Oscar Pereiro is back in the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, but this time it was no gift from Floyd Landis and the Phonak team. The Spanish cyclist earned it.
Now American cyclist Landis, who started the day in the yellow jersey with a fairly clear path to Paris, sits in 11th place, more than 8 minutes behind the leader. His dreams of winning the Tour de France are shattered — scattered about the roadside like those of fellow US contenders George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer.
Landis was in control of his contenders until the final 9 miles of Stage 16 on Wednesday, this in spite of being abandoned by all but one of his teammates. But midway up the last of four climbs — the 11-mile ascent up La Toussuire — his 6 rivals and their teams pounced.
Flurry of attacks
First, Michael Rogers of T-Mobile (which had 5 cyclists in the bunch) attacked — Landis hung on.
Then Russian cyclist Denis Menchov — joined by Pereiro, Rogers and Cadel Evans — put down the hammer. Landis could not respond. Fortunately, Andreas Kloden had been dropped with Landis, and the American latched on to Kloden's wheel as another T-Mobile cyclist brought Kloden up to the front with Rogers.
With T-Mobile in disarray over team tactics, CSC's Carlos Sastre attacks away from the bunch. Once again, Landis cannot respond.
There's blood on the water now. Menchov attacks, can't sustain, and the three T-Mobile cyclists take over the pace making. All this time, Landis is dropping back. Pereiro and Landis' other rivals ride away up the road as Landis drifts back, broken.
Rasmussen leads stage
Up the road, Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen is riding himself into the mountain leader's jersey all by himself. American cyclist Levi Leipheimer and Sastre are chasing.
The surviving 10-man bunch, dwindles to 8. Then Menchov attacks again and it's just the six — Menchov, Kloden, Pereiro, Evans, Cyril Dessel, and Christophe Moreau.
Then Kloden picks up the pace and takes Pereiro and Evans. The rest are dropped and they pass Leipheimer.
At the finish it's Rasmussen — who's spent nearly the entire day in breaks or by himself — first, followed by Sastre. Then Pereiro leads Kloden and Evans across the line. Others riders come dribbling in. Then Landis, who had dropped back to his teammate Axel Merckx, finishes 10 minutes behind Rasmussen.
Landis didn't speak with reporters after the race. Phonak team manager John Lelangue was quoted by VeloNews: “We don't know what happened. All we know that he wasn't feeling too great on the (penultimate climb) Col du Mollard.”
Pereiro's luck
On Friday, just four stages ago, Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) started the day in in 46th place, 28:50 behind the overall leader. He was a teammate of Tour favorite Alejandro Valverde who crashed out in the first week. Landis was the leader that Friday, and his tired Phonak team decided give a huge margin to a breakaway that Pereiro had joined. That decision put the Spanish rider in first place.
Phonak's strategy was to let Pereiro's team set the pace on Saturday and Sunday and into the first day of the Alps on Tuesday. That seems to work, as Landis rode back into first place on the slopes of l'Alpe d'Huez.
But the underlying need for this strategy, the weakness of the Phonak team, became apparent Wednesday as Landis and Merckx were the only two Phonak teammates left in the lead group after the first two mountains.
The Tour de France blog points out an interesting fact to those fans lamenting the apparent weakness of the Phonak team — both Pereiro and Cyril Dessel (now sitting ahead of Landis in the overall standings) are former Phonak cyclists. Pereiro rode with Phonak in last year's Tour, and Dessel was an alternate for Phonak's 2004 Tour contingent before joining AG2R last year.
The Top 10 overall are:
1. Oscar Pereiro (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 1:50 behind
3. Andreas Kloden (Ger), T-Mobile, 2:29 behind
4. Cyril Dessel (Fr), AG2R, 2:43 behind
5. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon, 2:56 behind
6. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 3:58 behind
7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 6:47 behind
8. Christophe Moreau (Fr), AG2R, 7:03 behind
9. Levi Leipheimer (US), Gerolsteiner, 7:46 behind
10. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel, 8:06 behind
The six Americans are ranked:
9. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), 7:46
11. Floyd Landis (Phonak), 8:08
24. Christian Vandevelde (CSC), 33:03
42. George Hincapie (Discovery), 53:18
71. Chris Horner (Davitamon), 1:44:13
77. David Zabriskie (CSC), 1:52:22
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