(pic from Yahoo!)
Floyd Landis secured the Tour de France win with a very good Time Trial performance that vaulted him over Oscar Periero. Landis looked to smoke the course early onas he beat the first split time set by Serhiy Honchar, but as the TT progressed Landis’ times slowed down a bit to where he placed second behind the T-Mobile duo of Honchar and Kloden. Landis’ time was fast enough to get a one minute advantage over Periero, and reason enough to decompress and celebrate his first Tour win.
What more can be said of Landis now that he cemented his first Tour win and the eight consecutive win by and American cyclist? The stage to Morzine that followed the total collapse at La Toussiere will be talked about for ages. The fist pumping victory salute should be on inspirational posters everywhere.
Sastre Disastre
Carlos Sastre had a mini implosion today as he performed poorly in the final Time Trial and lost a podium spot. Now Andreas Kloden takes third and promptly dedicated his spot to the now unemployed Jan Ullrich. Sastre performed well in the Alps and could have spoiled the day for Landis if CSC helped to chase down Landis earlier. Lucky they didn’t. But CSC at least has someone to make them forget about the Basso situation for a little while.
Cunego Impressive
Conventional wisdom and past performances indicated that Damiano Cundego would not last long in the white jersey for best young rider in the Tour. With a slight five second lead and not a great track record in Time Trials no one expected much from Cunego. But the last TT is much more about form than TT ability and Cunego put in a great performance to stay in white. Cunego has had a great Tour de France and the future looks bright for “Il Prinicippe” as his form is finally coming back after last years bout with Epstein Barr.