The FredCast Cycling Podcast - Bicycle Podcast for Endurance and Recreational Cyclists

When Floyd Landis started today’s 19th stage, the third and final individual time trial of this year’s Tour de France, he had one goal in mind: erase the 30-second deficit keeping him out of the yellow jersey and build a lead as big as possible. And that is exactly what he did.

Oscar Pereiro, Spain’s man of the week (IMHO), rode the time trial of his life today in the hopes of retaining his lead and heading into Paris in yellow. Unfortunately for him, Floyd Landis rode even better.

The stage victory went to T-Mobile’s Sergei Gonchar (UKR) who tore up the pavement and set a blistering pace that simply could not be bested. Second place in the stage went to Gonchar’s T-Mobile team mate, Andreas Kloden (GER), with Landis taking third place.

At this point, Floyd Landis is now poised to become the third American in history to win the Tour de France, making it 8 years in a row for a rider from the United States to stand atop the podium in Paris. Tomorrow’s final 155 km stage from Sceaux-Anony to Paris is largely ceremonial for those contending for the general classification and it should be Floyd in that final yellow jersey. The end of the race is for the sprinters as the field makes multiple laps around Paris.

Could there be a surprise in Paris tomorrow on par with Greg LeMond’s beating Laurent Fignon back in 1989? I suppose anything is possible (especially this year), but the difference is that back then the final stage was a time trial. This time, I think that sportsmanship will rule the day and it will be champagne on the Champs Elysee for Floyd.

So here is how the GC stacks up after today’s Stage 19:

1. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak
2. Oscar Pereiro (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne 0’59”
3. Andreas Kloeden (GER) T-Mobile 1’29”
4. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC 3’13”
5. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto 5’08”
6. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank 7’06”
7. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R 8’41”
8. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R 9’37”
9. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) Euskaltel 12’05”
10. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile 15’07”

With all commentators, including Floyd Landis, admitting that it would take a miracle for Floyd to get anywhere near the podium in Paris, it seemed this morning as if his race was over.

But Floyd Landis still had more tricks up his sleeve. Today’s Stage 17 was a 200 km event with two category 1s, a category 2, a category 3 and a beyond category climb.

Floyd attached at the 130 km mark. By the time he had climbed the find summit of the beyond category Col de Joux Plane, Floyd had a five minute lead over Carlos Sastre and was finaly able to win a stage of the tour de france over seven minutes ahead of Oscar Pereiro. With the time bonuses won by Sastre and Landis, Pereiro is holding on to the jersey by a very thin margin.

Whereas yesterday Floyd seemed to be out of the race in 11th place, today he is back in the hunt. Sastre is in second place in the GC , 12 seconds behin pereiro, with Landis in third just 30 seconds behind.

Floyd told interviewers “I have come here to win the Tour and I am not done fighting yet,”

“It does not look so bad for me at the moment and I am confident in my time trialling.

“I want to win the tour. If I had a bad day, I had to make up for it. Whoever wants to win this race has to earn it.”

So here is the general classification after Stage 17:
1. Oscar Pereiro (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne
2. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 0’12”
3. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 0’30”
4. Andreas Kloeden (GER) T-Mobile at 2’29”
5. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon – Lotto at 3’08”
6. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank at 4’14”
7. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R at 4’24”
8. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R at 5’44”
9. Haimar Zubeldia (SPA) Euskaltel at 8’16”
10. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 12’13”

Sorry I am late with the updates, everyone! I am traveling again on business and just can’t seem to get caught up.

Monday was a rest day at the Tour de France, with the riders getting ready for the ever-popular Alpe d’Huez. This time it is a 187 km stage from Gap to L’Alpe d’Huez. In the middle of the stage is a beyond category climb up Col d’Izoard, followed by a 2nd category climb at Col du Laurtaret, and then the beyond category climb of L’Alpe d’Huez itself, with the finish right at the summit.

This looks to be the pivotal stage of this year’s tour. So far, with the yellow jersey changing hands so often and no team or rider seeming to be willing to take over the role of race leader, this still is anyone’s race (although I still think that Floyd Landis [USA] can pull it out). Interesting to note that Discovery basically seems to have given up trying for a win as noted by the OLN commentators late last week.
Here are the standings in the general classification as we go into the final week of racing leading to the Champs Elysee:
1. Oscar Pereiro (EPS) Caisse d’Epargne/Illes Balears
2. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 1’29”
3. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R at 1’37”
4. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank at 2’30″
5. Cadel Evens (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto at 2’46″″
6. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 3’21″″
7. Andreas Kloden (GER) T-Mobile at 3’58″″
8. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 4’51″″
9. Juan Miguel Mercado (ESP) Agritubel at 5’02″″
10. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R at 5’13”

Eleven was a lucky number for Floyd Landis (USA) of the Phonak team. After a gruelling 206.5 km stage that included a beyond category climb and then four (4!) first category climbs, Floyd took third place in the stage and did it in enough time (including his third place time bonus) to take the yellow jersey and the overall race lead in the 2006 Tour de France.

