a French town once dependent on coal mining
there was no just transition from fossil fuels
Montceau today is an open field for the far right
stated plaintively in the second half of the town’s name
Next door was the larger Montceau-les-Mines
a coal-mining hub whose population then numbered roughly 28,000
the local mines had employed some 12,000 miners
making Montceau a mining powerhouse in an otherwise bucolic region
Much of the coal was used just nearby in Le Creusot
feeding the furnaces in what for a time was France’s largest steel mill
Today, the local coal plant’s giant smokestacks still loom over Montceau, but the jobs that clustered around the mines are long gone. From 1975 to 2015, the area lost more than half of its industrial jobs
The local unemployment rate shot up to 22 percent
And that was despite more than 10,000 people—a third of the population—leaving Montceau over the same period
Those who have stuck around are disproportionately older: more than one in three over the age of sixty
compared to one in four in France as a whole
southwestern Burgundy served as a near barometer for national politics
Le Pen won 18 percent in the first round of presidential voting in 2002—1 point higher than in France as a whole
the younger Le Pen finished first in Montceau
with 27 percent of the vote in the first round—nearly 6 points higher than nationally
Even more striking are Montceau’s second round results
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s score stayed unchanged from the first round
Marine Le Pen’s second-round score shot up to 40 percent
Montceau-les-Mines’ gradual shift from a left-leaning industrial hub to an open field for the far right is tied up with the history of fossil fuels
“It was like the economy got hit with a sledgehammer,” René Serge Joby
Hélène Ville, a Burgundy-based researcher with the national statistics institute Insee, likewise blames the area’s historic dependence on raw materials and heavy industry for its current decline. In a 2019 study
she and a co-author compared Montceau-Le Creusot to five other urban areas with similar demographic profiles
spanning the northern half of France from east to west
They found that areas with more diversified industries rebounded from job losses in the 1980s and ’90s
while towns like Montceau and Le Creusot—whose economies were highly concentrated—kept hollowing out
For former industrial workers like Joby, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic. I met him a few kilometers outside Montceau, on an expressway overpass where a dedicated band of gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) had pitched their camp
He and other gilets jaunes looked back fondly at the worker militancy that marked the industrial era
About 20 kilometers down the road from Montceau
the remnants of a historic home of French steel can still be found
At its height in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
Le Creusot had been a company town run by the Schneider dynasty
The family’s mills produced France’s first locomotive in 1838 and
Generations of Schneider steel barons took turns serving as mayor
May ’68 also had its flickers in the area
including a strike and occupation of the Schneider steel mills
and soon the national backlash against the May rebellion hit home: Montceau and Le Creusot both elected right-wing members of parliament amid the wider Gaullist tide of the June 1968 elections
was hit hard by the oil shocks of the 1970s; despite efforts to cut costs
An overpass above the Route Centre Europe Atlantique (Colin Kinniburgh)
The expressway we looked over as Joby told me his story explains one part of what happened to the region as the manufacturing jobs left. Known as the Route Centre Europe Atlantique (RCEA), the expressway was conceived and promoted starting in the 1950s by business interests and elected officials
who sought to create a direct link from Portugal and Spain through southwestern France across to Switzerland
In the stretch between Montceau and Le Creusot, the RCEA runs alongside the canal that used to link the mines to the steel mills. Local officials have tried to rebrand the canal—built in the late eighteenth century—as a tourist site
but mostly it provides the backdrop for a constant stream of traffic
the RCEA and larger highway system it supports have relegated the area to a sort of in-between zone
The “Coal and Steel Community,” a precursor to the European Union
transformed into a broader European project underpinned by free trade and neoliberal economics
became little more than pit stops for one that today is growing faster than almost any other
across the continent and beyond: logistics
according to CGT union representative Antoine Delorme
Of some 2,800 jobs listed on Pôle Emploi for the Montceau-Le Creusot area last year
more than 20 percent were in the care sector
By far the most—13 percent—were in home care
Nursing assistants made up another 5 percent
Yet despite relatively high unemployment in the area
employers had a hard time recruiting for these jobs
That’s at least in part because the wages are low
helping elderly and vulnerable people with their toiletry
You keep them company and add a moment of intimacy to otherwise lonely days
depended on it for two years as Alzheimer’s gradually robbed him of his ability to take care of himself
(He now lives in a nursing home in Montceau.) It is hard to imagine how he and the rest of my family could have coped without the patient
dedicated women who came to take care of him up to three times a day
I had the chance to leaf through a book of testimonies by some of those women and their colleagues
They highlighted many of the job’s difficulties—the uncompromising hours
