An interview with Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis (Phonak)

Floyd Landis (Phonak) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Was it the beer?

Never before in recent Tour de France history has one witnessed such a amazing turnaround of events. Brecht Decaluwé wonders whether it was the beer that gave Floyd Landis his wings today.

Q: When you came across the finish line, you showed an angry face and pumped your fist. What was going on?

FL: I was very disappointed yesterday, for a little while. Then I thought about it and my team has worked very hard for me to get here. For me to have a bad day was something I couldn't control. But today I thought, I could at least show them that I could keep fighting. No matter what, whether I win or not, I'm going to prove to my team that I deserved to be a leader. I didn't expect that I could do it quite that well. I thought they might be a bit disorganised if I attacked that early. You saw what happened.

Q: What you did today, left everybody stunned. Are you still amazed about what you've just accomplished today?

FL: I think that what I did yesterday left a lot of people stunned. That wasn't what you expected at this point. Yesterday was a disaster. I didn't have my team work for three weeks, to give up after one bad day. It was a long shot, but after all those hard mountains stage you can assume that people are tired and chasing wouldn't work so well.

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