Another American poised to win the Tour de France and even the French are cheering - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cmac2012 · #1 07-23-2006, 07:05 AM

If you've not been following this story, you might want to read the second post first, and the one after second. They're from Thursday and Friday. The race ends tomorrow (Sunday). People across the spectrum in cycling are raving about this guy:

Race director Jean-Marie Leblanc said Landis had given "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour" — adding that only a day earlier, he was "gone, finished, condemned."

Barring Disaster, Victory Awaits Landis

- By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, July 22, 2006

(07-22) 18:44 PDT MONTCEAU-LES-MINES, France (AP) --

Floyd Landis' wild ride through France should end in the sweetest way possible Sunday on the Champs-Elysees — barring a crazy finale and as long as his hip holds out.

In this Tour de France anything can happen.

With yet another stunning comeback in the final time trial, Landis reclaimed the famed yellow jersey of the Tour de France leader Saturday along with a 59-second lead that should land him atop the victory podium in Paris.

The American would be picking up where another Yank left off just last year, when Lance Armstrong completed his seventh and final Tour triumph.

"I could not be happier," Landis said. "It's one of the best days of my life."

The Phonak team leader, who trailed former teammate Oscar Pereiro of Spain by 30 seconds before the penultimate Stage 19, outpaced the Spaniard by 1 minute, 29 seconds in the race against the clock.

Overall, Pereiro fell to second, 59 seconds behind Landis, while German rider Andreas Kloeden, 1:29 back, pushed Spaniard Carlos Sastre off the podium into fourth.

Sunday's ride could be the most anticlimactic moment of this unpredictable Tour, marked by Landis' bizarre performance swings — from despair to elation — and news that he's been riding with an arthritic hip.

Landis and Pereiro have taken turns wearing yellow four times since Landis first won it in the Pyrenees after Stage 11. Seven riders have worn the jersey this time — one short of the record.

"Hopefully, I won't give it away again," Landis said. "But I do think it's over now."

Landis became an instant legend among many cycling fans with his rage-fueled comeback Thursday, when he won the last of three Alpine stages to move from 11th to third in the overall standings.

After a strong ride Tuesday on the famed L'Alpe d'Huez ascent to take the leader's jersey for the second time in the Tour, Landis planned a conservative, Armstrong-like strategy.

That didn't work out.

Instead, he was forced to ride all-out after nearly crumbling in Wednesday's uphill finish in La Toussuire — where he lost the lead and fell 8:08 behind Pereiro.

The performance left him feeling "humiliation and depression," Landis said. A pep talk from five-time Tour winner and cycling icon Eddy Merckx, the father of his Phonak teammate Axel Merckx, helped.

A once-in-a-lifetime ride — "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour" according to race director Jean-Marie Leblanc — revived Landis' sagging chances. In his first Tour stage win, Landis closed the time gap to an incredible 30 seconds.

Saturday's time-trial was the finishing touch.

Landis, who finished second in the stage 7 time trial, had been expected to do well. Pereiro, sensing his lead in danger, mustered a strong ride of his own, finishing fourth and 1:29 behind Landis.

It wasn't enough.

"When the yellow jersey is on the line, people get inspired," Landis said. "I think we all learned a lesson in persistence."

Ukraine's Serhiy Honchar won the time-trial, by dominating the field just as he had in the first time trial two weeks ago.

Honchar finished the 35.4-mile course from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines in 1 hour, 7 minutes, 46 seconds. Germany's Kloeden was second, 41 seconds back. Landis placed third, 1:11 off the winner's pace.

The Tour got its first jolt on the eve of the July 1 start, when prerace favorites Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich, plus seven other riders, were sent home after they were implicated in a Spanish doping investigation.

Asked about those riders, Landis got a bit short-tempered.

"It was an unfortunate situation for all of us," Landis said, "and none of us in any way got any satisfaction out of the fact that they're not here."

