The Peaks and Valleys of the Tour
Timeline of Floyd Landis' 2006 Tour de France:
June 30 - Already among the pre-race favorites, Floyd vaults to the front of the pack when scandal hits the tour and removes his top four rivals, a day before the race starts.
July 1 - Gets to the starting gate of the Prologue 8 seconds late due to a slash in his tire, which doesn't get noticed until just prior to his start time. Ends up losing out on the yellow jersey by 9 seconds. Disappointing, but no biggy.
July 4 - Sees his top remaining rival, Alejandro Valverde, crash out of the race with a broken collarbone. The Red Sea is parting.
July 8 - Places second in the first long time trial and first major stage for the general classification (GC) contenders, and is second overall behind only Sergei Honchar, a non-threat to the yellow jersey, thus affirming his position as race favorite. His top remaining rival after the scandals and crashes, fellow American Levi Leipheimer, has a shockingly poor ride, losing 5 minutes to Floyd, and is no longer considered a threat. The Red Sea has officially parted.
July 10 - Reveals in the rest day press conference that he has a degenerative hip from a crash in '03 that will be completely replaced after the race. This is the same injury that ended Bo Jackson's career! Press hails him as a warrior.
July 13 - Puts on the yellow jersey for the first time in his career after finishing third in the first grueling mountain stage in the Pyrénées, further establishing his control of the race. Eight straight American champions is looking like a foregone conclusion.
July 15 - Plays it conservatively and lets a breakaway of seeming non-contenders get away with a 30-minute advantage on the peleton, thus giving up the yellow jersey to Oscar Pereiro, who was trailing him by 28 minutes heading into the stage, rather than putting in the energy of his team to chase. Press criticizes him for not honoring the yellow jersey by acting to defend it, but in the grand scheme of things, this shouldn't be a big deal, because the guys in the breakaway, including Pereiro, aren't true contenders.
July 18 - Reclaims the yellow jersey by 10 seconds over Pereiro after finishing fourth on the stage to Alpe d'Huez, perhaps proving that the break he let get away three days earlier wasn't going to be a factor. Once again gets criticized for racing conservatively and not attacking his rivals on the final climb in an attempt to widen his lead and win the stage. Press declares him an unworthy champion for racing so tactically, without panache. (Panache? -- Yeah, it means flamboyance. -- I know what it means. -- Really? I had to look it up.)
July 19 - Cracks on the final climb of the Alpine stage, stunning literally everyone and losing huge time to Pereiro, who wasn't supposed to even be a real threat. Maybe it wasn't such a great decision to let him get away in that breakway after all. Also loses huge time to previously marginal rivals who now probably have enough of a cushion to keep him off the podium. Drops all the way to 11th place, 8 minutes back of Pereiro. Goes from Moses to Ramses in the span of one climb. The Red Sea is crashing down on him.
July 20 - Has one of the most miraculous stages in Tour history, attacking an unheard of 150km from the finish of the final, brutal Alpine stage, building an early lead of 9 minutes on the main pack and somehow maintaining most of it on a solo ride the rest of the way, with teams of riders working together to try to chase him down but failing. He wins the stage (his first ever) and not only vaults back into contention, but incredibly resumes the role of race favorite. He now sits in third, just 30 seconds behind Pereiro, the same guy he gave 30 minutes to in the long breakaway. The press hails him as a legend for his fierce, gutsy ride. In short, they love his panache.
So how will this end up playing out? There are three stages left, but only one, the long time trial on the 22nd, will determine the champion. Floyd is the best time trialist of the remaining contenders and should easily make up the 30 seconds on Pereiro, as well as the 18 seconds on second place. But after the twists and turns of the most unpredictable Tour in ages, we can't rule out anything. It was never like this with Lance. Dominance is impressive, but it's not this exciting.
In the span of three weeks, Floyd has gone from race contender to race favorite to overwhelming race favorite to gutsy competitor to unpopular race leader to massive disappointment to hero for the ages. Hopefully he caps off this roller coaster ride in the yellow jersey on the Champs Elysée. Go Floyd!
June 30 - Already among the pre-race favorites, Floyd vaults to the front of the pack when scandal hits the tour and removes his top four rivals, a day before the race starts.
