Tour de France - Spoiler Post

[JR]

If you don't want to know what happened today, stop reading now.












Unfreakingbelievable!!! Epic!!!! The greatest ride since Lemond's TT win over Fignon.

Floyd Landis comes off the mat to crush everyone in the peloton. With all the contending teams hammering, Landis leaves everyone behind and just rides away. And when, on the final HC climb, Sastre closes ever so slightly, Landis flies on the descent, gaining another 30 seconds.

I want to be Floyd Landis when I grow up. Floyd for President! If I was female I'd want to have his babies!!

Ok, no more coffee for me...

JR

[PJC]

Holy Crap Batman!!!!!

I don't follow the Tour (other than the results), but all anyone was talking about yesterday was how he was out of it.

Way to go Floyd!

And isn't he having hip surgery after this? I heard bike cycling is the only thing he can do without pain. Not even walk or lie down.

[JR]

And isn't he having hip surgery after this?

That's right. He crashed a couple of years ago, breaking the top of his femur. It didn't heal properly, resulting in some sort of necrosis of the bone. He's now running bone on bone in his hip.

JR

[Thom2]

Go Floyd!!!

I don't really follow the Tour much, but it is certainly a treat to see a local guy (I live about 10 miles from his home) in the limelight. If only his parents could follow more closely, they had an interview with them on the news at noon today, they don't even own a TV. They're devout mennonites and they've got to travel to a neighbor's house to see their son race.

GO FLOYD GO!!!!

[drumpriest]

This year's tour is so far from predictable that it's driving me crazy. As of yesterday noone game Floyd Landis a possibility of returning to the top of the race, but he did it. Now it's down to the final TT. We'll see. He beat both the guys ahead of him on GC in the first TT by over a minute, so the possibility is certainly there for him to win this year's tour.

[JR]

Now it's down to the final TT.

Normally that analysis would be absolutely correct. But there's still one more stage before the TT, and the way this year's race is going who knows what'll happen tomorrow?

How about a series of attacks from T-Mobile, trying to get Kloden back in the hunt for the podium? How about Horner and Evans taking off to try to emulate Floyd's ride from today (while taking the stray sprint points in support of their Green Jersey teammante McEwen)?

It's pretty wide open, even at this late date. What a blast!

JR

[LarryG]

Having not yet watched the tape of this stage, I couldn't read and contribute to this thread yesterday without spoiling my fun. But now, I can:

Un. Be. Liev. Able. Awesome ride. I'm speechless. The words that can adequately express the enormity of what Floyd Landid did yesterday haven't been invented yet.

What an absolutely amazing Tour de France! Jean-Marie LeBlanc must be going nuts ... he finally gets Armstrong out of "his" race, it's the most wide-open and unpredictable Tour in years, and yet there's an excellent chance another American is going to win!

Normally that analysis would be absolutely correct. But there's still one more stage before the TT, and the way this year's race is going who knows what'll happen tomorrow?

That's true, anything can happen in this one. On today's flat stage I would not expect any major moves on GC, but what MIGHT happen is that everyone will ride like h3ll trying to MAKE a move on GC, and everyone will give chase, and everyone will wear themselves out before the time trial on Saturday. And there's still a chance of an actual race on Sunday, instead of the usual gentlemanly parade. It ain't gonna be over til it's over!

What a race! (And now, my blinders are going back on WRT this thread ...)

[jp_spins]

I think Floyd has a really good chance to get the yellow jersey back in tomorrows time trial, he was very good in the first one and handily beat his closest competitors in that stage.