The bum hip will be Landis' first order of business once the race ends. He plans to have surgery this fall to ease the lingering pain in his right hip, damaged in a 2003 crash.

Winning the Tour before the hip replacement surgery would make it even sweeter.

"I'll fight as hard as I have in this race to come back next year, or the following year — whatever it takes — to be here again," he said.

An acolyte of Armstrong for three years on the U.S. Postal Service squad, Landis said that stint was vital in learning how to ride to win and focus on a single leader.

Landis grew up in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, the son of Mennonites. He said he was too "high-strung" for the religion, which shuns organized sports and fame-seeking. As a boy, his parents tried to discourage him from riding his bike.

Now, he's at the sport's pinnacle.

"At least the people watching got a good show," said Landis, who was raised without a TV at home. "It was probably better for television than it was for us."

Landis, unlike Armstrong, speaks little French. He says his vocabulary consists of the words for "beer" and "coffee." Still, his performance has endeared him to fans, and he has made it a point to master one phrase — "Merci beaucoup."

cmac2012 · #2 07-23-2006, 07:06 AM

Landis back into Tour title hunt with win in last Alpine stage
- By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, July 20, 2006

(07-20) 16:59 PDT MORZINE, France (AP) --

Written off as hopeless just a day earlier, Floyd Landis needed a once-in-a-lifetime ride Thursday to revive his sagging chances of victory in the Tour de France.

Did he ever deliver.

With a sensational display of brio and guts in the style of seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, the American put himself back in the title hunt with a solo win in Thursday's last Alpine stage.

The astonishing rebound silenced nay-sayers — including Landis himself — who believed his chances to win on Sunday were doomed after he lost more than 8 minutes to the race leader in a punishing stage just 24 hours earlier.

"I was very, very disappointed yesterday for a little while," said Landis, of Murrieta, Calif. "Today I thought I could show that at least I would keep fighting.

"No matter what — whether I win or lose — I wanted to prove to my team that I deserved to be the leader," he said. "I didn't expect it to work quite that well."

Sensing his rivals would be relatively depleted, Landis pedaled like a man possessed — going all out for his Phonak squad.

In the first climb, Landis brashly spurted ahead of Oscar Pereiro, wearing the yellow jersey, and other key Tour contenders — catching then overtaking a breakaway group that had gotten ahead earlier.

"I took a long shot," he said, "but after all those hard mountain stages you can usually assume that people are tired and chasing doesn't work so well."

One by one, he left them all behind.

Landis, who rides with an injured hip, pumped his right fist in celebration as he crossed the finish of the 124.3-mile ride — the last stage in the Alps — in 5 hours, 23 minutes, 36 seconds.

He began the day in 11th place, trailing Pereiro by 8 minutes, 8 seconds. By the time he finished, he had jumped to third, and had closed the time gap to an incredible 30 seconds.

The 30-year-old from eastern Pennsylvania's Mennonite country slashed the deficit by finishing 7:08 ahead of Pereiro. He also trimmed an extra 30 seconds by earning bonus points for winning the stage and placing well in sprints.

It was a striking, stirring reversal from Wednesday, when Landis withered almost pitifully in an uphill finish to the Tour's hardest Alpine stage and lost the leader's yellow jersey to the Spaniard.

Race director Jean-Marie Leblanc said Landis had given "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour" — adding that only a day earlier, he was "gone, finished, condemned."

Spain's Carlos Sastre finished second — 5:42 after Landis — and held second overall, 12 seconds behind Pereiro. France's Christophe Moreau was third, 5:58 behind.

Landis broke out ahead of top rivals early in the trek from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne through three hard climbs on the way to Morzine. The last ascent, the Col de Joux-Plane, is among the toughest in cycling.

He repeatedly doused himself with water in uphill climbs to fight the heat, and massaged his thighs on the way down to get ready for more punishing ascents ahead.

Even Landis' rivals were awe-struck at his comeback.

