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Giro finale
Photo ©: Bettini

First Edition Cycling News for July 25, 2006

Edited by John Stevenson & John Kenny

Landis on Landis: "I'm just an ordinary guy"

By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor

Floyd Landis celebrates on the Champs Elysees with team-mate Koos Moerenhout
Photo ©: Jon Devich
(Click for larger image)

Phonak's Floyd Landis talked with reporters yesterday afternoon via a teleconference from his happily undisclosed location in a hotel room in Paris. One of the most popular topics was that of his upcoming hip surgery, and how he thinks it will affect next year. "What I am trying to do is not fix the mechanical problem, it is trying to fix the pain," Landis explained. "Mechanically it works now, it is just that the pain can be unbearable."

Landis said that he is confident he will be able to return to racing in time for next season, and that the thought of this ending his racing career has entered his mind. "What is going to take time is that I will have to stop riding for a while, and whatever fitness or muscle loss will be what I will have to overcome. Yeah, I would be sad if it was over now. I love racing my bike. I can say that having won the Tour I am a little more calm about it."

Click here for the full interview.

T-Mobile meets fans in Bonn

Mazzoleni, Rogers and Sinkewitz
Photo ©: Susan Westemeyer
(Click for larger image)

German team T-Mobile returned to its home base in Bonn for a post-Tour fans and media reception on Monday. Susan Westemeyer was there for Cyclingnews to report on what was generally a successful Tour for the magenta team.

It could have been better ... but it could have been a lot worse, too. The Tour de France got off to what might politely be called a rocky start for Team T-Mobile, what with its captain, another rider and the directeur sportif being not only thrown out of the race but suspended from the team.

But it ended up with three stage wins, three days wearing the leader's yellow jersey, the overall team ranking and, oh yes, the third place in GC.

That third place seems to be a sticking point. Andreas Klöden ended up on the podium in a race he initially expected to be a super-domestique in, but despite that achievement he is left with a feeling of 'what if?' "With a little luck, I could have done more," he said Monday at T-Mobile's corporate headquarters in Bonn, Germany, at a reception for the Tour team. The gathered fans didn't seem to care - they were happy to celebrate their heroes. The crowd was perhaps a bit smaller than in past years, but just as enthusiastic.

Click here for the full story

Phonak manager proud

Phonak team manager Andy Rihs has written of his pride in his team's and Floyd Landis' achievement in winning the Tour de France. The mood among the team as Landis crossed the line in Paris was "indescribable," Rihs wrote in a team newsletter.

Landis, Rihs wrote, "knows how to work a spell on people, and he won their hearts with his uncomplicated and very approachable style. I'm proud of Floyd Landis and the entire team. What they did during the past three weeks is enormous."

This year's Tour was only Phonak's third and Rihs charted the team's increasing ambition and achievement over its brief career. "The first year we were happy just to be a part of it," he wrote. "The next year, we celebrated our first stage win, and this year, after taking another stage win, we were also able to cheer together after achieving the biggest goal, the overall win."

Despite having an American team leader and Tour winner and, next year, an American sponsor in iShares, Rihs says the team "will remain a Swiss team. For that reason, I not only hope that we'll be able to defend the Tour de France title next year. I also hope that a top Swiss rider will soon emerge from our team."

Bush congratulates Landis

United States President George W. Bush has congratulated Floyd Landis on his Tour de France victory. Reuters reports that President Bush spoke to Landis on Sunday evening and told him, "Everybody's proud of you. You showed amazing strength and character."

Bush, himself a keen mountain bike rider, invited Landis and his family to visit the White House.

Vandevelde's final impressions

By Hedwig Kröner in Paris

Christian Vandevelde (CSC) in stage 10
Photo ©: Jon Devich
(Click for larger image)

A few minutes after Thor Hushovd achieved his victory on the Champs-Elysées, coming full circle with his first win in the prologue three weeks ago, a glowing Christian Vandevelde rode back across the finish line to search for his team bus, looking very happy indeed.

"Every time is special; it always feels great," the CSC rider said about finishing the Tour de France on the 'most beautiful boulevard in the world', as the French call it. "Every Tour has its meaning to myself, and this one has just been great as there's been so much adversity from the beginning. First, with Ivan, then with Stuey's broken back, then Bobby... but then Jens and Fränk won, and Carlos almost got on the podium. And now, things that happened in the beginning seem like years ago. I can barely remember the stage in Valkenburg; or when I crashed… ."

Considering the circumstances before and in the first week of the race, Team CSC can be satisfied with this year's result in Le Tour: two stage wins and Sastre's fourth placing. Nevertheless, said Vandevelde, his teammate Jens Voigt would have wanted to be elected most combative rider - a title that was finally was awarded to Saunier Duval's David de la Fuente. On the final kilometres of the 'Grande Boucle', Voigt attacked over and over again. "I think he was trying to make the point that he should be the most combative rider... he feels robbed. I can understand it: he's done a lot of work, and he deserved it," Vandevelde explained.

The last Sunday of the 2006 Tour started out at the leisurely pace of 30 km/h. But as the final circuit race approached, the bunch gradually found its competitive spirit again, "Even though it's a parade, it's still hard racing on the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysées," Vandevelde continued. "There's usually a headwind, too. But seeing the Eiffel tower, and the millions of people cheering you on make it easier; you don't feel too much."

