LA TOUSSUIRE, France - In a single torturous Alpine stage, Floyd Landis' lead
and chance for a Tour de France victory slipped away almost pitifully Wednesday
as rider after rider passed him on the punishing final climb.
Floyd Landis of the US
crosses the finish line to place 23rd in the 16th stage of the 93rd Tour
de France cycling race between Bourg d'Oisans and La Toussuire, French
Alps, Wednesday, July 19, 2006. Michael Rasmussen of Denmark won the
stage, landis lost the lead to Oscar Pereiro Sio of Spain.
[AP] |
Abandoned by his teammates, Landis fell apart, dropped to 11th place and lost
the leader's yellow jersey a day after regaining it in a spectacular ride up the
famed L'Alpe d'Huez.
Landis, now 8 minutes, 8 seconds, behind new race leader Oscar Pereiro,
was unable to attack, let alone intimidate his rivals - which was Lance Armstrong's
calling card en route to a record seven Tour wins.
"I suffered from the beginning, and I tried to hide it," Landis said. "I
don't expect to win the Tour at this point. It's not easy to get back 8
minutes."
With about eight miles to go up La Toussuire, Spain's Carlos Sastre burst out
of a small group of would-be favorites that included Landis, and Pereiro and
several other contenders gave chase.
The American simply couldn't keep up, losing the 10-second lead he started
the day with.
"Sometimes you don't feel well, and sometimes it's on the wrong day. What can
I say?" asked Landis, who is riding with an injured hip.
And with that, Landis went in search of something cold and soothing.
"Drink some beer ... that's all I'm thinking about now," he said, adding: "I
would be lying if I said I was not disappointed."
So it goes in this topsy-turvy Tour, the first in the post-Armstrong era.
It's been strange from the get-go.
On the eve of the July 1 start, nine riders - including pre-race
favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso - were sent home after they were implicated in a
Spanish doping investigation.
Ever since, the race has lacked a clear leader. Seven riders have worn yellow
¡ª one fewer than the record. Landis and Pereiro each have led twice since the
American first won the leader's jersey last Thursday.
The first time, Phonak took a gamble: It allowed Pereiro to take the yellow
jersey on Saturday by not laying chase as the Spaniard broke away and, in the
end, erased a deficit of nearly 30 minutes against Landis.
Landis regained the lead Tuesday by shadowing Germany's Andreas Kloeden,
runner-up to Armstrong in 2004, to make sure that he didn't gain time on him.
When Pereiro regained the lead Wednesday, Phonak's original plan appeared to
have backfired, and the team looked as if it badly underestimated one of its
riders.
"It was difficult to imagine that things would turn out like this," Pereiro
said. "Floyd Landis seemed untouchable, but like everybody, he wasn't immune to
collapse.
"Something in me said that today could be my day," he added.
Denmark's Mickael Rasmussen won the 113-mile stage through the
Col du Galibier and the Col de la Croix-de-Fer - two climbs so hard that they
defy classification in the cycling's ranking system - before the uphill finish.
Kloeden, who finished fifth, was escorted by two T-Mobile teammates up that
climb. Landis finished alongside Phonak teammate Axel Merckx, but only because
the American had dropped so far behind.
