no, we’re not talking vincent minelli’s production with gene kelly and leslie caron, we’re talking the landis landing on the podium with his first overall tour maillot jaune, and the 8th consecutive american tour win. the french haven’t had a native winner since bernard hinault in 1985 (himself a 5-time tour champion), and that probably pisses off the french more than bob roll saying ‘tour day france.’

on another front, reportedly, eddie merckx bet on a landis win in stage 17, after his son, axel, phoned him the night before to say that they were going to blow the race apart. sports betting is legal in belgium, and eddie won about $100 on odds of 75:1. heh – good for him!

this has been an incredible tour, and largely because it was so unpredictable, with the exception of expecting robbie mcEwen to come flying out of nowhere to cross a sprinter’s race finish. sadly, a phonak rider, rob hunter, would not make the ride on the champs elysee with his team, as he did not finish within the time allowed on the final time trial in stage 19.

it was sadly odd to not have seen the thin blue line, the boys in blue, the blue train, whatever monikers had been given to US Postal and team Discovery, driving their way in unison through the roads of france. it was also sad to see Discovery fall apart. I think, personally, that it was due to a lack of motivation and not ever really knowing who their leader was to be. sorry, big george, you just don’t seem to know what to do without lance to play lieutenant for.

it was a weird tour, yet an exciting one. it really wouldn’t have mattered who won, we would have cheered, anyway. however, that floyd landis won, and how he won, made this tour particularly special.

one thing, though, if landis does return next year after hip replacement surgery, at least he won’t have to wear that awful lime green on yellow swiss phonak jersey, as the team become uk’s iShares. not only was that a so-60’s combo, it is reminiscent of my all girls high school senior class colors that i was damned embarrass to wear, LOL!