Final stage underway, Landis set to win Tour de France

The US dominance continues!

[skibum]

US Set to Win Again! [sports.yahoo.com]

PARIS (AP) -- Floyd Landis was in the yellow jersey as the final stage of the Tour de France got underway on Sunday.

Barring accident or mishap, Landis was expected to win the race and become the third American champion of cycling's showcase event.

Landis began the 96-mile route from Sceaux-Antony to the tree-lined streets of Paris' Champs-Elysees with a 59-second lead over Oscar Pereiro. He was 1:29 ahead of Andreas Kloeden of Germany.

[lawman]

Maybe they should just do away with the tour and mail the yellow jersey to whichever cyclist the USA designates. :)

[Nybo]

All due respect for Landis' recovery, but it has to be said that Tour de France 2006 was rather farcical and that professional cycle racing is one of those sports that are really difficult to regard with any degree of respect and trust these days.

[lawman]

That's one way to diminish the winner's accomplishment.

[Nybo]

Oh, but sure. And if that's not enough, I have one more:

Lance Armstrong was not there.

Landis' stage victory may become one of the real Tour legends, but it will not bring him out of Armstrong's giant shadow. There are still people who dismiss Luis Ocaņa's victory in 1973 by stressing the fact that Eddy Merckx was not racing that year.

[lawman]

I didn't think I knew what you were saying. Now I know I don't.

Was it a farce because Lance wasn't there?

Was it a farce because a sub-par American won?

Was it a farce even without Lance?

If it's not really a farce, was the win diminished because Lance wasn't there?

Is there more of a conspiracy than any of us could ever know?

[digitalghost]

It's also a rather backhanded way of diminishing the performance of all the contestants.

[skibum]

Regardless, it was one hell of an accomplishment. People (Lance) retire, people got busted doping, no allegations of anything for Landis and he's from right around here in PA too.

[digitalghost]

It was one hell of an accomplishment. Always amazing when detractors come along and try to diminish a fantastic achievement. In this particular case, it's like trying to discount a no-hitter because the pitcher wasn't throwing against a line-up of all the best hitters in baseball.

[shigamoto]

Landis did a great job, you have to in order to win the tour. It wasn't really a surprise that he won, he looked very sharp during the days when he was a support rider for Lance and always did a hell of a job, especially in the mountains.

[Skier]

Every rider that finished the tour gets my full admiration. It is an amazing accomplishment.

Floyd's full day attack on the whole peleton to regain his lost time was inspiring. Rassmusen's solo adventure to win the polka dot makes him a hero for all uphill riders. Robbie is still the fastest. Eric Zabel - he's still there! (Makes me proud to be an old guy on a bike) Thanks Ekimov, nice way to finish.

Only eleven months to wait for the next tour...

[monkeythumpa]

What is so hard about the Tour? A guy straight out of chemo won it 7 times and now a guy with an arthritic hip. Sounds like it should be part of the special olympics.

[skibum]

Let's put together team WebmasterWorld and see how hard it is to win the tour.

[texasville]

>>>>What is so hard about the Tour? A guy straight out of chemo won it 7 times and now a guy with an arthritic hip.<<<<

Yeah and next year we will send a guy with only one leg and see if they can beat him.

[bateman_ap]

Hmmm, might not be as impressive as you thought!

[news.bbc.co.uk...]

[bcolflesh]

This makes sense, American athletes would be the only ones with measurable levels of male testosterone in cycling.

[LifeinAsia]

Hey, he was so pi**ed off about his shoddy performance the day before, is it any wonder his testosterone level was higher than normal?

[monkeythumpa]

Let's put together team WebmasterWorld and see how hard it is to win the tour.

I'll drive the Subaru support vehicle.

[decaff]

Looks like Landis may be stripped of the title..

He tested positive on the 17th leg for massive amounts of testerone...(he claims he did nothing wrong...but the new testing from the Tour de France body says otherwise)...
too bad...he achieved a spectactular turnaround down 8 minutes and erasing 7+ minutes the next day (the leg where he was nailed for massive testerone levels)..