Who the hell was going to win the 2006 Tour de France?
That was the question three weeks ago, and remained so until Saturday, when Floyd Landis seized overall victory in the final time-trial. The retirement of Armstrong, and the withdrawals of the two favourites – caught up in a Spanish doping investigation – appeared to have robbed the race of star quality. But what followed, by popular consent, was the most open, entertaining and unpredictable Tour in living memory. In Landis, it also produced a winner and a story that will be etched deep into Tour folklore, regardless of whether he ever races in another. The 30-year-old American will shortly undergo hip replacement surgery, the outcome of which will determine the course of the rest of his career, if indeed he still has one. “I choose to believe that I will come back and it will be fine because it won’t be painful anymore,” he says. LOWDOWN ON LANDIS 1975, October: Born Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 1990: Buys first mountain bike 1992: Junior National Mountain Bike champion 1993: US Nat
