As I alluded to in a previous post, American Floyd Landis has charged back from the brink and willed himself back in contention to win the Tour De France. Like many, I’d written Landis off just two days ago but he proved me wrong. This Tour is anything but over.
Landis started yesterday trailing by eight minutes, eight seconds, having blown a ten minute lead in his disastrous climb in the La Toussiure stage. Whereas many would have rolled over and quit, Landis charged from the very beginning, leaving his struggling rivals in his wake. Not only did he win the stage – the last in the mighty Alps – he sliced his deficit to a mere thirty seconds! That’s right. Just one day after his disaster, Landis gained most of his time back, and he did it on one of the toughest climbs of the Tour. It was one of the most phenomenal Tour De France stages in modern history.
I knew athletes like Lance Armstrong could spot rivals eight minutes and then earn it back at will, but Lance never had to dig himself out of such a hole. No one’s ever done it as spectacularly as Landis did yesterday.
Even if he doesn’t win the whole race, yesterday’s win proves Floyd Landis is worthy of standing in Lance’s well-worn footsteps at the winner’s podium. I’m hoping he crushes his rivals in Saturday’s time trial so he can claim it all. He just might win after all.
Man, what a Tour!