Floyd's Road To Yellow!

Stage Details _ Three intermediate time checks: The first in Montchanin-le-Haut at the 16.5km mark, the second in Montcenis at 34.0km and the third in Villa-Sirot at 51.5km. _ No categorised climbs. _ Weather conditions: It was hot and overcast at the start of the stage. The temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius and the cloud lifted in the afternoon. _ Number of starters: 141 (no overnight retirements). Official start time: 11.15am. _ _ Germans Set Standard But Honchar Smash Best Time… _ Bert Grabsch (PHO) posted the best times at each check. The German was the 33rd rider to start the time trial and it wasn’t until Ekimov (DSC) started that Grabsch’s time was eclipsed. The oldest rider in the race was the 51st rider to start: he was second at the first and second checks, but led after 50km. At the finish the 2000 Olympic champion beat Grabsch by two seconds. Lang (GST) then surged into the lead but only for a brief time because the German time trial champion began his race 26 minutes before Honchar (TMO). The Ukranian winner of stage seven blasted past his two-minute man – Moncoutie (COF) – before the 10km mark, dominated by the first time check (passing 16.5km 42” faster than Grabsch) and then overtook his four-minute man, Simoni (SDV). _ Honchar posted the fastest time at each check and was the first man to finish with an average speed above 50km/h. _ Hunter (PHO) was eliminated from the 2006 Tour because he finished outside the time limit. _ It was so hot that, at four o’clock, the local authorities began to spray water on the road to stop the bitumen from melting. _ _ Cunego Keeps His White Jersey… _ There were two classifications that had not really been decided before the penultimate stage. Cunego (LAM) led Fothen (GST) by just five seconds before the time trial. At the first check, the Italian led the German by 12”; at 34km – 59”; at 51.5km – 35”… at the finish, ‘Il Piccolo Principe’ was 31” better than the 2003 under-23 time trial world champion. Cunego will keep his white jersey for the stage to Paris. _ _ Pereiro’s Gallant Fight _ Oscar Pereiro promised to “go to my limit”. He did just that and finished the stage in 4th place, 2’39” behind Honchar and 1’29” behind Landis. _ _ Landis Storms Home To Take Yellow! _ The only rider able to beat Honchar’s time at the first check was Landis who was one second faster. Pereiro lost just 10” in the first 16.5km to the former race leader but by the second check, Landis was the virtual leader of the Tour de France: he was 57” ahead of the yellow jersey. Landis finished the stage in third place, 1’10” behind Honchar – the winner of both long time trials this year – and 30” behind Kloden. The Ukrainian was the only rider to crack 50km/h for the 57km course but the American bolted into the lead of the race. Landis’ third place elevated him to lead of the general classification 59” ahead of Pereiro. Floyd will wear the yellow jersey in the 20th stage to Paris.