Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Jul 20, 2006 19:18:43 GMT -5
I don't know if anybody has been following the Tour de France this year, but today's stage probably ranks among the best ever, as Floyd Landis came back from virtual annihilation from yesterday's ride and won today's mountain stage by over 5 minutes to put himself squarely back into the race for the winner of the GC.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Jul 20, 2006 19:36:48 GMT -5
To follow up on this, if there are any bicycling aficianados out there, can anyone address whether there has ever been a more remarkable turnaround than Landis from yesterday to today?
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Jul 24, 2006 12:09:22 GMT -5
I am by no means a Tour historian, but I think you have to add Greg LeMond in 1989 as a pretty memorable comeback.
He trailed Fignon by 50 seconds going into the final stage -- an individual time trial -- on the Champs, and beat him by 58 seconds to win the Tour by 8 seconds.
A minute might not seem like that much, but in a time trial, and on flat land, it's pretty remarkable. Against an experienced time trialer and two-time champion to boot.
But what makes it really remarkable is that LeMond was riding that entire Tour with more than 3 dozen shotgun pellets lodged in his body and around his heart, the result of a hunting accident two years earlier (no, Dick Cheney was not involved). LeMond wasn't even expected to race that year and when he did, he wan't expected to do very much.
Probably not as dramatic as Landis and his arthritic hip making up 8 minutes in the mountains, but pretty amazing nevertheless.
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