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 Special feature: the new Quattro road pedal |
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56th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré - 2.HC
France, June 6-13, 2004
Floyd Landis' diary
Lance Armstrong's first lieutenant was second behind the boss in 2002. This year he is again a vital part of the US Postal-Berry Floor effort to prepare Lance Armstrong for his attempt to win a record-breaking sixth Tour de France.
A good spring & a hot day at the Dauphiné
Stage 1 - June 7: Megève - Bron, 231 km
Hello again Cyclingnews readers: remember me? It's been a while since I've sent a diary to Cyclingnews, but after my accident last year, I've been trying to focus 100 percent on racing this year. This spring, I was focusing on Amstel, Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. I realized I was starting to come down from my peak form; I had done a lot of racing already and racing hard. I was still motivated, but physically it was time for a break. But the three races went well; they're among the hardest races in the world so I wasn't exactly disappointed in my results.
It was the first time USPS-Berry Floor has been open to letting us race for ourselves because Lance was racing in Georgia, so it was the first time I finished Liège and Amstel too. The biggest part for me was that I was ready for a break; Tour of Pays Basque took a lot out of me. If I really want to focus on these classics in the future, I'll take a page from Rebellin's book and when it gets really hard, I'll sit up. That's a smart way to approach it, but don't get me wrong. It was a good spring for me this year. We were fortunate with the weather this year for these races and Liège was the best race for me this year; Amstel has all those turns and all those accelerations plus you have to know the roads. It will take a few more times to learn them.
After the spring classics, when I went home to California from Europe at the end of April, there was a big heatwave - quite a change from old, cold Europe. I just took it easy the first week anyway because I needed a break. We got a new Welsh Corgi puppy for my daughter Ryan. It likes to run around and bite everything. She's calling it Hercules, but I think that's a little long for a dog's name. Also he's like six inches tall. I'd like to get his name changed, but I'm not in charge of that.
So I took it easy for a week and then did two pretty hard weeks in the mountains near my house in Southern California. There's good mountains where I live and you can do good training for the big Tours. I did some long climbs, but I am now 100 percent focused on the Tour and I didn't want to overdo it with two months to go.
Yesterday the Dauphiné prologue wasn't my best effort. Normally I don't do that well in prologues but get better as the race goes on. But this race isn't my focus; the Tour is. Last year I was on the comeback from my broken hip and I was scared; just hoping to get back to the Tour. This year I have my confidence back and I need to look for opportunities here. Lance is here more to gauge his fitness before the Tour and put the final touch on his training. He's going to try to avoid any extreme efforts like last year, but obviously he want to win the race. That's Lance!
But if it gets ugly I think Lance is wise enough to let it go. Me, I'm excited about Mont Ventoux. It's an intimidating climb, but I'm excited to see how I can do in the one on one with Ventoux. I've been up it quite a few times in racing and training. It's a long climb; it's not that much harder than other climbs, but it's intimidating because it just looms over the flat countryside. And not to downplay it, Ventoux is an hour long so it's plenty hard. I think I'll go well because I've been climbing really well lately. If I had to guess, the Dauphiné Libéré will get decided there. After Ventoux, there won't be ten guys covered by ten seconds!
Today's stage one was long and hot and boring. But it was a nice day so it wasn't so bad. We went easy most of the day and crazy fast at the end when the sprinters' teams were chasing hard. Jimmy Caspar took off on the first downhill today and was out there all day but he got caught so he ended up doing all that work for nothing. Sounds like the temps are going to get warmer as the week does on so it should be hot on Le Mont Ventoux.
Until next time
Floyd