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Landis rides at Teva Mountain Games

Published: Jun. 3, 2007
Still in the spot-light.
Still in the spot-light.
Photo: Fred Dreier

Floyd Landis looked a little like a fish out of water as he slung his leg over a green BMC mountain bike and rolled to the starting line of the 2007 Teva Mountain Games cross-country race, held June 2 in Vail, Colorado. Sporting an orange jersey emblazoned the logo of Smith and Nephew — the British medical firm that gave him a new hip in September 2006 — Landis was competing in his first cycling race since learning that his urine sample from Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour tested positive for exogenous testosterone. But Landis — famous for his exploits on the road bike — was also racing in his first cross-country mountain-bike race since 1998.

“I’m going to suffer, but I’ll be alright,” admitted the 31-year-old at the starting line. “I don’t really have anyone in mind who I’m going to target. Ned Overend isn’t one of them.”

Landis appeared to have the summit of the opening climb in his crosshairs, and leapt from the line at the gun, racing elbow-to-elbow with cross-country strongmen Jay Henry (Tokyo Joes), Ross Schnell (Trek-Volkswagen), Travis Brown (Trek-FRS) and the ageless Overend (Specialized). But midway through the first of three laps, the Tour de France winner shut down his afterburners and assumed a more realistic pace. He was the 42nd rider to come through the start/finish after the first lap, and stayed in the mid 40’s throughout the race. Women’s winner Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), who started four minutes behind the pro men, caught and passed the struggling champ on the outset of the final lap.

Landis’s face wore a grin throughout his not-so-stunning return to mountain-bike racing. For nine days in May (15-23), Landis sat in a Malibu, California courtroom listening to testimony during the arbitration hearing to decide whether or not he would keep his maillot jaune. The three members of the North American Arbitration Association’s review panel have a month or so to decide his fate.

Landis admitted that being in Vail away from lawyers and reporters was a welcomed change.

Gritting it out on a bike was another bonus.

“There were quite a few weeks when I rode a reasonable amount, 200-to-300 miles a week," he told the Associated Press. "Then that hearing; I didn't ride at all. You're sitting there. The next thing you know, you're eating doughnuts and you don't even care. It was awful."

UCI rules currently prohibit Landis from racing in any UCI-sanctioned event, but the Teva Mountain Games do not hold sanctioning from the sport’s governing body. Along with runner Simon Guttierez and kayaker Tao Berman, Landis was part of the Athletes for a Cure team competing in the Teva Mountain Games’s GNC Ultimate Mountain Challenge. The competition includes white-water kayaking, the 21-mile cross-country race, a 10K trail run and a road cycling time trial up Vail pass.

Landis toes the line for the first time in many months
Landis toes the line for the first time in many months
Photo: Fred Dreier

The Ultimate Mountain Challenge awards $2500 to the top finishing team, and Landis said he would donate any earnings to the Athletes for a Cure foundation.

Landis’s presence created a buzz throughout the Teva Mountain Games. In its sixth year, the four-day outdoor-sports event hosts competitions in everything from rock climbing and kayaking to fly fishing and dog jumping.

“I was definitely nervous about how people would react, but it’s been positive,” said Joel Heath, CEO of Unconditional Marketing, the firm which owns the Teva Games.

“He is a guy who always has the spotlight on him, and brings a lot of press to our event. But I’m more stoked that he is bringing the spotlight to the other world-class athletes we have here who don’t get as much coverage.”

Swarms of camera-toting fans followed the cyclist as he quickly made his way to the start/finish of the mountain-bike race. A small entourage of handlers quickly whisked Landis away after the race’s conclusion, after a brief T.V. interview with extreme skiing legend Glen Plake.

Landis’s appearance brought a mixed bag of opinions from his competitors.

“I think it takes some guts to come out here and do this — you know everyone has a target on his back,” said Overend, who struggled to overcome a first-lap flat tire. “He’s gotten more attention for this event.”

The sentiment was not shared by all.

“The general sentiment in my social circle is disappointment that he’s here racing,” said Brown, who finished fifth. “Myself included, I think it’s inappropriate to have him racing.”

Fans cheered loudest when Landis crossed the line, and a camera crew swarmed him before the Tour champ disappeared into the crowd. The pomp was not given to Vail local Jay Henry, who chased down Ross Schnell to win the men’s race in the closing lap.

Henry, hot off a win at the May 26 Chile Challenge cross-country race, said he supported Landis returning to the starting line.

“It’s good to see him on a mountain bike,” Henry said. “But it’s a lot different racing this than racing the Tour de France.”

Vanlandingham, who won the women’s race ahead of Katie Compton (Spike Shooter), said Landis jokingly told her not to make him look too bad on the final lap.

“I’d always heard he was a great technical rider, so when I caught him on the climb I hoped he would stay with me so I could watch him go down the descent and see his skills,” she said. “But I didn’t see him again.”

Landis will compete in the Trek hill climb time trial on Sunday, June 3. The course is the old time-trial course from the Coors Classic, and hosted Greg LeMond and Bernard Hinault in the 1980’s. Giro d’Italia winner Andy Hampsten currently holds the record for the ascent at 26:33.43.

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