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59th Vuelta a España - GT
Spain, September 4-26, 2004
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Hangin’ In There: The Floyd Landis Vuelta diary
During the Tour de France in 2002, Cyclingnews first welcomed Floyd Landis as a reporter. The talented, gutsy, 28 year old former mountain biker had ridden his way to a start in the Tour as a key part of Lance Armstrong’s USPS squad, and went on to distinguish himself as an key member of the now legendary “Blue Train” at Le Tour.
Floyd also endeared himself to Cyclingnews readers for his unique take on life in the peloton, and in the 2004 Vuelta he continues his exclusive journal “Hangin’ In There.”
A nice surprise to start with
Vuelta Stages 1-2 - September 4-5, 2004
Hi everyone at Cyclingnews,
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So here I am in Spain for my second Vuelta. Last year with Roberto we had a different plan, this year it's more relaxed with guys being able to do what they want, go for stage wins without anybody having the pressure of working for anyone else.
Obviously we have a good team, we won the TT by a considerable amount. It was actually a surprise but I figured we would be one of the favourites. I thought Liberty would have done better than they did. A lot of people lost a lot of time, but it is a long race and all the racing is at the end so Saturday was no indication as to what will happen at the end.
There are always enough mountains in any of the grand tours and this has plenty, but the thing is like with all of them the difficulty is more a result of the racers than the actual route. I am not sure if this course is any more difficult than others but one thing is certain there are lot of good climbers here so whoever wins will be the strongest for sure.
Yesterday's second stage was more relaxing. I have never seen a day like that in the Vuelta! I certainly don't believe it will happen again so we certainly enjoyed it while it lasted. It was slow and it was strange that nobody attacked at the beginning. I just don't know why, but for sure it's not going to happen today. For sure. But it was a nice warm up and the racing will start soon.
Yesterday Max took over the leader's jersey. It's always nice to keep the jersey in the team and if it's easy of course we will try and keep it. But if a big break away goes, we are not going to put in a lot of work to defend it. If another team decides to work, we are not going to chase it down just for the sake of keeping the jersey. But if it comes to Max sprinting for time bonuses just to keep Zabel from getting it then it doesn't take too much effort.
It's going to get a bit harder as Zabel has picked up a couple of seconds and it is a good stage for both him and Max. Zabel needs to pick up a bit over 20 seconds from memory, but today we will try and help Max win the stage as it is an uphill sprint. Burgos wasn't his kind of sprint - he doesn't like those high speed sprints with a tail wind. In a sprint like that, the position you have when you come into the finish is pretty much where you are going to stay.
So our objective today is to help Max and to try and not get caught out in any cross wind sections. The Vuelta is like that - outcomes change by people being lazy or not paying attention, or whatever. Unlike the Tour, here you have big wide open roads and they are windy so you have to keep alert.
For sure somebody will try and put it in the gutter, we just have to keep awake and be at the front when they try. Of course if we get a chance to do it we will try it also...
Hasta mañana,
Floyd