Woohoo! Another American wins le Tour! In my last posting, I assumed everyone knew what Floyd Landis accomplished last week, but I’ll spell it out here.
- Tuesday: Landis is in the overall lead for the tour.
- Wednesday: Landis “cracks” and can barely push himself to finish. He falls from 1st to 11th, more than 8 minutes back. It would take a miracle to climb back into contention. Most people write him off.
- Thursday: Landis comes roaring back, attacking with 125 km from the finish, wins the stage and erases most of his time deficit, from 8:08 to 30 seconds.
- Saturday: After an uneventful stage on Friday, Landis gains enough time in the time trial to regain the overall lead. It’s enough to win the whole race.
Another inspiring example of never giving up, while you still have a chance.
Not only that, Landis has a condition called avascular necrosis in his hip (we’re talking bone-on-bone) and will have hip replacement surgery within a few months. Most people with his condition can barely walk.