The Hindu : Sport / Cycling : Menchov dominates Pyrenees

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 14, 2006

Sport

Sport - Cycling

Menchov dominates Pyrenees

PLA DE BERET : American Floyd Landis underlined his yellow jersey credentials with a resounding performance in the Tour de France's 11th stage which gave him the yellow jersey here on Thursday.

Russian Denis Menchov of the Rabobank team took victory after 206.5km of racing between Tarbes and here, of which almost 62km was climbing into the high mountains.

Menchov, last year's Tour of Spain winner, won a three-man sprint at the summit finish ahead of American Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner and Phonak team leader Landis.

Landis took the race lead from Frenchman Cyril Dessel, who lost the race lead by a matter of seconds.

The Frenchman had been dropped earlier in the day, but produced an impressive effort to fight back on the last climb of the day.

Landis, a former member of Lance Armstrong's old team U.S. Postal, now leads Dessel by eight seconds in the race's general classification ahead of Friday's 12th stage, which rides out of the mountains.

Landis smiled as he donned the prized jersey for the first time in his career. Carrying a fluffy lion and a bunch of flowers, he thrust his hands into the air in triumph on the podium.

"Floyd Landis is without doubt the favorite," Menchov said through a translator on French television.

Landis announced this week that he has a painful arthritic hip that he intends to get replaced after the three-week race.

Asked on French television whether this Tour might be his last, the 30-year-old replied, "It's a possibility."

In third place

In third place overall is Menchov, whose acceleration in the final 200 metres of a thrilling finish atop the misty summit of the Puerto de Beret climb gave him his first Tour stage win.

Menchov is 1:01 off the pace of Landis, while Australian Cadel Evans is fourth at 1:17 and Spaniard Carlos Sastre is fifth at 1:52.

The toughest of two stages in the Pyrenees, the stage took its toll on a whole bunch of race favourites.

T-Mobile, who had dominated throughout the day, fell off the pace on the final climb, leaving their de facto team leader Andreas Kloden 2:29 off Landis's pace.

His team-mate Michael Rogers is at 3:22.

American George Hincapie, of the Discovery Channel team, also fell out of contention.

Overall standings (top five after 11th stage): 1. Floyd Landis (U.S./PHO) 49h, 18min, 07sec; 2. Cyril Dessel (Fra/A2R) at 0:08, 3. Denis Menchov (Rus/RAB) 1:01, 4. Cadel Evans (Aus/DAV) 1:17, 5. Carlos Sastre (Esp/CSC) 1:52. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport