Tour de France champion Floyd Landis has been identified as the cyclist who failed a drug test during the race, according to a statement on his Phonak team’s Web site.
The headline link above takes you to the SI.com story since there is understandably heavy traffic at the Phonak site.
This is just terrible news.
Floyd Landis became the third American to win the Tour de France today, crossing the finish line in Paris in the peloton just behind 20th stage winner Thor Hushovd of Norway to earn the maillot jaune
The Phonak team leader officially finished 69th in Sunday’s 96-mile ride from Sceaux-Antony to the tree-lined streets of Paris’ Champs-Elysées, but in a group of riders that crossed the line just eight seconds behind Hushovd, who became the first Norwegian to win the final stage and could be the first rider to ever win the Tour’s opening-day prologue and also claim the final stage.
Landis completed the 20-stage race in 89 hours, 39 minutes, 30 seconds with an average speed of 40.784 km/h (25.3 mph). He lost two seconds off his 59-second lead going into the final stage, beating Spain’s Oscar Pereiro by 57 seconds.
The victory gave American cyclists eight consecutive wins in the Tour de France, as Landis’ triumph comes after fellow American Lance Armstrong’s record seven straight Tour titles. Landis also joins Armstrong (1999-2005) and three-time winner Greg LeMond (’86, ’89, ’90) as the only Americans to win cycling’s most prestigious event.
Landis, who suffers from a degenerative hip condition and will undergo hip replacement surgery in the near future, won this year’s Tour after a disastrous ride in Stage 16, when he dropped from first to 11th place and found himself down by 8 minutes, 8 seconds to Pereiro. However, he came back strong the next day by winning Stage 17 and moving from 11th to third place, just 30 seconds behind Pereiro.
The Tour de France win highlights a very successful year for Landis, who also won the Tour of Georgia, the Paris-Nice race, and the Tour of California.
(Photo: Floyd Landis raises his arms in victory on the podium after winning the 93rd Tour de France. Courtesy of LeTour.fr/Photographers-Bruno Bade, Ingrid Hoffmann, Jean-Christophe Moreau.)
Barring a disaster in Sunday’s 20th—and final—stage of the 93rd Tour de France, Floyd Landis should become the third American to win the race.
Landis finished third in Saturday’s 19th stage, a 35.4-mile time trial from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines, at 1:10 behind the Ukraine’s Serhiy Honchar, who won the stage. However, the Phonak team leader needed only to make up time on overall race leader Oscar Pereiro of Spain, and Landis did just that.
Trailing Pereiro by 30 seconds and in third place entering the day, Landis beat Pereiro by 1 minute, 29 seconds in Saturday’s time trial to take the yellow jersey and build a 59-second lead over the Spaniard.
All that stands between Landis and a Tour victory is Sunday’s 96-mile ride from Sceaux-Antony to Paris, including the traditional Champs-Élysées finish. With such a sizable lead, Landis should succeed seven-time winner and fellow American, Lance Armstrong, as Tour de France champion and join Armstrong (1999-2005) and Greg LeMond (’86, ’89, ’90) as the only Americans to win the Tour.
What is remarkable about Landis is that his Tour was nearly over after a disastrous ride in Stage 16, when he dropped from first to 11th place and found himself down by 8 minutes, 8 seconds to Pereiro. However, he came back strong the next day by winning Stage 17 and moving from 11th to third place, just 30 seconds behind Pereiro.
In addition, it was revealed during this year’s Tour that Landis is afflicted with a degenerative hip condition and plans to undergo hip replacement surgery following the race.
(Photo: Floyd Landis is congratulated by cycling legend Eddy Merckx after claiming the yellow jersey following Saturday’s 19th stage. Courtesy of LeTour.fr/Photographers-Bruno Bade, Ingrid Hoffmann, Jean-Christophe Moreau.)
This is definitely good news for fans of the “generation 1” Transformers…Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime from Sunbow Productions’ animated “Transformers” series from 1984-87 (as well as the 1986 animated “Transformers: The Movie”), will be reprising the role in the upcoming, Michael Bay-directed live action/CGI “Transformers” feature.
From Superherohype.com:
The original voice of Transformers ‘ Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen, will also voice the character in Paramount’s anticipated big screen adaptation. Cullen made the announcement over the phone during the studio’s presentation at the San Diego Comic-Con today.
