(Related story: Tour de France champ Floyd Landis fails drug test)
American Floyd Landis rode his bicycle back to the leaders of the Tour de France on Thursday with an amazing effort to win the stage and claw back up to 3rd place, just 30 seconds behind the leader Oscar Pereiro.
The American cyclist's gutsy attack over four mountains on Thursday was as remarkable as Wednesday's ride was abysmal. That's when 1st place Landis cracked on the final climb, dropping back to 11th place and 8 minutes behind the leader.
During Thursday's race he was compared to former champion Bernard Hinault by none other than the 5-time Tour de France winner himself.
“I’m a big fan of Floyd today because I like the way he races. He’s got an aggressive streak. He’s just saying, ‘I was bad yesterday but I’m the best and I’ll prove that today’. It can work, it’s like a Hinault Coup.”
Just 24 hours after all but counting himself out of the Tour, Landis was asked if he was happy with the day's results: “I don't care. I came here to win the Tour, and that is what I am trying to do.”
Friday is a transitional stage out of the Alps, followed by a 35-mile time trial — Landis' specialty — on Saturday. Landis' coach Robbie Ventura predicted on OLN that the 30-year-old cyclist could gain as much as 2 minutes during the time trial. Considering his second place finish on Stage 7's time trial, he has a clear shot to the yellow jersey in Paris.
Radical attack
Last week, Landis kept talking about “staying conservative” with Phonak's team tactics. His plan of action Thursday was anything but conservative, as he made a suicidal attack on the first climb of the day.
Landis' Phonak team went to the front of the peloton and whipped up the pace early in the race to close the gap to an earlier breakaway within 8 minutes. Then, as the yellow jersey group reached the first climb about 45 miles into the 124-mile Stage 17, Landis attacked, taking the race leaders with him.
They couldn't hang on, though, and Landis charged ahead over the Col des Saisies. He had caught the 11-man breakaway by the slopes of the next mountain, Col des Aravis. He splintered that group and continued up the road, chasing the lone leader with only Patrik Sinkewitz of T-Mobile on his wheel, struggling to hang on.
Although Landis' doctor, Allen Lim, said the cyclist didn't bonk or dehydrate on Wednesday, Landis repeatedly took water bottles from the team car throughout the race, drinking them and pouring them over his head.
Meanwhile, the group of cyclists with the yellow jersey looked like a herd of deer caught in the headlights. They rode slack-jawed as Landis kept putting minutes on them; at one point he led the yellow jersey by 9 minutes.
Finally, after Landis had caught all the breakaways, dropped Sinkewitz and was the virtual Tour leader, CSC's Jens Voigt and Christian Vandevelde took over the pace-setting for Pereiro's Caisse d'Epargne team and tried to close the gap.
On the base of the Col de Joux-Plane, a 7-mile ascent at 8.5%, CSC's Carlos Sastre launched an attack to keep himself in contention. He got within 5 minutes, but Landis gained time on him again on the descent to the finish at Morzine.
Pereiro survived in a group that finished 7:08 behind Landis. With a time bonus for winning, Landis is now 30 seconds behind Pereiro.
If you want to congratulate Landis on Thursday's victory, go to Landis' blog and leave a comment.
The top 10 are:
1. Oscar Pereiro (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, :12 behind
3. Floyd Landis (US), Phonak, :30 behind
4. Andreas Kloden (Ger), T-Mobile, 2:29
5. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:08
6. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 4:14
7. Cyril Dessel (Fr), AG2R, 4:24
8. Christophe Moreau (Fr), AG2R, 5:45
9. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Eustaltel, 8:16
10. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 12:13
The standings for the six Americans:
3. Floyd Landis, (Phonak), :30 behind
18. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), 22:01
23. Christian Vandevelde (CSC), 47:16
32. George Hincapie (Discovery), 1:07:33
62. Chris Horner (Davitamon), 2:03:11
79. David Zabriskie (CSC), 2:37:27
Landis also won the “most combative” designation during Thursday's stage; that's an understatement. Meanwhile Robbie McEwen leads the sprint point competition, Michael Rasmussen leads the contest for the polka dot jersey, and Damiano Cunego rode into the best young rider jersey by virtue of Thursday's performance. Best team of the Tour — T-Mobile.
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