# Floyd Landis Leading the Tour de France **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372 "2006-07-13T20:01:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/1 "2006-07-13T20:01:57Z")
For those of you not following closely, American Floyd Landis is now [leading](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13841688/) the Tour de France. Some are saying that at this point, the race is now [his to lose](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13843337/). Wooo! My man Floyd! This seriously rocks. The most amazing thing I’ve found out, however, is that Floyd is suffering from a debilitating hip condition. Indeed, he’s saying he will probably have to have surgery to replace it after the Tour is over! :eek: [MSNBC article](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13803108/). [NY Times article](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/sports/othersports/09landis-magazine.html). NY Times, of course, requires free registration, but it’s an in depth six page article, well worth reading. Man, what is it about debilitating pain that allows cyclists to do great things? Where’s that “bow down and chant ‘I’m not worthy!’” smiley? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/2 "2006-07-13T20:31:25Z")
Whoa, I initially read the title as Landis **leaving** the TdF :eek: ☹ I already knew about the hip issue, so I thought that was the reason. Go Floyd! Brian ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/3 "2006-07-14T03:20:31Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Man, what is it about debilitating pain that allows cyclists to do great things? I don’t know, but it reminds me of the section on overtraining from one of my cycling books. The book cites a study done, in which a group of cyclists are put through increasingly harsh training regimens with little time off. The conclusion of the study started off: “Cyclists are crazy. You can make them do anything.” ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/4 "2006-07-14T04:00:25Z")
Ummm, he’s only 8 seconds ahead of the next guy, so I wouldn’t be counting any chickens at this point! ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/5 "2006-07-14T06:36:20Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > I don’t know, but it reminds me of the section on overtraining from one of my cycling books. The book cites a study done, in which a group of cyclists are put through increasingly harsh training regimens with little time off. The conclusion of the study started off: “Cyclists are crazy. You can make them do anything.” Don’t foget that Floyd broke his hip a few years ago on a training ride in California. He still rode the TDF that year. :eek: Put him on the list of guys that are tougher than me. Go Floyd Go! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/6 "2006-07-14T13:59:29Z")
> [@annieclaus](#): > > Ummm, he’s only 8 seconds ahead of the next guy, so I wouldn’t be counting any chickens at this point! Yea, but that’s just Dessel. No one really expects him to hang in there through the Alps. The next four overall leaders, however, are of concern. Menchov, Evans, Sastre, and especially Klöden are all potential threats, ranging from 1’01" to 2’29" behind Landis. As long as Floyd can keep up with any and all of them, and answer every attack from any of these guys, he’ll keep the yellow jersey. Thus one could say that the race is “his to lose”. Which is _not_ to say that the race is in the bag. All it takes is for him to have a bad day while one of the others has a good day, and the situation changes immediately. I’ve been reading that Andréas can be expected to do _much_ better in the Alps, so my man Floyd has his work cut out for him! Go, Floyd, Go! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/7 "2006-07-14T14:14:57Z")
> [@annieclaus](#): > > Ummm, he’s only 8 seconds ahead of the next guy, so I wouldn’t be counting any chickens at this point! That “next guy” could be 8 minutes AHEAD of Landis right now, and we could still be having the discussion that the tour is Landis’ to lose. Also “the next guy” would probably still have the jersey if he hadn’t been playing games at the sprint the day before. I’d really been pulling for Rasmussen. I thought he’d stay with the lead group yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/8 "2006-07-14T14:18:51Z")
For future reference and for those of us who DVR/Tivo the daily TdF stages to watch in the evenings please watch the spoilers! :mad: Anyhow, go Floyd! And nice comeback Levi! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/9 "2006-07-14T14:58:49Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > For future reference and for those of us who DVR/Tivo the daily TdF stages to watch in the evenings please watch the spoilers! :mad: > > Anyhow, go Floyd! And nice comeback Levi! It’s not a spoiler if the event is over, but you haven’t chosen to look at the results. You gotta NOT open the thread. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/10 "2006-07-14T17:45:42Z")
