... made it a dramatic story this year. What if Phonak hadn't ceded 30 minutes to Pereiro and kept Floyd in yellow? And what if Floyd ate and drank en

Mistakes in the TdF...

... made it a dramatic story this year. What if Phonak hadn't ceded 30 minutes to Pereiro and kept Floyd in yellow? And what if Floyd ate and drank enough to avoid bonking? And what if Sastre's team had joined Pereiro's team in chasing down Floyd's incredible solo breakaway? Would it have been another predictable tour, like the last seven, where the strongest man (probably Landis) won? Would Pereiro have been in the top 10?

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

Here's a beautifully written story on the tour and Landis. Some excerpts:

The wind was at his back now, gently rustling the banners along the Champs-Elysees and urging Floyd Landis on with a certainty he hadn't felt since he lit out of Pennsylvania Dutch country as a kid, vowing some day to win the world's greatest bicycle race.

....

Instead of order and the invincibility that characterized all but one of Armstrong's seven straight wins, Landis was hounded by chaos from start to finish, projecting an all-too-familiar frailty throughout. What he proved by the end was that you doubt his courage at your own risk.

....

"There are days when you crack, but on those days, you lose one, maybe two minutes. This wasn't a crack," Robbie Ventura, Landis' coach said. "It was a detonation."

Yet the very next day, Landis attacked on the first climb back up the same mountain range, a 125-mile stage to Morzine-Avoriaz, and didn't stop until he left his opponents out of breath and in denial. The gamble was so audacious, so hardheaded and risky that as word of Landis' plan rippled through a peloton worn out after a week in the Pyrenees and Alps, several riders pulled up alongside and begged him not to try it.

"I just told 'em," Landis would recall, "'Go drink some Coke, 'cause we're leaving on the first climb if you want to come along."'

That epic ride was still the talk of the Tour late into Saturday night, just a few hours after Landis effectively locked up the race with a third-place finish in the 35.4-mile individual time trial to Montceau-les-Mines.

Armstrong and Belgian Eddy Merckx, two of the greatest champions the sport has ever known, were huddled in a back booth at the Hotel Costes, awaiting the largely ceremonial last-stage run-in to the Champs-Elysees.

"How crazy was that?" Armstrong said finally.

Rather than answer, Merckx, a five-time champion himself and a competitor so fierce he was nicknamed "The Cannibal," shook his head slowly in disbelief. A moment later, though, he lifted the right sleeve of his polo shirt and flexed his biceps.

"Strong," Merckx said, shaking his head again. "Just incredibly ... unbelievably ... strong."

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

This one will be debated for years, but the results are above debate. A skinny kid from Pennsylvania has the heart and soul of a champion.

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

I still keep wondering what the boy's Mennonite parents think about all this. If I recall correctly, they weren't overly fond of his chosen career path. Since I've also heard Mennonites aren't real big on television, maybe he'll be able to keep all this Tour de France stuff a secret from them....

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

I thought I sent you this . . .

FARMERSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - As Floyd Landis crossed the Tour de France finish line Sunday, his devout Mennonite parents were riding their own bicycles home from church.

Paul and Arlene Landis were so confident their son would win the cycling's greatest race they didn't have to choose between going to church and watching it on TV at a neighbour's house.

"I'm glad we didn't have to make that choice. Church is very important to us," Arlene Landis said. "We felt in our hearts he was going to win. He is not one to take second place."

The couple and their neighbours in this tiny hamlet in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country were celebrating Sunday after Floyd Landis' unlikely victory, which keeps cycling's most prestigious title in American hands for an eighth straight year.

At Farmersville's only intersection a short distance from the Landis home, neighbours scrawled: "Floyd Landis, World Winner of Tour de France 2006, -10:00 to +.59, USA." Cyclists and motorists alike snapped photos of the message, spraypainted in gigantic yellow letters, that referred to the huge time deficit Landis overcame to win the Tour.

Well-wishers also flocked to the Landis home, a white farmhouse bordered by cornfields in Farmersville, a rural crossroads of a couple dozen homes just outside the borough of Ephrata in eastern Pennsylvania.

Sunday, the home was festooned with green and yellow balloons, the colors of Landis' Phonak team. On the front lawn, signs showcased the divergence of cultures - "To God be the glory" and "Floyd's the man."

Inside, visitors found a Phonak jersey signed "To Dad" and a Le Tour de France chocolate and vanilla layer cake with green and yellow icing, baked specially by Landis' mom for a celebration later Sunday night.

The attention "just really humbled me," Arlene Landis said. "I think this is terrific."

All who visited, friend and stranger, were greeted warmly by Paul and Arlene, who questioned their 30-year-old son's obsession with cycling when he was a teenager and were saddened when he chose to leave the Mennonite fold.

On Sunday, they said they felt "joy" at his victory and hoped he will use it to glorify God.

"People in any profession who do their best are often lifted up as examples, and I want his life to be a life of integrity and an example to young people," Arlene Landis said.

Landis bought his first mountain bike at age 15 at Green Mountain Cyclery, a local shop. He won the first mountain bike race he entered. Two years later, in 1993, he was crowned a junior national champion. At age 20, he decided to move to southern California to train full time.

All along, he told friends he would win the Tour de France someday.

After a disastrous ride Wednesday in which he plunged to 11th place, Landis put himself back into contention Thursday with a once-in-a-lifetime ride in the Alps.

Arlene Landis, who has walked to a neighbour's house each morning to watch the Tour, said she felt the hand of God in that performance.

"I just feel like that was given to him not to lift him up but to show God gives strength in the face of disappointment," she said.

As Landis rode the final leg to Paris on Sunday, his parents attended 9 a.m. Sunday school and 10 a.m. worship at Martindale Mennonite Church, a conservative congregation of about 400 people.

Floyd's name wasn't mentioned, not even as a joy or prayer request, and congregants seemed ambivalent about his success. Landis, the second of six children, was raised in this church, whose members live simply and eschew the larger culture.

"We are disappointed with the lifestyle he lives, but I love him as a friend and care about him," said a church member, Nelson Weaver, 34.

One of Martindale's pastors, David Sensenig, said recognition of individual accomplishment is frowned on in Mennonite faith. Nevertheless, he said Floyd Landis was still the talk of the congregation.

"Winning the race isn't the big deal," Sensenig said. "It's what he does with the results, with the fame and fortune. He can use his influence for the betterment of the church, of Christ."

Paul Landis said he sees the victory as a chance to spread the Gospels and looks forward to meeting people he never otherwise would have met.

"I want to hear their victories and their sorrows, and we can encourage each other," he said.

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

Jean,

Thanks, you did send it to me, but I was out playing with the baby at St. Jean Beach all morning and didn't see it.

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

Jean,

Thanks, you did send it to me, but I was out playing with the baby at St. Jean Beach all morning and didn't see it.

Click to expand...

You have a new baby? Congratulations Tim and Mrs. Tim.

Re: Mistakes in the TdF...

"The baby" is our affectionate name for our 24 year old daughter, one that she so far has sweetly tolerated.