Landis’ woes
What a difference a year makes. There was a familiar sight on the final punishing HC climb to Brasstown Bald Mountain on Stage 5 of the Tour de Georgia. (The race, the biggest stage race on American soil, actually ended on April 24, but OLN had a two-hour recap of all six stages today.) American Floyd Landis was in front of Lance Armstrong. The difference, however, is that this year Landis is riding for the Swiss Phonak team after opting to leave his spot as one of Armstrong’s top lieutenants on the Discovery Team (formerly U.S. Postal Service). What we’re used to seeing is Landis setting the pace for Armstrong up the climb, allowing him to conserve his energy for the final kilometers or so. On Brasstown Bald, Landis was definitely in front of Armstrong, but this time he was suffering greatly and Armstrong wasn’t going to give him any help since Tom Danielson was busy in front of Landis, taking over a minute out of him, stripping him of the yellow jersey on the race’s penultimate day, and cementing his overall victory. Gone was Armstrong’s familiar quick climbing cadence as he let Floyd flounder and blow up on the ascent. When he finally attacked, sprinted around him, and danced on the pedals out of the camera’s frame leaving Landis completely alone, it seemed like both Armstrong and Johann Bruneel were deliberately trying to make him feel sorry for leaving their team. Landis is lucky he’s riding at all–the UCI was going to ban Phonak from racing after having three riders come up hot for doping. Does anyone still believe Tyler?
