From Armstrong...To Landis...

Think of cycling and all we think is a Lance Armstrong sipping champagne after wining the most prestigious cycling event, Le Tour De France. Since past seven years, this road bicycle race has seen Armstrong emerging as the outright winner.

In absence of the top five finishers from the last edition of Tour De France, the race this year was spilt wide open for the cyclists. So, how exciting was the Tour without Armstrong and other top riders across the world?
To be fair enough, the 2006 Le Tour De France was closely contested. Until the penultimate day even the cycling pundits found it difficult to predict the winner of 2006 Tour De France.
However, when Armstrong bid adieu from the world of cycling, the whole world was excited to see who would succeed the American.
And of course, it had to be an American! Floyd Landis, the 30-year old American won the Tour, in the closest three-way finish in the race's history.
Landis was among the favorites to win the Tour, after some top riders were suspended following doping charges. However, Landis’ bid to succeed fellow American Lance Armstrong looked a bit shaky when the rider lost his leaders yellow jersey to Spain’s Oscar Periero in an epic eight minute loss of performance in Stage 16.
It appeared he had lost all hope to finish on the podium, much less win.
But the following day, during Stage 17, Landis set such a high pace on the first climb of the day that no one chose to follow. He caught a breakaway group that had escaped earlier, passed them, and continued to the finish line, making up almost all of his deficit, ending up 30 seconds behind yellow jersey wearer Oscar Pereiro, which he made up with an extra minute in the final Stage 19 time trial.
With Landis’ win, the USA continued its dominance in the world of cycling with Landis being the third America to win this prestigious race. Moreover, with Armstrong himself giving Landis a pat on his back, the pressure is now on the 30-year old American to defend his crown. But the question remains, will he be able to do it?

But, what exactly is Tour De France?

Le Tour de France is the most famous and prestigious road bicycle race in the world. It is a long-distance stage race competition for professional cycling teams, travelling through France and its nearby countries over the course of three weeks each July, spread across 20 stages.
The winner is the individual rider who finishes the course of the race in the least accumulated time. Tour De France for cycling is what Football world cup is for its global popularity.
Apart from the overall competition of winning the Tour, each edition of the race has two further classifications: the points and the mountain competitions. Tallied at the end of each stage, the current leaders of the three competitions are required to wear a corresponding, distinctly coloured, jersey during the next stage.

Ø Yellow Jersey—the overall race leader wears it

Ø Green Jersey—the rider with maximum spirnt points wears it

Ø White or the Polska Jersey—to the rider who is first to climb the mountain