Landis Wins, Australia can be Proud

The whirlwind 2006 Tour de France ended on Sunday with a distinct similarity to the last seven - with an American standing atop the winners podium. Only this time, it was Floyd Landis and not Lance Armstrong.

In an effort that can only be described as a wonderful demonstration of willpower and self belief, Landis powered to Paris against the odds after cracking in the crucial stage 16 climbing up the French Alps.

To highlight the miraculous nature of Landis’s history making win, the former mountain biker and Pennsylvanian, will now undergo a hip replacement as a result of the years of strenuous pressure on the bike.

The pain he has endured during the race to Paris is nothing short of a superhuman effort and prompted race director Jean-Marie Leblanc (who has been in charge of the Tour for the past 18 years) to state that Landis’ effort ranks as "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour."

Stage 16 saw Landis lose the lead he had built and fall eight minutes behind Spain's Oscar Pereiro. His odds with the bookmakers skyrocketed to $75 for him to win, however, he rebounded tremendously and only 24 hours after he relinquished the lead he had made up all but 30 seconds of the time he lost to Pereiro.

Leading into the penultimate stage (individual time trial), Landis was sitting third but the gap of 30 seconds between Pereiro and the barnstorming American was never going to be enough as Landis’s pedigree in the race against the clock far exceeded his Spanish counterparts.

Albeit, it was a fine effort by Pereiro to hold onto second place with T-Mobile rider Andreas Klöden making up the positions on the podium.

The final stage on the Champs-Elysées highlighted Australia’s current prominence in the sport with eventual Green Jersey winner – Robbie McEwen and fellow countryman Stuart O’Grady coming second and third respectively.

It was a Tour in which Australians could well and truly hold their heads high. Cadel Evans, who suffered a flat tire in the time trial battled on to finish eighth in that stage and become only the second Australian to finish in the top five in the Tour.

Evans joins Phil Anderson as the dual occupants of the highest placing for an Australian (5th), and Michael Rogers rounded out the top ten (10th) to celebrate a successful three weeks for Australian riders.

Evergreen sprinter and perhaps the best performed Australian cyclist of the Tour was maillot vert (Green Jersey) winner Robbie McEwen. The 34 year old Australian will take his third Green Jersey away from the 2006 Tour de France to add to his 12 career stage wins in the race.

McEwen seemed in a league of his own when it came to the bunch sprints, and with his rivals losing confidence; McEwen demonstrated his supreme power and tactical prowess to capture his personal hat-trick of Green Jerseys.

But Sunday night in Paris certainly belonged to Landis, who soaked up the pressure of falling behind and delivered in a way only a true professional would. He got back on the bike and let his legs do the talking.

The Tour de France is a race that can only be won by someone who sacrifices an extra-ordinary amount of time and yields extreme endurance for three weeks. Floyd Landis is the embodiment of the values instilled by hard work and concentration.

For that, he is awarded cycling’s greatest prize – wearing the Yellow Jersey on that one day in Paris.

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