Floyd’s the Man!
Most of you come to this site to read about Macs, the iPod, iTunes, music, books and related subjects. But today I simply have to write about an athlete who stunned me yesterday, turning in a performance in the sports world’s most difficult event that is nothing short of historic.
Floyd Landis, riding for the Phonak team, single-handedly engineered one of the most astounding comebacks in cycling history. (Hey, that’s not just me saying so–it’s the most impressive performance I’ve seen in the years I’ve been following the Tour de France, but the press is unanimous in saluting what Floyd did.) After losing some ten minutes in Wednesday’s mountain stage, Floyd took off over four difficult mountains, alone, with no teammates to support him, against all odds, and literally kicked but. Winning with more than 7 minutes advance over the yellow jersey holder, Floyd when from 8 minutes down to a mere 30 seconds. (He picked up some bonus seconds by winning the stage, and by winning an intermediary sprint.)Cycling is a team sport that depends on individual performances. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times in part because he’s a phenomenal athlete, but also because he had the best team possible helping him, accompanying him and leading him up the mountains. Floyd’s team is at best mediocre, in spite of the spin they try to put on it. Axel Merckx, son of the great cyclist of yore, is probably the only solid teammate he has, so Floyd had no choice but to go it alone yesterday. And go it he did. Taking off in a very tough climb, he left the other riders in the dust. Reaching a maximum of some 9 minutes’ advance on the yellow jersey rider, Oscar Pereiro. The commentators on French TV kept saying how he’d lose his lead, how he wouldn’t be able to hold out with the tough climbs ahead, especially the last one. These were the same who had said that Floyd has lost the race the day before.
Yet as Landis got closer to the top of that last mountain, the col de Joux-Plane, they started changing their tune, and got out their calculators. They soon realized that what they were seeing was not a failed rider’s swan song but rather a moment of cycling history. Landis held his lead as he rode the last five kilometers downhill to the finish, then raised his fist in glory as he crossed the finish line. One journalist writing for Sports Illustrated Online, said that Landis was mad when he saw the headline in a French newspaper saying that he was out of the race. He said he was planning to “go apesh*t”.
And he did indeed. With his head down, constantly drenching himself with water to stave off the heat, Floyd just set his sights not for the end of yesterday’s stage, but for the final victory in Paris. With only thirty seconds to catch up, Floyd looks like a lock for the overall win: Friday’s stage is a “transitional” stage, where no one will get any time, but Saturday is a time trial, where Floyd is much stronger than the two riders ahead of him.
On the day the Tour began, some journalist said on French TV that he was glad that the “American” domination was over. After Lance Armstrong’s retirement, he didn’t want any more Americans winning. Well, dude, tough luck. This American is kicking butt, and has entered the legend of the Tour de France.
(Note: Floyd Landis is not only an impressive athlete, but one who suffers extreme pain daily from a serious problem with a hip. This New York Times article explains’ Landis’ problem with “osteonecrosis, or bone death, a degenerative condition caused by lack of blood supply”. His ability to overcome this pain, and triumph in the world’s most difficult sporting event, is no less than astounding.)
It was utterly astonishing. I’ve got it all on disk as I didn’t take it in the first time.
… the ‘tour’ on the Champs Elysee. One must admit it was not very evident
that Floyd would win. This was one of the more exiting Tours of the last
decade. The yellow jersey changing every few days. My favorite was the
Belgian Aussie Ian McEwan, who finally won with points.
Landis triumph was well deserved. And to Europeans he made a better
impression than Lance Armstong who had too much of an ego and of whom
they still believe he used some sort of drugs (but I don’t want to start a
discussion on that point).
I sincerely hope to see Floyd Landis back at the start of the 2007 edition of
the Tour de France.
Oops. The Belgian Aussie is of course Rob McEwan. (Damned Alzheimer…) ;-)
He did say that he’s signed for another two years, but the Phonak team is
morphing into the iShares team…