Landis in Yellow

After a very interesting stage in the Pyrenees mountains yesterday, in which a couple of unknown riders were permitted to break away and win by more than 9 minutes (allowing one of the riders to lead the overall race by almost 5 minutes), Floyd Landis and a small group of the real competitors took control of the Tour De France today, in a much more gruelling mountain stage.

Although the previous leader tried valiantly, he could not hold off Landis, who came in third in the stage. At the end of the day, Landis was in front by a mere 8 seconds over the previous leader and one minute over his next closest competitor.

The other interesting news is that Levi Leipheimer, who had a miserable time trial, finished the stage in second place, just in front of Landis. He is still over five minutes behind so, unless Landis and a couple of other riders collapse, he is still a very long shot. Finally, it's all but over for George Hincapie who struggled and dropped over 20 minutes on this stage. Indeed, the entire Discovery Channel team is in big trouble.

The Tour does not get any easier and the pressure is now on Landis. Let's see what he can do.