Summer ’06 a biking extraordinaire

By Joel Gaff
Sun contributor
When the Tour de Leelanau cycle race comes through Leelanau County on Saturday September 16, don’t expect the riders to be doped up on anything other than fresh air and beautiful scenery. That’s right, folks — the Tour is back for its sophomore edition with an even longer and tougher course.

The Tour de Leelanau gets much of its influence from the Tour de France, a three-week long, 2200-mile stage race around France. Riders ride an average of around 110 miles a day at an average speed of about 24 miles per hour with only two rest days throughout the Tour. The winner is the rider with the fastest time for the 20 stages all added together. There are flat stages, extremely mountainous stages, individual and team time trials (riders’ start times are staggered and they race against the clock), and everything in between. Riders must overcome heat, cold, rain, wind, fatigue, hills and valleys to make it to the finish line in Paris. The similar Leelanau version of the tour is only one day long, with the men riding 104.1 miles and the women 66.3.
This year’s Tour de France was particularly intriguing. With the Legendary seven-time Tour winner Armstrong now in retirement, this year’s race was wide open. It opened up even more when several days before the July 1 start of the race, officials named 37 riders in an alleged doping scandal. Weather or not the accused riders actually did anything wrong is still in debate. Unfortunately, however, in cycling you’re typically “guilty until proven innocent.” Just ask Lance Armstrong about all the accusations he had to deal with.
The Tour went on nonetheless and cycling fans worldwide were glued to their televisions for three straight weeks. With live coverage every morning and enhanced primetime coverage at night, it didn’t leave much time for the regular programs on the Outdoor Life Network’s (OLN) normal lineup. In the 93rd edition of the Tour, there were seven lead changes throughout the 20 stages and it wasn’t until the last few days that it became apparent who would win.
American Floyd Landis, a former teammate of Lance, looked to be a favorite from the early stages. It would be no walk in the park if he wanted to win, however. As expected, the sprinters dominated the relatively flat first few stages. The race then moved into the sky-scraping Pyrenees Mountains on the French-Spanish border. Landis took the overall lead and put the yellow jersey on for the first time after stage 11. Two days later in a very hilly stage 13, a group of four riders, including Spanish rider Oscar Pereiro, broke away from the peleton (the main group of riders). At the end of the 138-mile long stage, the riders were nearly 30 minutes ahead of the peleton, an almost unheard of amount of time for a breakaway. Pereiro captured the overall lead and took his turn wearing yellow.
Stage 15: Landis gets the yellow back. There were only five stages left and the American had a good shot at winning the race. He had looked strong over the last few stages and he didn’t show signs of slowing down.
Until stage 16.
For the first 100 miles of the exceptionally mountainous stage 16, Landis was right in front with the leaders. Then, with less than 10 miles to go to the mountaintop finish, it appeared as if someone had thrown out an anchor from the back of Floyd’s bike. He slowed down tremendously and it was almost painful just to watch him slog his way up the mountain. When he finally labored his way to the finish line of the stage, he was down to eighth place overall, more than ten minutes behind the now-leader, Pereiro.
With four stages left in the Tour (the last of which is traditionally just a ceremonial ride into Paris), It appeared that Landis’ chances for victory had vanished. He would need a small miracle and the ride of his life to overcome a ten-minute deficit in the final three stages.
Stage 17 was another treacherous mountain stage and it started just like every other stage. Soon after the stage began, a breakaway of ten or so riders took off and left the peleton behind. The breakaway soon had a lead of over ten minutes on the peleton, which included Landis. After seeing how drained and fatigued Landis looked just the previous day, no one expected what would happen next. Suddenly Landis surged away from the peleton and a few riders gave chase. Landis’ surge didn’t stop, and everyone could see that there was fire in his eyes. Several riders stayed up with Landis and this second breakaway surged ahead at break neck speed in pursuit of the lead breakaway group.
They finally caught the lead breakaway, but Landis didn’t stop there. At this point, it was obvious that Floyd was riding with something to prove. Landis pushed on, bringing several riders with him.
Around 14 miles from finish, the last remaining rider dueling it out with Landis dropped off the pace. Landis was alone, in the lead, and not slowing down.
By the time he reached the finish line, Landis had put nearly six minutes between himself and the peleton. In the overall standings, he was now in third place, a mere 30 seconds behind the leader, Pereiro. His amazing effort that day has been named the “best performance in the modern history of the Tour.”
The following day in stage 18, Landis maintained his third place position. There then remained only one stage before the ride into Paris and it was an individual time trial. Landis is known as a strong time trial rider, and he would have stand up to that reputation if he wanted to pull out an overall victory in the Tour. Riders started two to three minutes apart from each other and raced against the clock on the 34-mile course. Landis would be the third-to-last rider of the day to start.
Landis cranked through the stage in his unique aerodynamic position only rising from the seat several times. By the end of the stage, Landis had beaten Pereiro by a minute and a half, and it appeared that Landis had just become the third American to win the Tour (after Greg LeMond and Lance).
The final stage was a 92-mile ride into Paris. The last stage of any tour is mostly ceremonial, with riders sipping champagne as they cruise into the French capital. At this point in the race, it is considered taboo to attempt taking the lead from the yellow jersey wearer. So, as Landis rode his special-made yellow bike onto the cobblestone Parisian streets, all he had to do was finish the stage. And he did.
Unfortunately, only days after standing on the podium as the winner of the Tour, Floyd Landis was accused of having an illegally high level of testosterone in his body during his amazing stage 17 ride. When this news came out, Landis vehemently denied ever having taken any kind of performance enhancing substance. He asked that his backup sample be tested to make sure that there was not a human testing error. The second set of results agreed with the original findings. Landis, who maintains his innocence, has been released by his team and is now appealing the case.
Just like the riders in the Tour de France, the Tour de Leelanau riders will have to conquer hills, valleys and any kind of weather Mother Nature decides to throw at them on race day. No drugs allowed, except for breathtaking views, adrenaline inducing hills, and roaring crowds. The men’s race starts at 10 a.m. in Leland and the Women get underway at approximately 11:40 a.m. at The Homestead resort near Glen Arbor. Both races finish at the Eagle’s Ridge Convention Center in Peshawbetown.
For additional information, visit www.tourdeleelanau.com.