Tour de France: Stage 17 Live Thread (Thursday, July 20, 2006) Col de Joux-Plane

VeloNews.com ^ | July 20, 2006 | VeloNews.com

[kevkrom]

6'53"

[gopwinsin04]

Landis starts the defining climb of his career. 16:20 CEST
Landis and Sinkewitz start the Joux-Plane, and it's steep straight away.

[BaBaStooey]

The lead is now 6:53? That changed pretty fast.

Virtual GC update (including Floyd's 10 bonus seconds):

Pos. N° Name Surname Team Nat. Gaps
1 097 PEREIRO SIO Oscar CEI ESP
2 071 LANDIS Floyd PHO USA 01' 01"
3 014 SASTRE Carlos CSC ESP 01' 50"
4 021 KLÖDEN Andréas TMO GER 02' 29"
5 035 DESSEL Cyril A2R FRA 02' 43"
6 061 EVANS Cadel DVL AUS 02' 56"

[Eurotwit]

Finally, Landis leaving Sinkewitz.

[kevkrom]

GO FLOYD GO!

[commish]

HEre we go. Floyd Landis has about 20KM to Legend status. Does he have anything left in the tank????

[gopwinsin04]

Floyd goes out of the saddle!

16:21 CEST 178km/22.5km to go Landis gets out of the saddle, keeping the cadence up as Sinkewitz stays seated. The gap is 6'53 to the bunch, which is going to blow to bits on this climb.

16:22 CEST 178.5km/22km to go Sinkewitz is dropped! Landis doesn't care. That's amazing riding.

[Vision]

Landis is now alone, Sink cracked. Floyd is literal pouring pints of water on his head.

[commish]

Letour shows gap at 6:33, velonews says it is back up to 6:52.

[kevkrom]

16:24 - Peloton 25km From Finish...

The peloton is 25km from the finish with a deficit of 6’35" to Landis.

16:23 - Sinkewitz Dropped...!

Landis is racing ahead of Sinkewitz and on his way to a historic stage victory. The American is determined to regain the time he lost on the road to La Toussuire...

[gopwinsin04]

16:23 CEST The group maillot jaune is in full flight towards the foot of the climb, led by Kessler and Gonchar, who will give everything for Kloden. CSC is in next rank. Pereiro is in about 10th.

16:24 CEST 179.5km/21km to go Landis signals again for his car, which can feed him until 20 km to go.

[af_vet_rr]

Are there any restictions on what they can eat or drink on the course? Could he guzzle corn syrup if he wanted to?

In theory, yes, but they have dieticians measuing every little calorie that goes into their body at this level - you'll see those little packets they tear open and eat - if it's what I've seen in sports shops, it's basically this paste stuff. During previous Tours, when they did shows on Armstrong "behind the scenes", it was unbelievable how much he was eating, especially pasta.

One thing you won't see - they won't drink or eat anything handed to them by fans alongside the side of the road - all they need is some crazed fan to slip them something with banned substances and get them kicked out, or some kind of heavy duty laxatives (or worse).

[kevkrom]

Remember, even a 6' win for Landis could still net him the Yellow jersey if Pereiro Sio cracks.

[Republicain]

The "moment of truth" is right now... Le moment de vérité !

[af_vet_rr]

Does he have anything left in the tank????

If he's out of the saddle, he's got something left.

[green iguana]

Here you go:

6:24 CEST 179.5km/21km to go
Landis signals again for his car, which can feed him until 20 km to go.

[gopwinsin04]

Arlene Landis, mother of bicycle racer Floyd Landis walks to watch her son on television compete in the Tour de France at a neighbor's house in Ephrata, Pa.

[Ready4Freddy]

Could, depending on what the others in the GC Top 10 do...

[commish]

MY stomach is in Knots. LOL. Gap holding at around 6:30 for the moment. What an amazing ride so far. Does he have enough left in the tank. He looks like a totally different rider today. Yesterday you could see the pain and suffering in his face. Today he looks absolutely possessed.

[kevkrom]

Sinkewitz falling like a rock. Landis still holds 6'11" over the chase group.