Landis Remarkable Maiden Stage Victory...!

Stage Details _ Five climbs: the 1,650m high Col des Saissies (category-one, 14.9km – 6.4% at 82.5km), 1,489m Col des Aravis (cat-2, 5.9km – 7.1% at 109.0km), 1,613m Col de la Colombiere (cat-1, 11.8km – 5.8% at 134.0km), 735m Cote de Chatillon-sur-Cluses (cat-3, 5.1km – 4.9% at 162.0km) and 1,691m (‘Hors Category’, 11.7km – 8.5% at 188.5km). _ Intermediate sprints: Le Grand Bornand (at 122.0km) and Vachaix (172.5km). _ Weather conditions: The temperatures at the start were 30 degrees Celsius in the air and 40 degrees at road level. _ Number of starters: 146 – Rujano (QSI) abandoned overnight. Official start time: 11.47am. _ _ _ The Progress Report _ _ The Early Escape: 14 Riders… _ Caucchioli (C.A), Paolini (LIQ), Geslin (BTL), Simoni (SDV), Tiralongo (LAM) and Garate (QSI) attacked at 2km they were chased down the CSC team. At the 12km mark 14 riders escaped the peloton; the move included: Padrnos (DSC), O’Grady (CSC), Sinkewitz (CSC), Posthuma and Weening (RAB), Righi (LAM), Garate and Tankink (QSI), Halgand and Le Mevel (C.A), Auge (COF), De la Fuente (SDV), Gilbert (FDJ), Paolini (LIQ). At 14km they were 30” ahead and Posthuma dropped out and returned to the peloton. Then both De la Fuente and Weening also waited for the peloton. At the 29km mark, the advantage was 2’10” and at 34.5km, 4’50”. CSC was briefly in charge of the peloton but then Caisse d’Epargne came to the front. At 40km the deficit was 7’40”. The average speed for the first hour was 50.3km/h. _ _ Landis’ Spectacular Solo Bid! _ Seven riders from the Phonak team came to the front at the base of the first climb when the 11 had their maximum advantage (11’10”). Landis’ team-mates rode until they exploded from their rapid tempo; Pena and Moernhout were the last to blow before Landis himself surged… it was not an attack rather a constant acceleration but it dropped all the major contenders: Kloden, Rogers, Evans, Sastre and Menchov held onto Landis’ wheel for a matter of moments but after 3km of climbing the Phonak team captain had obliterated the race. The other yellow jersey was surrounded by team-mates but could do nothing to respond to Landis’ power. _ Landis was completely determined to put the demons of La Troussuire to rest with his aggressive antics today. He would blast into the lead of the stage and effectively ride a 125km time trial to the finish. _ At the top of the Col des Saissies, Halgand claimed first-place points. Landis was 3’10” behind; and the peloton was a further 3’25” back. Halgand attacked the lead group on the descent. He led the 10 others by 20” at the feedzone (97.5km), Landis by 55” and the yellow jersey’s peloton by 4’50”. Landis caught the 10 others at the 102.5km mark. Halgand led until the 122km mark and claimed first place at the 1st sprint. Landis was second and moments later caught up with the stage leader. _ _ Col de la Colombiere… Landis Back Into Race Lead! _ In the first kilometre of the 3rd climb, Landis dropped Padrnos and O’Grady and rode to the 5km to climb mark with Halgand and Sinkewitz… the Frenchman couldn’t match the pace set by the American and he dropped out of the lead group. Sinkewitz followed Landis all the way to the summit. At the top, Halgand was 1’07” behind the peloton was at 8’35”… meaning Landis was the virtual leader. In between Landis and the peloton were: Padrnos, O’Grady, Righi and Garate. The peloton was 9’05” behind at the 145km mark and CSC came to the front. _ The points at the top of the fourth climb, the category-three Cote de Chatillon-sur-Cluses (at 162km) were won by: Landis; Sinkewitz; Halgand was at 4’50” and Voigt ahead of the peloton at 8’05”. _ _ Landis Claims An Epic Stage Victory! _ It took Landis just 500m on the final ascent to drop Sinkewitz. The peloton was at 6’15” and led by CSC. Sastre and Schleck attacked at the base of the Col du Joux-Plane and split the chase into pieces. Moreau, Evans, Menchov and Cunego. Kloden couldn’t maintain the pace and he dropped back to join Pereiro. Sastre bolted ahead and into second place in the stage, passing all the early escapees well before the summit. Cunego and Moreau attacked halfway up the climb and dropped Evans and Menchov. The points at the top of the final ‘Hors Category’ col of the 2006 Tour were won by: Landis, Moreau (at 5’05”), Cunego (at 5’59”), Boogerd, Schleck, Pereiro, Zubeldia, Kloden and Rasmussen. _ Landis maintained his advantage on the descent and claimed his first stage victory 5’42” ahead of Sastre – enough to lift him back up the rankings to be third overall, 30” behind Pereiro who finished 7th at 6’08”. Pereiro is ahead of Sastre by just 12” in the overall rankings and he will wear the yellow jersey in stage 18.