"It's incredible the way he attacked," Sastre said. "In the last 4 or 5 kilometers, we attacked Landis with five riders — and he was still better."

Making it even more incredible is that Landis is riding with an arthritic hip, an injury from a 2003 crash that he hopes to correct with surgery this fall.

With only three stages left — two of them mostly flat rides in which breakaway gains are unlikely — the stage injected new suspense to a race poised for one of the tightest finishes in years.

Not since American Greg Lemond edged out Frenchman Laurent Fignon by a record-low 8 seconds in 1989 has less than a minute separated the winner from the runner-up in cycling's premiere race.

"Three riders, 30 seconds apart," Leblanc said. "See you on Saturday" — when the second and final time trial could determine the winner.

The first Tour after Lance Armstrong's record seven wins has been about as wild as they come. The Texan rarely left any doubt about who would win going into the last few days.

With Armstrong retired — and his legendary dominance of rivals a memory — the race really blew wide open on the eve of the July 1 start. That's when pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso — along with seven other riders — were ousted after their names turned up in a Spanish doping probe.

Seven riders have worn the yellow jersey this year — one short of the record. Pereiro and Landis have each worn it twice.

Along with the traditional cruise into Paris for Sunday's finish on the Champs-Elysees, Friday's stage, bringing riders westward out of the Alps, isn't seen as a big challenge.

The last big test is Saturday's race against the clock, a 35.4-mile ride that snakes from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines.

It's about the same length as the first time trial in Stage 7, though a little more hilly. In that one, Landis placed second and was 1:10 faster than Sastre and 1:40 ahead of Pereiro.

"I'm fairly confident in my time-trialing abilities, assuming I didn't overdo it today," Landis said. "There's a chance of that. We'll have to wait and see."

cmac2012 · #3 07-23-2006, 07:06 AM

Landis' daring ride propels him back as Tour favorite

- By JEROME PUGMIRE, AP Sports Writer
Friday, July 21, 2006

(07-21) 00:29 PDT MORZINE, France (AP) --

It was a ride to make Lance Armstrong and Eddy Merckx proud — except even they never quite managed what Floyd Landis did.

Landis' swashbuckling solo on Thursday ranks among the most dramatic rides in the history of the Tour de France, assuring the American a place in cycling legend the day after his victory hopes seemed dashed.

"Landis was gone, finished, condemned ... and then a magnificent comeback," said race director Jean-Marie Leblanc, calling it "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour."

Because of their superiority, neither Armstrong nor Merckx ever had to turn around such a huge deficit the way Landis did.

Armstrong, who won a record seven straight Tours, and Merckx, who won five times, were often totally in control of their races.

Landis, of Murrieta, Calif., started Thursday's 17th stage more than 8 minutes behind leader Oscar Pereiro. Psychologically, he was reeling from the blow of losing the yellow jersey to Pereiro the previous day.

Instead of wilting further, Landis jumped from 11th place to third, cut Pereiro's lead to only 30 seconds, and moved within 18 seconds of second-placed Carlos Sastre.

After years of clinical domination by Armstrong — 2003 apart — Leblanc could not contain his delight.

"We now have three riders separated by 30 seconds ... it's wonderful. Bring on Saturday!" he said.

With Friday's 18th stage favoring sprinters, time gains or losses are unlikely, so Landis should head into Saturday's time trial as the favorite.

In stage 7, Landis was 1:10 faster than Sastre and 1:40 quicker than Pereiro in the first time trial.

Having clawed his way back up the mountain, Landis will not want to let another chance slip in his favorite discipline.

Under a burning sun, Landis' solitary escape in the Alps made his rivals seem like they were pedaling backward — and mirrored the panache of great riders of past years.

"I have searched my memory and I can't remember a performance like that," Leblanc said. "There was Eddy Merckx in 1969, but Merckx was in the yellow jersey, not like Landis."