July 1 - Gets to the starting gate of the Prologue 8 seconds late due to a slash in his tire, which doesn't get noticed until just prior to his start time. Ends up losing out on the yellow jersey by 9 seconds. Disappointing, but no biggy.
July 4 - Sees his top remaining rival, Alejandro Valverde, crash out of the race with a broken collarbone. The Red Sea is parting.
July 8 - Places second in the first long time trial and first major stage for the general classification (GC) contenders, and is second overall behind only Sergei Honchar, a non-threat to the yellow jersey, thus affirming his position as race favorite. His top remaining rival after the scandals and crashes, fellow American Levi Leipheimer, has a shockingly poor ride, losing 5 minutes to Floyd, and is no longer considered a threat. The Red Sea has officially parted.
July 10 - Reveals in the rest day press conference that he has a degenerative hip from a crash in '03 that will be completely replaced after the race. This is the same injury that ended Bo Jackson's career! Press hails him as a warrior.
July 13 - Puts on the yellow jersey for the first time in his career after finishing third in the first grueling mountain stage in the Pyrénées, further establishing his control of the race. Eight straight American champions is looking like a foregone conclusion.
July 15 - Plays it conservatively and lets a breakaway of seeming non-contenders get away with a 30-minute advantage on the peleton, thus giving up the yellow jersey to Oscar Pereiro, who was trailing him by 28 minutes heading into the stage, rather than putting in the energy of his team to chase. Press criticizes him for not honoring the yellow jersey by acting to defend it, but in the grand scheme of things, this shouldn't be a big deal, because the guys in the breakaway, including Pereiro, aren't true contenders.
July 18 - Reclaims the yellow jersey by 10 seconds over Pereiro after finishing fourth on the stage to Alpe d'Huez, perhaps proving that the break he let get away three days earlier wasn't going to be a factor. Once again gets criticized for racing conservatively and not attacking his rivals on the final climb in an attempt to widen his lead and win the stage. Press declares him an unworthy champion for racing so tactically, without panache. (Panache? -- Yeah, it means flamboyance. -- I know what it means. -- Really? I had to look it up.)
July 19 - Cracks on the final climb of the Alpine stage, stunning literally everyone and losing huge time to Pereiro, who wasn't supposed to even be a real threat. Maybe it wasn't such a great decision to let him get away in that breakway after all. Also loses huge time to previously marginal rivals who now probably have enough of a cushion to keep him off the podium. Drops all the way to 11th place, 8 minutes back of Pereiro. Goes from Moses to Ramses in the span of one climb. The Red Sea is crashing down on him.
July 20 - Has one of the most miraculous stages in Tour history, attacking an unheard of 150km from the finish of the final, brutal Alpine stage, building an early lead of 9 minutes on the main pack and somehow maintaining most of it on a solo ride the rest of the way, with teams of riders working together to try to chase him down but failing. He wins the stage (his first ever) and not only vaults back into contention, but incredibly resumes the role of race favorite. He now sits in third, just 30 seconds behind Pereiro, the same guy he gave 30 minutes to in the long breakaway. The press hails him as a legend for his fierce, gutsy ride. In short, they love his panache.So how will this end up playing out? There are three stages left, but only one, the long time trial on the 22nd, will determine the champion. Floyd is the best time trialist of the remaining contenders and should easily make up the 30 seconds on Pereiro, as well as the 18 seconds on second place. But after the twists and turns of the most unpredictable Tour in ages, we can't rule out anything. It was never like this with Lance. Dominance is impressive, but it's not this exciting.
In the span of three weeks, Floyd has gone from race contender to race favorite to overwhelming race favorite to gutsy competitor to unpopular race leader to massive disappointment to hero for the ages. Hopefully he caps off this roller coaster ride in the yellow jersey on the Champs Elysée. Go Floyd!
posted by Chang Kim at Thursday, July 20, 2006
2 Comments:
wow, that was really exciting to read. i should have just waited for tour de france to end, and then i could have read your recap of the entire event. it's like watching season one of Lost without commercial interruption and 4 week hiatuses.
Actually, this is perfect timing for you to read it, because Saturday is the decisive stage, and now you'll have all the context for it while watching with me, while still being able to enjoy the suspense of the moment. :)
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