Tour de France: Stage 18 Live Thread (Friday, July 21, 2006) Morzine-Avoriaz to Mâcon

Tour de France website ^ | 7/21/06

[luv2ski]

You are right- it was a cut tire. I remember hearing that and thinking WTF? How do you have a cut tire minutes before your start time in the TDF Prologue? In the ITT, I recall Bob Roll recounting Landis' experience that day and I am pretty sure he said that he ended up finishing the ITT on a 3rd bike that was meant to be simply a spare. My reaction at the time was that it was a miracle that he had as good a time as he did.
I will go back through the archives and see if I see anything about it. There has been so much written about this Tour, I have no idea whether I can find it!

[Ready4Freddy]

Huh? I didn't take his side..... ???

[luv2ski]

I went back and reread your post and you are so right! My apologies! Everyone else took his side - you were much more diplomatic! ;-D

[Ready4Freddy]

The essence of several rider's comments I've read has been 'gutsiest move i've ever seen'.

Did you see Bobby Julich's diary on ESPN.com? - Floyd Landis' Stage 17 ride on Thursday was the most amazing ride I have ever seen in my life and will go down as one of the best rides of all time, and Landis will go down as one of cycling's gutsiest riders.

[luv2ski]

Terrific! Thanks for that link! It's hard for Bobby to favor Landis over Sastre but he just can't help himself. He's a fellow American! His words about Sastre in the TT are scary. Tomorrow is going to be wilder than shiite!

[TomB]

Plus, that's just not Floyd's style. There's a difference between Lance looking back at Jan when they are the only two around, and Landis looking back into the lion's mouth at the start of his adventure!

Minor quibble.

When the infamous "Look" occurred on L'Alpe d'Huez in 2001, Lance and Jan, IIRC, were at the head of a pack of riders, they weren't alone.

But Floyd's ride was indeed epic. It will go down in the history of The Tour as one of the truly great rides.

As an aside, while I haven't been able to keep up with the threads around here, from what I've read, I've yet to see any of the usual suspects put Landis through any kind of political anal exam. It's nice to see people are keeping politics out of it.

[Ready4Freddy]

They were the only ones that mattered, and both knew it.

When the infamous "Look" occurred on L'Alpe d'Huez in 2001, Lance and Jan, IIRC, were at the head of a pack of riders, they weren't alone.