As the overall winner Floyd Landis stepped on the final podium with the Arc de Triomphe at his back, Vandevelde added, "Floyd impressed me with the way he transformed his mind and physical abilities. When he started out on the road, he was covered in bandages every day, crashing. He pushed it very far then, and he's almost doing the same thing now, but at a different level."

Lemond comments on Landis win

by Mark Zalewski, North American Editor

The American media have been desperately flipping through their Rolodexes to find expert analysis on the Tour win by Floyd Landis. ESPN's Cold Pizza tracked down the first American Tour winner, Greg Lemond, while he was vacationing with his family. When asked if the number of wins by Americans in the last twenty years is a trend, Lemond replied, "It's pure coincidence. We just had some talented individuals come into racing. But what Floyd did was amazing."

Lemond was also asked why it seems that the Americans that win seem to have to overcome great hurdles, with Lemond's hunting accident, Armstrong's cancer and now Landis' hip, "I think anybody who has had a setback... it shows your character," Lemond said. Lemond is also confident that Landis will be able to come back from his upcoming surgery, citing a colleague who had a hip replacement using a new technique, "He has the physiology to be a Tour de France winner, he did it, and I think he will win many more. I am optimistic he will be able to defend his title next year."

Lemond has certainly not hidden his feelings on Armstrong, and when asked who would win today between Landis, him and Armstrong, Lemond at first chuckled, "I am biased! I can't answer that, [laughs.]" But then Lemond got a little more serious. "Every race is different. The race changed dramatically this year. For me I am a strong anti-doping advocate. I think we are seeing a true Tour de France winner, someone who might have otherwise been cheated out of a win."

When asked if he was saying Lance's wins were tainted, Lemond said, "I am not saying that. It goes back to the historical norms, where people got tired and had bad days. It was common to have a bad day when I was racing. I have been waiting for this period since 1998… The French riders are competitive since 1998. They have a much harder dope testing in their country. Watching a race that shows the human drama. I believe you can do the TdF without drugs, you get tired, and the strongest win."

Kristen Armstrong Tour de Toona favourite

The second race in the Women's Prestige cycling series continues today with the International Tour de Toona. The standings at the end of this race will also determine the teams that will receive travel grants for the CD&P Bermuda Grand Prix, the final race of the series.

Kristin Armstrong (TEAm Lipton) is the favourite to defend the Series individual leader's jersey that she won at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Armstrong is having a strong Summer, winning two stages and the overall at June's Nature Valley GP and the two US National Championships in July.

Second place is currently held by Armstrong's teammate Kori Seehafer while third is held by last year's Series Champion, Christine Thorburn (Webcor-Platinum), who is not racing this week. Thorburn's team-mate Erinne Wilcock, currently in fourth, would need some help to challenge Armstrong's lead, but her strong performance in winning the Joe Martin Stage Race demonstrates that she's still a rider to watch for the overall.

Wilcock is also in a strong position win the best young rider award. She secured the lead in this category with an impressive fifth place at the Nature Valley GP. Her most likely competitor will be Katherine Carroll (Victory Brewing), currently sitting in second place. Alex Wrubleski may also move up the young rider standings. The newly crowned Canadian National Champion won the BMC best young rider competition at Nature Valley.

Brooke Miller (PABW Powered by TIBCO) works to defend the sprinter's jersey that she won at Nature Valley. Her competition should come from the TEAm Lipton trio of Kristin Armstrong, Kori Seehafer and Laura Van Gilder, currently holding second through fourth in this competition.

The lead in the team competition is currently held by TEAm Lipton with Webcor-Platinum close behind. Without Thorburn, Webcor-Platinum will be hard pressed to challenge Lipton, however, the team has two U26 riders, Wilcock and Amber Rais, while Lipton has none. The Series team competition offers bonus points to young riders, so Webcor-Platinum may be competitive if both Wilcock and Rais ride well.

Tour of Britain Yorkshire stage announced

The Yorkshire stage of the Tour of Britain was announced yesterday, with Bradford to host the start before the riders head up toward the Southern Dales. The stage will take in the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales before going through Pool and Harrogate and finish in Sheffield.

Bradford's Lord Mayor,Choudhary Rangzeb, said, "It is a great honour for Bradford to be hosting the start of the Yorkshire stage of such a prestigious race. The Tour of Britain is a thrilling spectacle and for the people of the Bradford district this is the chance to be a part of it and see the cyclists on their way to Sheffield. Bradford and the district has a wonderful cycling heritage with many professional riders coming from the area."

Jan Wilson, Sheffield City Councillor said, "Sheffield has a great track record of hosting major sporting events and we are very pleased to be staging the finish for the Yorkshire leg of the prestigious Tour of Britain Cycle Race for the third year running.

Stages

Stage 1 - August 29: Scotland, Glasgow to Castle Douglas
Stage 2 - August 30: Northwest, Blackpool to Liverpool
Stage 3 - August 31: Yorkshire, Bradford to Sheffield
Stage 4 - September 1: West Midlands, (final route to be confirmed)
Stage 5 - September 2: Southeast, Rochester to Canterbury
Stage 6 - September 3: London, Greenwich to The Mall

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