The Cycliste Moderne, July 20, 2006

WOW!

I do not know what more you could say about the last three days at the Tour de France. I have never seen three more exciting and compelling days of racing than we saw in the Alps. The story lines are amazing and it is not just Floyd Landis either. Consider the following:

1. We have two French riders in the top 10 from the same team during the final week of the Tour. AG2R has got to be thrilled with its performance after the exclusion of Mancebo at the beginning of the Tour for his implication in Operacion Puerto. Moreau has always been a top ten threat but to have Desell there as well is incredible.

2. Everyone has had bad days and good days. In the past you could always expect the leader of the Tour to have an off day and look somewhat human. This year every single one of the top 20 riders in the GC have had some really bad performances and some really good performances. I think that evidences the fact that the race is fairly clean.

3. T-Mobile has overcome the adversity of seeing Ullrich and Sevilla tossed from the Tour. They have consistently been the strongest group of riders in the peleton, but they lack that one rider who can stamp some authority on the race. Had Ullrich been in the race, you would have to think that we would have seen a repeat of the five Indurain victories, the two T-Mobile victories and the seven Armstrong victories. Unfortunately, for them they are not likely to put a man on the podium for the first time in ages.

4. Looking back at the Tours from 1991 to the present, with the exception of Pantani's victory during 1998 and the Festina scandal, the winning formula of Indurain, T-Mobile and Armstrong was to have a strong leader who was the best time trialist in the peleton who could also climb among the top 5-10 riders in the race. Get the lead after the first time trial and then defend, defend, defend with a strong team which has no personal ambition. This is the first Tour in a generation where we have seen the yellow jersey move from rider to rider to rider with no team either willing or able to defend it for more than a few days.

5. In 2000, Marco Pantani made a suicidal attack on almost an identical stage, at almost the identical point that Landis did today. Pantani's attack was driven by his animosity for Lance Armstrong over the famed "gift" on Mt. Ventoux. Armstrong's team nearly destroyed themselves chasing him back. They did, Pantani abandoned, and Armstrong bonked on the Joux-Plane losing nearly two minutes by the end of the stage. Landis just went out and did his thing. Not because he was angry, but to just show he could.

6. Floyd Landis is a manly man. His disastrous finish on Wednesday would have finished off many riders, including many of the "leaders" of the top teams. He blew up in a spectacular fashion, in a humiliating fashion. He did not make any excuses, he did not place any blame, he did not pack it in. He showed up the next day to do his job. That is a role model. Interestingly, Landis told Austin Murphy of CNN/SportsIllustrated that when it became apparent that he was going to put his team on the front of the race on the first climb and launch an attack on the first of the five mountains climbed today other riders encouraged him not to do stupid he told them exactly what he was going to do "Go drink some Coke, 'cause we're leaving on the first climb if you want to come along."

Today's ride is something we have not seen in almost twenty years. Maybe it is something we have never seen before. Floyd Landis joined the ranks of such Tour heros as Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Men who could go out and put themselves in the lead of the race by daring everyone else to follow their lead. The teams today really did not think Landis could do it expecting a spectacular flame out like Pantani in 2000. They did not chase and they lost the Tour de France as a result. Floyd did not play poker today. He told them exactly what he had and what he intended to do, and he did it.

He probably will not go on to win five Tours like Merckx and Hinault and probably will not win a world championship or any of the Spring Classics. Landis is not the second coming of the "Cannibal" or the "Badger." His impending hip replacement surgery could be a serious threat to his career. However, Landis will probably win this Tour de France and he will win it by being the most focused and the mentally toughest guy in the race.