Tour de France - Stage 19. Floyd Landis, the Phoenix, rises from the ashes and now stands to be the winner of the 2006 Tour de France. Barring anything unforseen, he will have the ride of his life to Paris tomorrow. Kudos to Pereiro, who rode out of his head to get the second spot, and to Kloden,who scorched the road to climb into third. Poor old Sastre (as Phil would say) lost his legs and his spot on the podium.

Three cheers for my Iron Man, Eki, who finished seventh in the Time Trial. The oldest man in the Tour this year was only six seconds back from Dave Zabriskie, and was ahead of Cadel Evans.. However, I do think I heard that Cadel punctured along the route. Bummer....

Thr image of Floyd is one that I took at the Tour of California Time Trial Prologue in San Francisco. Amgen Tour of California has just announced the route for 2007:

Prologue- February 18: San Francisco
Stage 1 - February 19: Sausalito to Santa Rosa
Stage 2 - February. 20: Santa Rosa to Sacramento
Stage 3 - February. 21: Stockton to San Jose
Stage 4 - February. 22: Seaside to San Luis Obispo
Stage 5 - February. 23: Solvang - Time Trial
Stage 6 - February. 24: Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita
Stage 7 - February. 25: Long Beach - Circuit Race