This really was an exciting day of racing with riders battling it out over the entire course, especially in the mountains. After losing a group of riders on the final climb, it was down to just three riders and a final sprint to see who would win the day’s stage. With Landis’ hip injury, he didn’t really try to go after the stage victory, allowing Denis Menchoc (RUS) to take the stage and newly-redeemed leaving Levi Leipheimer (USA) to take second.

At the end of the day’s racing, here is the all-new General Classification standings:

1. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak
2. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R at 0’08”
3. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank at 1’01”
4. Cadel Evens (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto at 1’17”
5. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 1’52”
6. Andreas Kloden (GER) T-Mobile at 2’29”
7. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 3’22”
8. Juan Miguel Mercado (ESP) Agritubel at 3’33”
9. Christophe Moreau (FRA) AG2R at 3’44”
10. Marcus Fothen (GER) Gerosteiner at 4’17”

Not a good day for the race leaders and current favorites. The Tour hit the mountains and the leaders were left in the dust by what was essentially a two-man break most of the day.

Juan Miguel Mercado (ESP) and Cyril Dessel (FRA) shared the work most of the day and the peloton never had a chance of catching them. At the finish, Dessel and Mercado sprinted to the line for yet another photo finish. Mercado took the stage, but Dessel took the yellow jersey and the polka-dot King of The Mountains jersey. Mercado, as second in the polka dot standings, will wear the KOM jersey in tomorrow’s 220.5 km stage from Tarbes to Val d’Aran.

Tomorrow will be an even tougher stage than today, with a beyond category climb and four (count ’em – 4!) first category climbs!

So at the end of today’s stage, here are the standings for the yellow jersey so far:

1. Cyril Dessel (FRA) AG2R
2. Juan Miguel Mercado (ESP) Agritubel at 2’34”
3. Sergei Gonchar (UKR) T-Mobile at 3’45”
4. Christian Moreni (ITA) Cofidis at 3’51”
5. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 4’45″
6. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 4’53″
7. Inigo Landaluze (ESP Euskatel at 5’22”
8. Patrik Sinkewitz (GER) T-Mobile at 5’30″
9. Andreas Kloden (GER) T-Mobile at 5’35″″
10. Vladimir Karpets (RUS) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears at 5’37“

The FredCast was listed on the front page of iTunes’ podcasting section today! CLICK HERE to see a screen capture of the page.

Just another day at the office for the Tour de France peloton as they pedaled their way through the wine-making region of Bordeaux and wound up the day in Dax, at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains. Today’s stage was mostly flat, so the only excitement was whether or not the three-man break (consisting of Walter Beneteau [FRA], Stephane Auge [FRA] and Christian Knees[GER]) would be able to hold-off the peloton. Despite Knees’ constant attempts to pull away from the other two (and the peloton), they were eventually caught just a few km from the finish.

Once the break was reeled-in, it was time for the sprinters to work on trying to win the stage. It was an exciting sprint that literally came down to a photo finish, with Oscar Freire (ESP) just barely edging out green jersey points leader Robbie McEwen (AUS) by inches. Third place went to Erik Zabel (GER) and fourth to Tom Boonen (BEL).

Looming up the road at the mountains of the Pyrenees and tomorrow’s beyond category climb up Col du Soudet. For now, the time sprinting is over. Here come the climbers!

At the end of today’s stage, here are the standings in the general classification:

1. Sergei Honchar (UKR) T-Mobile
2. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak at 1’00″
3. Michael Rogers (AUS) T-Mobile at 1’08″
4. Patrik Sinkewitz (GER) T-Mobile at 1’45″
5. Andreas Kloden (GER) T-Mobile at 1’50″
6. Vladimir Karpets (RUS) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears at 1’52″
7. Cadel Evans (AUS) Davitamon-Lotto at 1’52″
8. Marcus Fothen (GER) Gerosteiner at 1’50″
9. Dave Zabriskie (USA) CSC at 2’03”
10. Paolo Salvoldelli (ITA) Discovery at 2’10”