Landis in Paris?

WITHOUT LANCE ARMSTRONG there were questions about whether an American would be wearing the yellow jersey in Paris at the end of this year's Tour de France. Last week it looked like Floyd Landis (Team Phonak) would have as good a chance as anyone to be in yellow. Then came stage 16 -- a tremendous stage with three massive moutain climbs. Landis bonked (as they say), finishing nearly 10 minutes behind the winner (losing more than 1 minute per kilometer on the final climb), finding himself more than 8 minutes behind the yellow jersey

The Tour was over for Floyd Landis, the shy rider who grew up in a strict Mennonite family in rural Pennsylvania.

At least that's what the French and Italian press said.

But they didn't count on Landis's performance in today's 17th stage -- another brutal stage, this one covering 200.5 kilometers with 5 major mountain passes. Landis broke away with nearly 100 km to go and beat everyone up the Col de Columbiere and the Col du Joux-Plane and gaining back all by 30 seconds of the previous days deficit.

Wow. And I thought the Tour might be a bit boring without Lance. Read much more about this year's tour at OLN. And get ready for Saturday's individual time trial - it's going to decide the winner.