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Tour de France 2006


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Anybody watched yesterday's stage of the Tour de France?

The 17th stage was held between St.Jean de Maurienne and Morzine in the Alps, a 124-mile ride.

American rider Floyd Landis who had lost the yellow jersey of leader in the 16th stage when he suffered and could not cycle properly during the rides up the difficult Alpine passes was back in shape yesterday. He pedalled away from the other Tour leaders and made his way to an extraordinary solo ride that is already considered a Tour history classic.

Landis jumped from 11th third place in the overall standings, 30 seconds away from leader Oscar Pereiro and 8 second behind second-placed Carlos Sastre, both of Spain.

With three more stages to go, this Tour de France proved one of the most exciting race ever!

Landis had been criticised earlier for failing to take risks is now the darling of the Tour crowd.

Tomorrow's timelap will prove to be decisive.

Landis will be hard to beat if he rides like he did yesterday!

Edited to correct Landis' name!

Edited by brownie
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I had about half an hour of this on tape from the one hour digest on ITV here in England (I had a duathlon myself yesterday evening so no time for more...). Yes it was fantastic - a real race. That said, I think Ullrich and Basso are in a different league and would have made for a better race. Sadly we lost the chance to see the Tour that could have been. This one is genuinely exciting and interesting.

Oh and his name's Landis. Put that brandy bottle away!

Edited by David Ayers
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Anybody watched yesterday's stage of the Tour de France?

The 17th stage was held between St.Jean de Maurienne and Morzine in the Alps, a 124-mile ride.

American rider Floyd Lansing who had lost the yellow jersey of leader in the 16th stage when he suffered and could not cycle properly during the rides up the difficult Alpine passes was back in shape yesterday. He pedalled away from the other Tour leaders and made his way to an extraordinary solo ride that is already considered a Tour history classic.

Lansing jumped from 11th third place in the overall standings, 30 seconds away from leader Oscar Pereiro and 8 second behind second-placed Carlos Sastre, both of Spain.

With three more stages to go, this Tour de France proved one of the most exciting race ever!

Lansing had been criticised earlier for failing to take risks is now the darling of the Tour crowd.

Tomorrow's timelap will prove to be decisive.

Lansing will be hard to beat if he rides like he did yesterday!

I think yesterdays stage result was a combination of a fully recovered Landis (making up for the day before -- heatstroke possibly?) at his best, some slightly iffy DS decisions (give him enough rope etc...-- you can't do that with a guy like Landis) and possibly some apathy/animosity between the other (close) contenders' teams. ie. Why should CSC ride after him when T-Mob have as much at stake etc.

To be honest, I don't know how they let him get that inital gap. And when the T-Mobiles did start chasing they made it so hard for everyone bar a couple of CSC's, they did it so late in the stage.

Either way a memorable stage by Landis and now a very possible candidate for yellow on Saturday (long TT). Who knows though, I mean a long flat day today, nothing should happen but in this year's Tour......

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I would've liked to see Ulrich back in the mix, but Landis is a great rider. I remember way back when he was a mountain-bike racer, too!

A sidenote: unfortunately, the Tour isn't available without cable. If only my television had the channels to watch it more regularly! Guess I'll have to wait until it's out on DVD... :(

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I probably follow the tour more closely than the average American. And this has nothing to do with patriotism, as I'm not very patriotic, but I can't wait to see if Landis can pull it off in the time trial Saturday. His race in the Alps on Thursday was nothing short of unbelievable.

What a story. If you read the American press after the disaster at the 16th stage, Landis jad NO chance to win the Tour. But to see him perform so remarkably and win the 17th stage - AND make up so much time has to be one of the most remarkable stories ever in the Tour de France.

I find this guy SO much more likable than Lance - and I know that really does not matter as I a, a huge Armstrong fan - but I'm really hoping he wins. The hip issue adds a lot of drama to his saga - as if the meltdown on the 16th stage and the fabulous performance in winning the 17th stage doesn't have enough drama on its own!

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very much so Ed.....

the time trial today will be riveting; when you take into account that of course Landis will have in front of him in two minute intervals both Sastre and Pereiro!!! If he manages to get either of them in sight (which does happen) then he'll know that the Tour's his.