The spoiler is in the TITLE of the thread. Hard to avoid spoilers there… I wouldn’t have been too mad if the subject was spoiler free but a spoiler was in the first few words such that it was revealed during a mouseover, but some people can get touchy about that too. People on this board are pretty good about spoilers so I usually don’t feel I need to be careful visiting here before I plan to watch a tape of an event or a TV show… ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/11 "2006-07-19T21:49:37Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Some are saying that at this point, the race is now [his to lose](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13843337/). He lost big time today. Looks like he’s history. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/12 "2006-07-19T21:54:32Z")
Waaaaah!!! ☹ Yea, it was his to lose and boy, did he ever lose! At this point it’s up for grabs again, although I’d put my money on Klöden. But not a lot of money, considering my track record here. 😉 I’m seriously bummed out. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/13 "2006-07-20T03:53:52Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > I’m seriously bummed out. ☹ Me, too. That mountain really got the best of him today. (But where were his little teammates???) I’m just wondering if his hip joint finally got the better of him. There is a really terrific story about him in the Sunday New York Times magazine from last Sunday. The guy is in constant pain from the bone necrosis. Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/14 "2006-07-20T13:29:25Z")
Well, I was seriously depressed yesterday, but I woke up this morning resigned to the shake up in the GC. Now it’s looking like Klöden or Sastre or Evans or whoever … Then I turned on OLN briefly before leaving for work and saw the Landis had attacked and was gaining ground on the GC contenders. I’m stealing time here at work to follow the action on [the Tour site](http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/LIVE/us/1700/index.html) and [VeloNews](http://www.velonews.com/tick/html/stage73.html). It’s a desperate move and, at this point, not likely to succeed, but he’s found two other riders from this morning’s breakaway that’ll keep up with him and work with him and the three are now in the lead by – omg, they’re leading by _7:21!!_ Good gravy, maybe the sonofabitch has a chance after all. Arrr!! This is too exciting! My heart can’t take this! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/15 "2006-07-20T14:22:48Z")
For some reason, I didn’t think that 8.08 was enough to write off Landis. The Tour has been way too unpredictable this year. On a related note, there’s a funny article in Slate called [The Tour de France Almost Killed Me!](http://www.slate.com/id/2146072) ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/16 "2006-07-20T15:34:03Z")
That was too damned exciting, even just reading the web dispatches. Wow! Well, I don’t want to make fiddle angry again, so I won’t say exactly how it ended up. You can follow one of the links I posted if you want to know. Although I suppose most of the news sites will pick it up soon enough. PS, thanks for the link blondebear, that was a fun story. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/17 "2006-07-20T15:36:40Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > Looks like he’s history. I stand by my prediction 😛 ---
**Author:** ![annieclaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5a626/32.png) [@annieclaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annieclaus)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/18 "2006-07-20T15:52:36Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > That was too damned exciting, even just reading the web dispatches. Wow! It was even more exciting watching it on OLN!!! ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/19 "2006-07-20T16:07:22Z")
> [@annieclaus](#): > > It was even more exciting watching it on OLN!!! Yeah it was. If he can recover, he definitely can make up that time in the time trial. If, after the time trial, the top 2 or 3 are within a minute or so of each other, will there be attacks from the contenders going into Paris? That’s usually a day for the winner to celebrate and the sprinters to pick up some points. But with the race so close, will the big guys go after each other? That would be pretty interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372/20 "2006-07-21T00:26:42Z")
The guys at OLN are calling it the greatest comeback in Tour history. This was Floyd’s first stage win. What a sweet way to do it. **Tapioca** I stand by my previous comment **Go Floyd Go!** Remember what Lance told you that mountain top “Ride it like you stole it.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floyd-landis-leading-the-tour-de-france/364372.md?page=2)