Tour De France 2006

[Ben Lauer]

Stage 7

Time Trial.
- Saturday's stage was a chance for some of the new great American riders to show thier stuff. Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie,, Dave Zabriskie, and Floyd Landis.
- Levi, George and Dave had less than stellar performances, and they all lost precious seconds and even minutes in the GC.
- Landis on the other hand, finished second. Despite an early bike change, he rode hard and finished 1 minute and 1 second behind Sergiy Honchar, the Ukranian stage winner and new yellow jersey wearer.
Top Five:
1. HONCHAR (UKR, TMO) 52.0km in 1h01’43"600 (50.6km/h)
2. LANDIS (USA, PHO) at1’01"
3. LANG (GER, GST) at 1’04"
4. ROGERS (AUS, TMO) at 1’24"
5. LARSSON (SWE, FDJ) at 1’33"

New Yellow: Honchar
New Youth Leader: Fothen
New Team Leader: T-Mobile
Other Jerseys remain the same.

Stage 8

- This stage was host to some excellent breakaways, that were unsuccessful. During the first 2/3rds of the race, there was a breakaway containing 6 riders from 6 different teams. None of the riders were very close to contention with Serhiy Honchar. One of these riders was Sylvain Calzati, the eventual stage winner. There were some comments made about early break-aways and thier purpose for the ridesr i them. Some said that the purpose was for publicity, for a chance to be on international tv, and for the other media coverage, but for all the riders in the Tour de France, it is for a chance like Calzati, break away early, get a lead on a peloton that has little organization, and bring home a stage win for your country.

Top Five for the Stage:
1. Sylvain Calzati (A2R)
2. Kjell Carlstrom (LIQ) at 2’05"
3. Patrice Halgand (C.A) at 2’05"
4. Robbie McEwen (DVL) at 2’15"
5. Daniele Bennati (LAM) at 2’15"

GC:
1. Honchar
2. Landis +1.00
3. Rogers +1.08

Yellow: Honchar
Green: McEwen
Polka Dot: Pineau
Youth: Fothen
Team: T-Mobile