Frenchman Bernard Hinault, the five-time Tour winner, called Landis "a real soldier."

Leblanc has headed the Tour since 1989 — the year another American, Greg Lemond, beat Laurent Fignon of France on the final day by just 8 seconds.

Landis will gladly settle for that margin after almost everyone wrote him off — including Johan Bruyneel, his team director at U.S. Postal for three years when he was a support rider to Armstrong.

"I have been on the Tour for 28 years and I am wracking my brain thinking what I can compare it to," said Paul Sherwen, a race commentator for the Outside Life Network.

"What Floyd did today was a move by somebody who has nothing to lose," Sherwen added. "It might pay off once in 50 years ... it did."

Andreas Kloeden of Germany had been in third place overnight, and dropped to fourth, nearly 2 minutes behind Landis.

Sastre finished second to Landis, but 5:42 behind. Pereiro was seventh, trailing by 7:08.

Riders set off from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and covered three hard climbs before the speedy descent into Morzine.

Landis trimmed an extra 30 seconds off Pereiro's lead by earning bonus points for winning and placing well in sprints.

The Pennsylvania native jumped out in front at the 45-mile mark along the first tough climb up the Col des Saisies.

"I was pretty sure they weren't going to follow me," Landis said. "They all thought it was pretty crazy!"

Michael Rogers, whose job was to help Kloeden, seemed in awe.

"Landis was like a motorbike," said T-Mobile's Rogers. "He was going 40 kilometers per hour (24 mph) up a mountain."

His face beaming, Landis strolled to his team car under early evening sun after a mandatory post-race doping control.

Wearing a white T-shirt, he climbed into the Phonak car passenger seat and greeted reporters with a genial grin.

The questions were as fast and furious as his pedaling speed.

His answers were simple, yet revealing.

Landis said he drank some beer to drown his sorrows after Wednesday's crushing loss — and expected he'd down a couple more brews to toast his first career Tour stage win.

Stay cool, keep it simple.

Racing alone out in front for so long suited Landis well.

He was close to the team car — meaning he could grab refreshments at will — and it reflected his introvert, yet strong, character.

"It was nice to be alone," Landis said. "It was an advantage."

After denying himself for years to help Armstrong win, Landis' mellow demeanor has finally cracked, and a fierce ambition emerged.

When he recounted the win, it was like listening to Armstrong himself.

"OK, yesterday I had a bad day and couldn't control it," Landis said. "But, one way or another, I was going to make whoever wins this Tour deserve it."

Botnst · #4 07-23-2006, 09:01 AM

French get beat for nearly a decade by Americans with one nut and a busted hip.

B

cmac2012 · #5 07-23-2006, 03:00 PM

Like playing T-ball for ya, huh?

I was wondering what sorts of sneers would pop out.

Ain't just the French this fellow Landis is beating -- it's the other Americans, Spaniards, Germans, the whole lot of 'em are taking hats off to this gutsy Yank, apparently much more loveable than Armstrong to the primitive, armpit-scratching cultures of old Europe, respectively.

Botnst · #6 07-23-2006, 06:55 PM

Why would they scratch their armpits?

B

#7 07-23-2006, 07:04 PM

You might be a redneck ... If You ever burned your armpit hair off trying to use a scented candle as deodorant

cmac2012 · #8 07-23-2006, 07:05 PM

Uhhh... I wish at this time to doft my cap to one hell of gutsy and impressive lad, Floyd Landis. I'm wondering if the French like this guy more than L. Armstrong cuz Landis is such a decent family guy while LA left his wife for the jaded rock starress?

I don't give a hang if he's American, French, Russian, or Korean -- 'e's one 'ell of a mate, 'e is!

cmac2012 · #9 07-23-2006, 07:09 PM

Just saw a recap of this amazing race on the tube. Some kinda race.

