Landis should pay more attention to details
Floyd Landis staged an incredible comeback in Stage 17 of the Tour de France. A mere 24 hours after being crushed on the second Alps stage, Landis fired back. He made up 7:38 on the Yellow Jersey and now only sits 30 seconds behind. Landis’ is currently in third place, behind Pereiro and Sastre, but is the strongest of the three in time trialing. Thus, Landis is most likely the favorite to be wearing Yellow on Sunday for the final stage.
Instead of talking in maybes, we should be celebrating what would have been a crushing blow to his nearest opponents today. However, Landis, never one to conform openly admits he doesn’t do things “like a cyclist.” He eats the wrong foods at the wrong times and has a care-free attitude when it comes to riding. This cost him dearly in stage 16 when on the final climb he bonked. His opponents gained over 8 minutes on him on one climb.
Landis should have spent less time after Stage 15, when he reclaimed the Yellow Jersey, looking for a fan with a six-pack (although I do think it is cool he traded his Yellow Jersey for a six-pack of beer), and more time worry about the detail of replenishing his precious glycogen stores. He should have spent more time in Stage 16 worrying about his caloric intake and less time screwing around.
Most importantly, the man, Pereiro, who is currently in Yellow was allowed to gain 28 minutes on Landis last week when Phonak refused to chase down a break to protect the Yellow Jersey that Floyd was wearing at the time.
Now Landis must rely on his time trial ability to bring home the Tour even though he had the most incredible Stage win of this year’s Tour. What should have been the knock out punch, is mere drew him even with his competition.
I will be rooting for Landis, I just wish he would have paid more attention to the details.