Landis Positions Himself for a Run at the Top Spot

RENNES, France — On a day when other U.S. riders struggled, crashed or complained, Floyd Landis set himself up as a leading contender in the Tour de France.

Landis finished second behind Ukraine’s Serhiy Honchar in the Tour’s first long time trial Saturday, and moved into second place overall after the seventh of 20 stages.

Honchar, the former world time-trial champion who rides for T-Mobile, dominated the field in the mostly flat stage -- winning by more than a minute -- as he became the first Ukrainian to earn the leader’s yellow jersey.

Landis, the Phonak team leader, was impressed with Honchar’s effort but more pleased with his own on the 32-mile ride from Saint-Gregoire to Rennes even though he lost precious seconds changing bikes because of a handlebar problem.

“I got beat fair and square,” Landis said. “It looks good for the rest of the race, but there’s a long way to go.”

After a first week of mostly flat stages that favored sprinters, the time trial was expected to produce the top contenders for the first Tour after the Lance Armstrong era.

For other Americans, Saturday was a bad day.

Time trial specialist David Zabriskie said he was distracted by fans hurling water at him; George Hincapie muttered that his ride was “not good,” and Levi Leipheimer did not speak to reporters. For veteran Bobby Julich, the outcome was even worse: He crashed out of the race altogether with a broken wrist after his wheels slid out from under him as he tried to negotiate a bend.

Landis, a 30-year-old from Lancaster, Pa., entered the race with victories in the Tours of Georgia and California, and in the Paris-Nice stage races.

“It’s more clear today than it was before that Landis is the big favorite,” said Johan Bruyneel, sport director of Hincapie’s Discovery Channel team.

The T-Mobile riders claimed four of the top eight spots in the stage. Among them was Australian world time-trial champion Michael Rogers, who was fourth.

Honchar’s time was 1 hour, 1 minute and 43 seconds -- an average pace of 31.41 mph. Landis was 61 seconds behind.

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STAGE 7 AT A GLANCE

* Saturday: The seventh stage was a time trial over 32 miles that looped northwest of the Brittany city of Rennes.

* Winner: Ukrainian Serhiy Honchar of T-Mobile in 1 hour, 1 minute, 43 seconds. American Floyd Landis of Phonak was second, with Gersolsteiner’s Sebastian Lang of Germany third. American Bobby Julich of CSC crashed, breaking a bone in his wrist, reducing the field to 170 riders.

* Yellow jersey: Honchar become the first Ukrainian to wear the race leader’s shirt.

* Quote of the day: “It’s more clear today than it was before that Landis is the big favorite.” -- Johan Bruyneel, sport director of the Discovery Channel team.

STAGE 7 RESULTS

Serhiy Honchar, Ukraine: 1:01:43

Floyd Landis, U.S.: 1:01 behind

Sebastian Lang, Germany: 1:04 behind

Michael Rogers, Australia: 1:24 behind

Gustav Larsson, Sweden: 1:34 behind

OVERALL LEADERS

1. Honchar, Ukraine: 30:23:20

2. Landis, U.S.: 1 minute behind

3. Rogers, Australia: 1:08 behind

4. Patrik Sinkewitz, Germany: 1:45 behind

5. Marcus Fothen, Germany: 1:50 behind

Source: Associated Press