Le Tour de France: Certainty, . . . Probably
Yes, the crow was delicious, thanks for asking.
After his puzzling and disappointing collapse over the final 18 km of Stage 16, Landis had lost the yellow jersey and found himself in 11th place, more than 8 minutes behind Oscar Pereiro. Even more than the time lost was the psychology of losing it. Floyd Landis' Tour was over. Even Floyd and his Director Sportif John Lelongue seemed to concede.
But that's why they ride the races. Landis ain't dead. He been resurrected -- in yellow.
In Stage 17, Landis showed massive balls by breaking away from the peloton on his own in an attempt to ride himself back into the Tour. It was his only chance to get the massive chunks of time he needed, and he nailed it, riding away from the entire field, winning the stage, and pulling back to within 30 seconds of yellow. Wow.
According to OLN color man Bob Roll, it was "The greatest ride we've ever seen in the history of the Tour de France."
And Landis did it pretty much singlehandedly. After his team set a heavy pace on the Col des Saisies, Landis took over. As Floyd powered up the Col de la Colombière, Paul Sherwin noted, "He has assassinated his team." In Stage 17, as in this entire Tour, the rest of the Phonak squad offered little support to Landis. This may have him considering a jump back to Team Discovery next year.
That's if he can even ride next year, or ever again. Landis' degenerated hip will require total replacement after this year's Tour. It is a potentially career-ending condition. Maybe that's what was driving him.
In Stage 17, it was the peloton that miscalculated by playing it conservative. Instead of responding to Landis' attack on the Col des Aravis, they let him go -- either confident he would come back to them, or unable to respond. On the Colombière, they showed no sense of urgency whatsoever. And they paid for it. Up the Col de Joux-Plane, the main GC pack was shattered by attacks, breaks, and cracks.
With Landis pulling away, it looked like the rest of the field had blown their wads the day before. Floyd's big bonk may have been a blessing, because it left him with the strength and the determination to take the offensive in Stage 17 for really the first time all Tour. Pushed into a corner and forced to defend himself by the forces of Pereiro, Sastre, Kloden, Evans, Menchov, and Moreau, Landis responded with the grit and fire of a champion.
Phil gushed, "Floyd Landis has come back like 10 men." Bob Roll added, "When you do this kind of damage, you are a superstar on the roads of the Tour de France."
Sitting 30 seconds off Pereiro heading into the time trial, it seemed, uh, certain, that Landis would recapture the yellow jersey for the last stage into Paris. Applying a riding style described as "nice and conservative" by his coach Robbie Ventura, Landis pulled back enough time to go up 59 seconds on Oscar and 1:29 up on Andreas Kloden in the overall standings.
Barring a Laurent Fignon moment in the mostly ceremonial final stage later this morning, Floyd Landis will win the 2006 Tour de France.
There has never been any doubting his skill as a cyclist. Landis has long been recognized as an innate cycling talent, and his years learning at the feet of masters Lance Armstrong and Johann Bruyneel have not been lost on him. What was unknown was whether Floyd could combine his talent and experience and turn it into cycling glory as the leader of his own team. Guess we know the answer to that one. If ye had any doubts, the Tour will mark his fourth major victory this year (Tour of California, Tour of Georgia, and Paris-Nice).
Floyd did enough to win, but did he have more left to give? Would this performance have beaten Basso or Vino or Valverde or Ullrich, . . . or Lance? These are legitimate questions, but they are ones better left for the future. For now, all hail Floyd Landis as the winner of the 2006 Tour de France . . . probably.