Thumbnail biography. More at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Landis

Floyd Landis was raised in a conservative Mennonite community in Farmersville, Pennsylvania. Unlike the more familiar Old Order Amish, Mennonites do employ some modern technology, such as automobiles, but avoid television, movies, and other elements of "modern" culture. Young Floyd thus grew up somewhat, but not totally, isolated from modern American culture, though he did own a bike.

Floyd used his first bike to ride out fishing with friends, but quickly learned to enjoy riding for its own sake. Floyd determined to ride in a local race and showed up wearing sweatpants because his religion forbade wearing shorts. He won anyway. More wins followed. Disturbed at what he considered a "useless" endeavor such as racing bikes, Floyd's father tried to discourage Floyd from riding by giving him extra chores. This left Floyd unable to train during the day, so he often went out to train at night—sometimes at 1 or 2 a.m.—in the freezing cold. Floyd's father, unable to appreciate his son's passion for cycling, often followed Floyd at a distance to make sure he wasn't getting into trouble. Today, Landis' father has become a hearty supporter of his son and regards himself as one of his biggest fans.

Botnst · #10 07-23-2006, 07:13 PM

I'm more than pleased he's American, though I would have been OK with an ANZ or UK. Maybe we can leave the tour in its present location and rename it. Last year I got to liking "Tour de Lance." I don't think the French would mind. They could spend their days indignantly following Lance around with a piss-cup and Floyd could add to his yallar jersey collection.

B

PS Anybody else enjoy Bob Roll's pronunciation: "Toor Day Fraince."

cmac2012 · #11 07-23-2006, 07:32 PM

Careful man, your face gonna stick like that.

cmac2012 · #12 07-23-2006, 07:37 PM

I know I must seem obnoxious. Sorry. Among the most influential and dearest friends I've been lucky to find over the years, one of the best was a Turkish/Cypriot chef-tailor. What a guy. Another was my Russian buddy who taught me how to make the Bulgarina tamburahs that we marketed. Another is my Yemeni grocer friend. He's like the wise man of the mixed black/white neighborhood where his shop is. Another is my Korean zen teacher, the venerable Hyunoong Sunim.

Not too many French friends in my life but I think that's mainly coindcidence.

In short, I find judging people by their homeland to be mostly pointless. They be some creep WASP Americans running about. Then there's me and you.

aklim · #13 07-23-2006, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

In short, I find judging people by their homeland to be mostly pointless. They be some creep WASP Americans running about. Then there's me and you.

Yes, there may be some creep WASP American running around. What of it? When you are judging someone by their place of origin, it is not going to be exact. However, it can bring you close. For instance, if I walk into your house, I might see what you do with your footwear. However, if I walked into a chinaman's house, I would automatically remove my footwear. At dinner with you, I may eat quietly. At (I think it is arabic) another culture, I might burp loudly after the meal. It is just like insurance. Is every 16 yo driver going to cause more accidents and hence cost more to insure than a 35 yo married female? No. However, that is the safe way to bet. And they seem pretty good at getting it right. So while it is not exact, IOW not every Frenchman will act this way or that way or every German will wear Leaderhosen, it most of them are doing a certain action, it is a safe bet to assume the next one will. Will you be wrong once in a while? Yes. Will you be right most of the time? Go look at the way insurance companies are making money and tell me it doesn't work and why. Is it PC? Absolutely not.

cmac2012 · #14 07-23-2006, 07:56 PM

I pretty much agree with that. My original point about WASPs is that I'm not comfortable with the high opinion we too often have about America and Americans. We're good and we're bad. Just like most other peoples.

Botnst · #15 07-24-2006, 07:55 AM

It's difficult to talk with one's tongue in one's cheek but sometimes necessary to get the joy from seeing people walk with one knee-jerking.

I've lived and worked in foreign countries but never took a foreign vacation. I have relatives living in Europe and South American and one who is a cultural attache recently returned from a prominent Pacific Rim country.

I don't own any mongolian throat-singing music.