| Landis in race against time for yellow jersey |
| by Justin Davis July 21, 2006 OLN & Yahoo! Sports: MACON, France (AFP) - American Floyd Landis will take another step towards the Tour de France yellow jersey on Saturday's decisive time trial hoping to avoid the kind of hiccup that could cost him precious seconds.
Before the start of Friday's 18th stage, in which the main yellow jersey contenders are likely to save their energy for the race against the clock, Landis was in third place at 30sec behind Oscar Pereiro, with Carlos Sastre in second overall at 12sec behind his fellow Spaniard. It is a deficit which most expect to see disappear when the 30-year-old Landis bombs his way over 57km of undulating terrain between Le Creusot and Montceau-Les-Mines. In the Tour's first time trial Landis - whose race against the clock has come on leaps and bounds this year - finished second at 1min 01sec behind Ukrainian specialist Serhiy Honchar on a flatter course of 52km. The 36-year-old T-Mobile rider blew the race apart, although after three tough days in the Alps he could be missing freshness. Pereiro, of Caisse d'Epargne, finished 2:41 behind Honchar meaning just over a minute and a half behind Landis. The pair are former teammates, Pereiro having rode with Phonak for four years during which time he finished 10th overall on the Tour in the past two editions. However it is stark reality, and not their friendship which had Pereiro admitting: "Normally, Floyd should win the time trial. For me, it will be a bit more complicated." CSC's Carlos Sastre did slightly better than his Spanish compatriot in the first race against the clock, finishing 1:10 behind Landis. On Thursday, he capped his own daring solo attack on the climb to Morzine to retain second place overall and later rolled out the plaudits for Landis. "He tried everything and he's rode back into the race now. Maybe he's the favourite for the time trial," said Sastre. The final stage to Paris on Sunday is usually one of festivity although if only a handful of seconds separate the contenders then it could be race all the way to the capital. Ahead of Saturday, it is effectively a three-horse race to the yellow jersey - one which has changed hands nine times since the start of what has been a spectacular race. Landis meanwhile can not stop smiling. But on Saturday he will be keen to avoid the same hiccup which compromised his first time trial - losing around 17 seconds after deciding to change a wheel at the last minute when he noticed a slight cut on the tyre. "The only thing left is the time trial. I'm pretty confident in my time trialling ability," he said. "As long as I turn up on time and don't have to change my wheel it should go okay." Updated on Friday, Jul 21, 2006 10:39 am EDT | ||||||||||||||
