If you, like the vast majority of Americans, don’t care much for cycling, today’s stage in the Tour de France may not interest you. But you should know that one of the most amazing performances by an athlete on a bicycle was given today by American rider Floyd Landis. Not just the most amazing performance by an American cyclist but any cyclist of recent years. He entered yesterday’s stage in the yellow jersey as the race leader but he hit the wall yesterday and completely fell apart on the mountains. He dropped like a rock in the standings, going from #1 to #11 and over 8 minutes behind the new race leader. Everyone said that Landis was done, it is virtually impossible to make up over 8 minutes in the final three days of the race they said.
Floyd “Fist of Fury” Landis, American badass.
“Virtually impossible” is not the same as “impossible” and Floyd rode the ride of his life today to break from his rivals, storm four mountain climbs with fury, win today’s stage, and pull himself into third place, only 31 seconds of the leader. It is an absolutely astonishing bounce, to go from yellow jersey, to bonking in the mountains and losing 8 minutes to your rivals, then storming back and clawing back near the top. Nevermind that he is also riding on a disintegrated right hip and that he literally can’t do anything - stand, run, climb stairs - without experience excruciating pain, anything except ride a bicycle. Cycling may not be a contact sport but Landis put 172 riders in pain with his ride today, making professional bicycle riders completely panic and freak out.
I wish I knew how to put that in perspective for people who don’t follow the Tour de France or understand road racing. Craig Cook at Bicycling.com had a good line:
| You hear the stories but no one ever sees it happen: A mild-mannered housewife flips her Buick, then, charged with adrenaline, finds the strength to lift the car off her pinned child. What Floyd Landis did today was the sporting equivalent of lifting a wrecked car off of a loved one. And he did for hours on end, in front of a worldwide audience of millions.
Everyone could see the anger coursing through Landis at the finish. He didn’t smile, he didn’t cry, he raged. He tossed his bike to a helper and barked some orders. If someone had thrust a bunny into his arms Landis probably would have devoured it alive. |
His ride is already being called legendary:
+ Legendary Landis!
+ The Floyd is Back
+ Hors catégorie Landis! Raging Phonak freak turns groupe maillot jaune upside down
Shame on ESPN for giving today’s stage barely ANY coverage all day, relegating Landis’ ride to a small link on the front page. America may not care much about cycling but it is an embarrassment that ESPN, self-proclaimed leader in sport, can’t show any love to one of the most amazing one-day performances by an American athlete on the international stage. Floyd Landis deserves to be on the front page of the sports section of American newspapers tomorrow morning but he won’t be, pushed over by news about Barry Bonds or the Yanks getting beat by the Blue Jays in extra innings, or the Mets winning in extra innings. He’ll get a little column if he’s lucky. In some ways, it doesn’t matter who wins on Sunday: today’s stage will be the story of the Tour.
But he doesn’t care: he just wants to win this damn race. For the first time in many years, the Tour is entering its final weekend without a clear winner. Lance had the race wrapped up by this time for the past seven years. This is an exciting time, certainly for cycling fans but it should also be for people that love sports.
