Floyd Resplendent in Yellow!
July 23, 2006
OH YEAH!
Kevin,
Man, Floyd showed his stuff today didn't he
-Warren-
Floyd's the man! I guess everyone's heard about his hip injury by now, but I've been wondering WHY they would release the information now - right before the first big mountain stage. You know that has to inspire the other teams to really go after him - so, my guess is Floyd's feeling mighty strong and confident he can take whoever tries to give him a go. Make way for a new American champion!
Also noteworthy, my man Levi bounced back to from 58th 10:28 back to 13th at 5:39. If he keeps his form through the 3 remaining mountain stages and last time trial he should move up another 5 or 6 spots. That's a pretty nice recovery after that time trial disaster last week.
Tom
There is also this anecdote about Floyd posted on the Whitegrass website regarding his past participation in the original 24 Hours of Canaan Moountain Bike Race:
Quote:
"Floyd Landis never saw the stump that sent him flying. Screaming down a steep descent during his first lap at the 24 Hours of Canaan, a mountain-bike relay race in West Virginia, Landis strayed from the track into a patch of weeds. When his front wheel hit the concealed stump Landis was propelled into the air like a circus clown shot from a cannon. "The wheel took on the shape of the stump," recalls Will Geoghegan, one of Landis's teammates at that 1994 race. "It was like a cartoon." Geoghegan was resting at the team's condo, not expecting Landis for another hour, when he saw a bloodied lunatic riding a wheelie in his direction and shouting, "I need a new wheel!" Sent by Tom Conlon
Floyd is on a tear today, to try to take back his Crown! Is the Mennonite King on his way back!
Exciting stuff! Could be the stuff of legends!
oo la la! What a tour. Go Floyd - following his historical collapse yesterday, with one of the best rides in tour history today! 31 seconds behind the leader, 20 seconds behind 2nd - neither of those guys were within a minute of Floyd on the first TT last week. If Floyd didn't destroy himself today... no... I can't say it.... Anyway, this sets up the best tour finish since LeMond vs Fignon in '89. Throw one back for Flyin' Floyd!
Like you guys said... Man WHAT A RIDE today!
I'll throw a couple back for him
-Warren-
The Mennonite Masher - Courtesy of VeloNews...
Great racing story and human story. He's close to 30 isn't he?
I believe he is 30. Scheduled for a hip replacement soon after the Tour, and determined to come back to racing stronger than ever next year. BTW, there are no stories of any professional cyclists returning from such an operation to race the Tour or any similar event again. Obviously this is another potent comeback story very much in the making.
The whole cycling world is completely on its ear over Floyd's performance today. There hasn't been an attack like his in such a key situation in the Tour in decades - back to the golden years of Eddie Mercx. This tour is actually going down as one of the best and most memorable (for the RIGHT reasons) in years.
Jim,
Yes, Floyd is 30. He'll turn 31 in October of this year. A very young man for a hip replacement
but I guess all those miles have taken a toll.
-Warren-
Quote:
Yes, Floyd is 30. He'll turn 31 in October of this year. A very young man for a hip replacement but I guess all those miles have taken a toll.
It's not the miles, but a major crash on his road bike during a training ride in California about 3 years ago where he broke his hip.
Here is a great article about his condition in the NY "Jihadist" Times (sorry, I just saw a guy driving a truck around Vienna the other day with a huge sign "TREASON AGAIN" alongside his NRA sticker - guess he favors a line item veto of the Constitution or something - about the funniest thing I've seen this summer next to Murphy's last post on this thread)...
Anyway, here is the link, does require registering:
No. 2 in Tour Confirms He Needs Hip Surgery
Tom
I think the deal with the hip is that certain hip fracture reduce blood flow to part of the bone upon healing. This reduced blood flow slowly kills off the bone in that location, results in pain, "arthritis", atrophy, etc... That's what happend to him. I believe its similar to what happend to that "Bo" guy that used play football and baseball. BUT I'd say his return and success in the sport is probably a bit more likely due to fact that cycling is not impact oriented on the joints.
Apparently there have been some reference studies on elite amateur who have had the procedure with good results, so its possible.
Last night there was a brief interview with him on NPR and he said before the tour that he had two cortizone injection into his hip before the race and that meant it felt "pretty good" -- but would probably start to hurt again in the coming weeks after the race.
I missed most of the interview and basically just heard that part of it.
At this point, I'd like to see him win -- not just cause I like him but because I feel he's set himself as "the strongman" of the tour...
Ideally he'd win the TT and of course then the overall.
If some else takes it, I will be dissappointed, Kloden and Pereiro have had a good rides but haven't truly animated the race. Pereiro I guess some with his big win on the stage where they let him go but they weren't really chasing him either.
That's not like yesterday where they both tried to chase him down and FAILED...
I suppose if Kloden decisely won the TT, you could say he deserved the win by waiting until the last possible stage to take the overall.
But I wouldn't really like that type of win...
I feel roughly the same about Sastre, although his bit a more involved the last few stages, chasing hard yesterday, some going after the stages...
Floyd regains the lead. 15 minutes ago MSNBC posted that Floyd had won after finishing 3rd in the latest stage, however I noticed they pulled the article and replaced it with a headline saying he's virtually assured the win.
That's because the last stage isn't traditionally contested by the "GC" (general classification) folks -- that is the folks going after the overall, the one's with the shortest times for the entire race. (the general classification is calculated by adding up the times it took to complete each stage by every rider -- least time, wins the overall title -- or 'yellow jersey').
BUT that's not a rule, just a tradition. Further there's a chance Floyd could crash himself out of the race or some such... but this would be really unlikely too.
At roughly 60s to the next guy, there's just no place to make up that sort of time in a flat stage with team tactics coming into play, it just is VERY UNLIKELY to happen...
So, the last stage ends up being a bit of a show, a romp around the champs elysees and a sprint at the end to determine the stage winner...
The folks in overall contention will almost assuredly be awarded the same time (they'll finish as one big group) -- and thus the time gaps will remain more or less the same for them... Floyd is virtually assured of getting yellow therefore and winning the race, but a small chance this won't happen.
Now in some years the "green" or "points" jersey hasn't been finalized to this point and it has come down to the last sprint on the Champs...
The "polka dot" or mountain points jersey has been decided, well there are no more mountains right? I haven't a clue what would happen if somehow they ended up with a tie going into the final stage with this jersey... hmm, i wonder if it is even possible.
Finally the yellow jersey. I suppose it could happen that two riders ended with the same time by this stage, in which case they'd have to race it out i suppose. Its not happened, or maybe once way back in the mists of time it happened once ... way way way way back maybe. But never in the modern or even not so modern era that i have read or know of.
Now here is something interesting: at least once ONE RIDER has WON ALL THREE JERSEY's at once: the overall "yellow", the Mountain (polka dot) and the green "sprinters" (points) jersey...
what stud man did that? Eddy Merckx, the greatest cyclist ever (sport self annointed greatest)...
