled the pace until that point.
“T-Mobile had me scared,” Landis said afterward. “That was harder than I wanted to go.”
With the 20 setting off from the base of the final climb together, it was Michael Boogerd of Rabobank sparked the attack on the Pla de Beret to move up team leader Menchov in the standings. Menchov, awarded the Vuelta d'Espana victory last year after winner Roberto Heras was accused of blood doping, has been considered among the 10 or 12 outside favorites.
Dropping off of Boogerd's attack was Discovery's Jose Azevedo, Saunier Duval's Gilberto Simoni and Kloden. When Menchov attacked, only Landis, Leipheimer, Cadel Evans (Davitamon Lotto) and Carlos Sastre (CSC) could answer.
After a series of jumps and feints, Menchov, Leipheimer and Landis were all that remained to race to the finish. Landis picked up the yellow jersey due to his 3rd place time bonus and the minutes he picked up on Dessel, who finished 4:45 behind.
The Top 10 after Stage 11:
1. Floyd Landis (US), Phonak
2. Cyril Dessel (FR), AG2R — :08 behind
3. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank — 1:01 behind
4. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon Lotto — 1:17 behind
5. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC — 1:52 behind
6. Andreas Kloden (Ger), T-Mobile — 2:29 behind
7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile — 3:22 behind
8. Juan Mercado (Sp), Agritubel — 3:33 behind
9. Christophe Moreau (Fr), AG2R — 3:44 behind
10. Marcus Fothen (Ger), Gerolsteiner — 4:17 behind
The standings among the 6 Americans:
1. Floyd Landis, Phonak 
13. Levi Leipheimer, left, Gerolsteiner — 5:39 behind
28. Christian Vandevelde, CSC — 13:41 behind
40. George Hincapie, Discovery — 23:01 behind
71. David Zabriksie, CSC — 41:33 behind
102. Chris Horner, Davitamon-Lotto — 55:47 behind
In the other competitions, Australian Robbie McEwen leads the green jersey competition, David De La Fuente took over the mountains contest and most aggressive rider by virture of Thursday's effort, 10th overall Mark Fothen held onto best young rider, and T-Mobile led the best team standings.
Here's a post about Landis when he was winning one of his earlier three victories this year: “Floyd Landis — The World's Fastest Mennonite — retains lead at Paris-Nice”.
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