Landis derails Discovery in Chattanooga
Floyd Landis' dream 2006 continued Thursday as the winner of Paris-Nice and the Tour of California won the 39.9 km time trial between Chickamauga and Chattanooga and took the lead in the Tour de Georgia. Last year's winner, Discovery's Tom Danielson took second, 4 seconds back of the Phonak leader.
The race left Georgia for a day via a grueling climb up Lookout Mountain for a finish along the Tennessee River.
"It was very difficult; there were hard climbs in the middle," said Landis who admitted to using too big a gear at the start. "I kind of paid for it, but got through it. I think I started a bit too hard. I should have gone easier in the climb but didn't have a choice," added the Texas native who takes the leader's jersey into Friday's mountain stage.
"There's no way we can get any time on Floyd tomorrow," Danielson said as three other Discovery team-mates found themselves in the top ten with Jason McCartney (7th), Janez Brajkovic (8th) and Stage 2 winner Yaroslav Popovych in ninth place.
"We attacked last year like crazy and made the race really difficult on Floyd, but he has a very, very strong team this year. A lot of them are good climbers. We have to conserve as much energy as possible and not get too far ahead of ourselves," added Danielson.
Another American, CSC's David Zabriskie finished third as he returned to the fore after losing his yellow jersey in last year's Tour de France with a heartbreaking crash in the team time trial.
"It was hard to get a rhythm," said Zabriskie. "I did the best I can do, but I'm not overjoyed with third place."
Article By Eurosport.om
The race left Georgia for a day via a grueling climb up Lookout Mountain for a finish along the Tennessee River.
"It was very difficult; there were hard climbs in the middle," said Landis who admitted to using too big a gear at the start. "I kind of paid for it, but got through it. I think I started a bit too hard. I should have gone easier in the climb but didn't have a choice," added the Texas native who takes the leader's jersey into Friday's mountain stage.
"There's no way we can get any time on Floyd tomorrow," Danielson said as three other Discovery team-mates found themselves in the top ten with Jason McCartney (7th), Janez Brajkovic (8th) and Stage 2 winner Yaroslav Popovych in ninth place.
"We attacked last year like crazy and made the race really difficult on Floyd, but he has a very, very strong team this year. A lot of them are good climbers. We have to conserve as much energy as possible and not get too far ahead of ourselves," added Danielson.
Another American, CSC's David Zabriskie finished third as he returned to the fore after losing his yellow jersey in last year's Tour de France with a heartbreaking crash in the team time trial.
"It was hard to get a rhythm," said Zabriskie. "I did the best I can do, but I'm not overjoyed with third place."
Article By Eurosport.om
posted by Marc at 3:41 PM
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