CNET.com posted an item a few days ago listing the top 10 can’t miss, tech-related clips on YouTube.
I enjoyed four of the clips so much I decided to share them on TWR.
Here are the final two clips, both of which provide a look back at Steve Jobs…
…who, along with his brother Pat, created the steak sandwich, which eventually became the famous Philly cheesesteak. Harry died Thursday at the age of 90.
Here is an excerpt from a story in today’s Philadelphia Daily News:
Harry and his older brother, Pat, had been selling hot dogs at a stand at 9th and Wharton streets in South Philadelphia since 1930.
It was a time when horses still plodded the streets and there was a water trough for the steeds in front of the hot-dog stand.
Pat suggested that Harry go to a local grocery store and pick up a slab of beef. Harry went, paying 7 cents for a pound.
He took it back to the stand, sliced it up, put some raw onions on the grill and, unknown to them, a legend began sizzling right there in front of them. The world’s first steak sandwich was born.
Pat and Harry slapped the meat on rolls and were about to devour their meal when a cab driver, a longtime fan of the brothers’ hot dogs, arrived for his meal and smelled the delicious aroma of meat frying in onions.
“I want one of those,” the driver said.
“But it’s our dinner,” the brothers protested.
The cab driver was insistent. He was about to become the first of a long line of Philly steak-sandwich addicts, stretching through the decades and around the globe, with billions of the succulent fare devoured.
“Sell him yours,” Pat said. After all, he was the oldest, and in an Italian family, the oldest sibling ruled.
Harry handed it over. They charged the driver 5 cents.
No doubt others had made steak sandwiches before and certainly thousands would make them in the future. But Pat’s King of Steaks was born that day at 9th and Wharton, and its fame spread rapidly through a hungry city.
So grab yourself a cheesesteak today, bow your head in a moment of silence…and devour the sandwich in memory of a true king of steaks.
(Photo courtesy of Pat’s King of Steaks.)
CNET.com posted an item yesterday listing the top 10 can’t miss, tech-related clips on YouTube.
For various reasons, I felt like sharing four of the clips here on TWR. As you may have noticed, I posted one yesterday that showed Jon Stewart hilariously discussing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ “the Internet is a series of tubes” speech during a recent episode of “The Daily Show.”
Today, I would like to share this humorous look at Microsoft history. This features Bill Gates getting hit in the face with a pie, Steve Ballmer going ape-shit crazy to Miami Sound Machine’s “Get on Your Feet” in 2000, and some of those madcap moments during various trade shows and conferences when Windows shows the world how really craptacular it is.
Enjoy…
Tomorrow, I will post the other two clips. They aren’t funny, but they are very interesting clips from the early 1980s featuring Steve Jobs:
Steve Jobs talks about the future of computers in 1981
Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh on January 24, 1984
(no, it’s not the Super Bowl commercial).
CNET.com posted an item today listing the top 10 can’t miss, tech-related clips on YouTube. For various reasons, I felt like sharing four of the clips here on TWR. One is hysterical, another is funny and the other two are “historical” clips of Steve Jobs—one from a 1981 news segment and another from the Macintosh introduction on January 24, 1984 (no, not the Super Bowl commercial).
I will post all four over the next few days, but here is the hysterical one featuring Jon Stewart discussing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ “the Internet is a series of tubes” speech during a recent episode of “The Daily Show.” Even non-geeks should find the end of this clip hilarious.
Enjoy…
Tomorrow: A comedic Microsoft retrospective.
In an effort to beat the heat at the Jersey Shore, I went on another 21-mile bike ride a little earlier than usual this morning. Ride time was 81 minutes and my average speed was again about 15.5 miles per hour. However, on one of the side streets I take near the beach, a permanent “your speed is” sign was recently installed. The sign said I was doing 20 m.p.h. when I went by it, but I was passing a slower-riding girl on a bike at the time so I don’t know if that threw the radar off or not. The speed limit is 25 m.p.h. on that road so I would like to break the speed limit at some point this summer.
Today’s ride brings my summer cycling total to 95 miles, so I am nearly halfway to my goal of 200 miles by the end of the summer.
Well, I redid the lead vocals for this song and made some changes to the backing vocals, as well. Still not satisfied with the vocals, but I’m tired of recording them and tired of remixing them so this will be the final demo version of this song that I publish.
Brian Kelley 