Floyd Landis took eighth in the Teva Hill Climb.
Floyd Landis is becoming sort of a regular around here. As the 2007 Tour de France wraps up in Paris, the 2006 Tour winner will once again be making the rounds in Eagle County.Landis, who released a book earlier this month proclaiming his innocence after being accused of using synthetic testosterone during last year’s Tour victory, will ride the 100-mile course in the 2007 Colorado-Eagle River Ride on Sunday, July 29. His book, “Positively False, The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France,” is on The New York Times best-seller list. River Ride organizers are excited about Landis’ last-minute entry and arranged for him to stay at Beaver Creek.“I think it’s great,” said Arn Menconi, mastermind of the River Ride, proceeds of which benefit the Snowboard Outreach Society, an organization Menconi founded that offers snowboarding opportunities to low-income and underprivileged children. Menconi plans to ride with Landis “for at least the first part of the ride,” and said he is withholding judgment on whether or not Landis is guilty of doping in the 2006 Tour, the official verdict of which has yet to be reached.“He loves cycling,” Menconi said. “That’s all I care about.”Landis was in Vail this June for the Teva Mountain Games. He had done no training before competing in the cycling events and finished 36th in the Teva mountain bike race and eighth in the road bike time trail up Vail Pass. The cyclist underwent hip surgery following the 2006 Tour, but has been in Colorado the last few days training for the Leadville Trail 100 bike race on Aug. 11. Lance Armstrong is also scheduled to compete in the Leadville race. Organizers expect more than 1,000 cyclists to turn out for Sunday’s Colorado-Eagle River Ride, which begins in Avon and takes riders on various distances along Highway 6 to Wolcott, up and down Hwy 131 to Bond and along the picturesque Colorado River Road before returning to Avon from Dotsero on Hwy 6. For more information on the ride, click here.
Free Floyd
It is really great to see Floyd Landis back in town and riding in an event for a good cause, SOS. No sense in him trying to ride in the Tour de "Farce" (Not that he was allowed to ride anyway!) this year since cyclists still were trying to cheat, even though they all knew drug testing would be strict. What a sad state of affairs in the pro cycling world.
I find myself torn between supporting a sport I love and turning my back on it. Personally, I remain faithful that Landis is innocent - there had to be some problem with the testing. He road a great Tour in '06 and I believe, well, I choose to believe that he earned it. That stage was an amazing result, yet it was not super human. The rest of the peleton let him go and figured he would not be able to make up the time. When the field made a realization, it was too late and they could not close the gap on Floyd before that last climb. I watched it and cheered for him! Look at the stats from that stage; watch the stage again - he suffered and only finished at a basic result for it. He didn't need to cheat - the peleton made a poor decision in sitting back or relaxing that day. Time will tell how the courts play out for Landis. Hopefully, it not be fall out from the others who have cheated that makes Floyd pay the price.
Anyone up for going on a nice road ride?
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