Kudos to Landis for putting forth what every cycling expert has already called the greatest single day effort in Tour history.
I know I'd written him off after he bonked and lost 11 minutes to his main rivals along with the Yellow Jersey as well. To me, it seemed to say that he had not been riding conservatively so much as he had said and had finally hit a wall and put himself out of contention.
That's what everyone else thought. Except for Floyd. He destroyed the peloton and his main rivals today in an amazing display of guts, determination and focus. When the stage ended he looked in good shape and was waaay fired up for a bit after. The stage win put hims in position to reclaim the Yellow Jersey in the upcoming 56K time trial of Stage 19 -- a race event he excels at. Barring a crash or a super-human performance from Sastre, Landis should take the lead and win the Tour.
They (his competion) thought he was out of it and ignored his early, unconventional break-away early in the mountains of Stage 17. No one attacks in the lower portion of Col des Saisies, about 65 kilometers into the 200.5-kilometer stage. Away he went and they let him go.
Everyone wanted Landis to put the hammer down so to speak, a la Lance, and then just when it seemed he had no hammer at all, he pulled it out.
Way to go.
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1 comment:
Hopefully he did not cheat. Who knows what to believe?
IFL Rules!
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