Landis gains yellow in TT; Gonchar takes his second time trial
Floyd Landis (Phonak) is within a hair's breadth of taking his first ever Tour de France win, after finishing third in today's deciding time trial between Le Creusot and Montceau-les-Mines. Landis started the fastest, but gradually faded over the 57 km to lose 1'11 to winner Serguei Gonchar (T-Mobile), and 41 seconds to Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile). Maillot jaune Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) fought bravely, but ultimately finished fourth on the day, 2'40 behind Gonchar and 1'29 behind Landis.
In the overall classification, Landis has an effectively unbeatable 59 seconds on Pereiro and 1'29 on Klöden. CSC's Carlos Sastre, who started the day in second overall, rode below his best in the TT and is now in fourth, 3'13 behind Landis. Tomorrow's final stage into Paris is not expected to change the podium, and besides the top three, Robbie MeEwen (points), Michael Rasmussen (mountains), Damiano Cunego (young rider) and T-Mobile (teams) will take home the other classifications.