He does seem a likeable guy, however prior to Thursdays's stage I always had him down as a bit of a lacklustre rider --- strong yes, but not effervescent in the manner of other 'giants'. His background is about as unconventional as it gets, what with his oppressive family and mountainbike background.

Let's hope the best man wins.

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the time trial today will be riveting; when you take into account that of course Landis will have in front of him in two minute intervals both Sastre and Pereiro!!! If he manages to get either of them in sight (which does happen) then he'll know that the Tour's his.

Tonym, Landis does not have the yellow jersey yet, he is third in overall standings.

The time trial participants run in the reverse order of the overall standings so it will be Landis, then Sastre, and then Pereiro.

It should be a great race!

A very exciting finish to this year's Tour. And let's not forget the final stage tomorrow...

Yes, may the best man win!

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What a story. If you read the American press after the disaster at the 16th stage, Landis jad NO chance to win the Tour. But to see him perform so remarkably and win the 17th stage - AND make up so much time has to be one of the most remarkable stories ever in the Tour de France.

Almost every expert said that Landis lost the Tour that day.

But his incredible comeback is also partly due to the strategic error of the other two leading teams to let Landis go in the following stage and allow him to win 7 minutes back. They probably too though it was impossible for Landis to do that, but from experienced racing strategists you'd expect more caution. They could have prevented Landis' spectacular comeback.

Edited by Claude
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the time trial today will be riveting; when you take into account that of course Landis will have in front of him in two minute intervals both Sastre and Pereiro!!! If he manages to get either of them in sight (which does happen) then he'll know that the Tour's his.

Tonym, Landis does not have the yellow jersey yet, he is third in overall standings.

The time trial participants run in the reverse order of the overall standings so it will be Landis, then Sastre, and then Pereiro.

It should be a great race!

A very exciting finish to this year's Tour. And let's not forget the final stage tomorrow...

Yes, may the best man win!

yes of course in my excitement I went all funny.... :blink::wacko:

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Well Landis has done it. :party::party::party: Great ride. Pereiro did his best to hold on to secod and Kloden's ride was spectacular as well.

This year's tour was an interesting one indeed.

Klöden's ride was indeed spectacular -- I like this guy very much and hope one day he can improve on his podium places. He's often accused (on British TV) of just being a wheel-follower but I disagree, he can be quite temptestous and attacking at times (remember the stage into Morzine, I think, a year or so ago?). Now that T-Mobile are 'leaderless' as such, one can only hope he'll stay with the outfit and benefit from his marvellous teammates work to go on to be a real contender.

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Bad news for Landis...

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site.

The statement came a day after cycling's world governing body said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

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Bad news for Landis...

LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site.

The statement came a day after cycling's world governing body said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour.

:blush: ...oops, how did that get in there??? Will they never learn???

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  • 3 years later...

There's more info in this Cycling News article:

The investigation by the French Interior Ministry last year led to the arrest of a French national living in Morocco named Alain Quiros, who confessed to hacking into the lab, according to the New York Times. He said he'd been paid several thousand euros to hack into the AFLD computer as well as several other European corporations including Greenpeace France - the hacking scheme was instigated by a former French intelligence agent Thierry Lorho, head of Kargus Consultants.

Lorho reportedly handed off the data lifted from the lab computer to a man named Jean-François Dominguez, who then delivered it to another person who has not yet been identified. The confidential data then made its way to the news media and was used by Landis and Baker to form the basis of his defense against charges of doping.

Last spring, the French subpoenaed Landis and his coach Arnie Baker to travel to France and testify on this matter. Neither of them went to France.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/arrest-warrant-issued-for-landis-in-france

What I don't understand is why Landis' trainer would send the Trojan from his own email adress or from his computer. Even if it was hidden in an unsuspicious attachment, the origin of the hack would be tracable immediately.

Maybe the hack was as "thoroughly" planned as his doping in the 2006 Tour, where he lost 8 minutes in the 16th stage, then made a spectacular comeback the following day (thanks in part to a testosterone treatment during the night), but almost inevitably got caught, as he was certain to be tested - having won the stage - and testosterone doping was easy to detect.

Edited by Claude
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  • 3 months later...

Nowadays the only difference between the 'tour de France' and the one 'de Rolling Stones' is that Keith Richards is enough honest to complain about the low quality of the 'doping' on today's market.

That is pretty sad, I always loved bike's races since I was a child.

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