Cycling Safari

Stage 17: St. Jean de Maurienne to Morzine-Avoriaz, 200.5 km / 124.5 mi

-by Cathy Mehl

A third day in the Alps with another serving of five big climbs greeted the cyclists on this final day of ascending in the 93rd Tour de France. Not quite as hard as yesterday’s profile, but this day would prove to shake up the standings yet again as only a few seconds separated many of the top GC contenders.

An early break included Discovery Channel’s Pavel Padrnos which quickly developed a gap before the first climb. And then one rider in the main field, one rider who had absolutely nothing to lose by taking a risk, broke away from the peloton and started the long bridge to the leading group - and that rider was Phonak’s Floyd Landis! Appearing to suffer a classic bonk on yesterday’s stage and losing the Maillot Jaune on the final climb, Landis came out with guns a-blazin’ today and eventually made it across to the leaders.

Climb after climb the “Motivated Mennonite” continued to put time into the peloton, eventually gaining back all of his loss and descending the Col de la Columbiere in virtual yellow with only Patrik Sinkewitz (T-Mobile) able to follow but unwilling to work with Kloden behind. Landis was seen talking to his team car often, eating and drinking throughout the stage and dousing himself with bottles of water to keep his core temperature down on a very hot day in the Alps. Looking like a man possessed, Landis often adopted a Time Trial position and powered on with visions of the yellow jersey dancing in his head.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton, the team of the current yellow jersey Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears) didn’t seem able to do the bulk of the work and eventually Team CSC came forward to bring down the gap with T-Mobile sitting just behind them. The battle was on as they all drove for the HC Joux-Plane climb and the final descent into Morzine.

Hitting the bottom of the col, Landis quickly dispatched Sinkewitz while the peloton behind stirred like a bees in a hive as they realized Landis could possibly hold on for the win. With over six minutes on the peloton on the lower parts of the climb, the group quickly blew apart on these famous slopes. Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) was finally able to move away from the group and go after Landis as most of the GC contenders struggled alone up the climb. With the yellow jersey dangling like a carrot in front of him, Sastre rode a smart pace up the mountain.

At the top of the Joux-Plane Landis had five minutes over Sastre and held that gap all the way down as he utilized his superb mountain bike skills to fly down the descent. Crossing the line with a rage-filled one-armed punch, Landis finally got an elusive stage win in the Tour de France and made a big statement to all: HE’S BAACCKK! Sure to go down in Tour history, Landis executed the ride of his life and looks to Saturday’s Time Trial to seal the deal. Paris is looking ever closer now, in more ways than one.

Once again feeling the power of the Maillot Jaune, Periero held on to the jersey by twelve seconds over Sastre with a revitalized Landis sitting pretty at thirty seconds back. Simply an incredible ride in an incredible Tour!