as well as harassment by some clients—but also its rewards
It’s a refrain voiced by overburdened care workers in many countries: they know the value of their work
and how much it means to those they care for
Yet their employers don’t treat them accordingly
Has the COVID-19 pandemic brought us any closer to revaluing their work
feminized working class has a chance at the kind of stability promised by the postwar compact
At the job security and the hard-fought benefits that made the long
brutal hours in the mines and factories worthwhile
health care workers rallied outside Montceau hospital to protest bed closures and demand more funding
the story of my grandfather’s town is that of a transition from fossil fuels gone wrong
and those who didn’t leave felt left behind
industrial decline alone can’t be blamed for the far right’s rise
it has provided fertile ground for Le Pen’s hateful narrative to take hold
If Montceau continues to serve as a barometer for French politics more broadly—as it did for the second half of the twentieth century—then the country could be headed in a very perilous direction indeed
It’s not hard to imagine ways to revitalize areas like Montceau
Transforming the burgeoning care sector into one that pays and treats its workers fairly would be a natural place to start
Training workers to retrofit homes and combat the climate crisis would be another
In the absence of such ambitious public policies
local officials have sought other ways to fill the gaps
filling the former open-pit mines around the edges of town with water and dubbing them lakes
Nearby residents are left to gaze at the water on hot summer days
Colin Kinniburgh is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist covering climate change, cities, and inequality. He also staffs the U.S. news desk at France 24 and serves on the editorial board of Dissent.
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Scientists have finally managed to put a face to the largest bug to ever live
experts have been stumped as many fossils found were headless shells that were left behind when the bugs molted
As if the largest bug to ever live – a monster nearly 9 feet long with as many as 64 legs – wasn’t terrifying enough, scientists could only just imagine what the extinct beast’s head looked like.
They would squirm out of their exoskeletons through the head opening as they grew ever bigger — up to 8 to 9 feet (2.6 meters) and more than 100 pounds (50 kilograms).
Now, scientists have produced a mug shot after studying fossils of juveniles that were complete and very well preserved, if not quite cute.
The giant bug’s topper was a round bulb with two short bell-shaped antennae, two protruding eyes like a crab, and a rather small mouth adapted for grinding leaves and bark, according to new research published Wednesday in Science Advances.
Called Arthropleura, these were arthropods -- the group that includes crabs, spiders and insects – with features of modern-day centipedes and millipedes. But some of them were much, much bigger, and this one was a surprising mix.
“We discovered that it had the body of a millipede, but head of a centipede,” said study co-author and paleobiologist Mickael Lheritier at the University Claude Bernard Lyon in Villeurbanne, France.
The largest Arthropleura may have been the biggest bugs to ever live, although there is still a debate. They may be a close second to an extinct giant sea scorpion.
Researchers in Europe and North America have been collecting fragments and footprints of the huge bugs since the late 1800s.
“We have been wanting to see what the head of this animal looked like for a really long time,” said James Lamsdell, a paleobiologist at West Virginia University, who was not involved in the study.
To produce a model of the head, researchers first used CT scans to study fossil specimens of fully intact juveniles embedded in rocks found in a French coal field in the 1980s.
This technique allowed the researchers to scrutinize “hidden details like bits of the head that are still embedded in the rock” without marring the fossil, Lamsdell said.
“When you chip away at rock, you don’t know what part of a delicate fossil may have been lost or damaged,” he said.
The juvenile fossil specimens only measured about 2 inches (6 centimeters) and it’s possible they were a type of Arthropleura that didn’t grow to enormous sizes. But even if so, the researchers said they are close enough kin to provide a glimpse of what adults looked like – whether giant or of a less nightmarish size -- when they were alive 300 million years ago.
This illustration provided by researchers in October 2024 depicts a juvenile Arthropleura insect reconstructed using fossils discovered in Montceau-les-Mines, France.
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Previous reconstructions of Arthropleura which used evidence from relatives and damaged fossils to show what the head might have looked like are now outdated. © Fabrizio Conte/ Shutterstock
Well-preserved fossils uncovered in France have revealed new insights into one of the biggest invertebrates to ever walk on Earth
Arthropleura was a millipede-like animal which lived more than 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period
with some individuals reaching more than two metres long
The head of one of history’s biggest arthropods has been revealed in detail for the first time
which saw it placed among the earliest millipedes
the discovery of the first complete head has revealed a surprising twist
While the new fossils are not from fully grown Arthropleura, some of which reached 2.6 metres long
the head has some features of early centipedes
suggesting millipedes and centipedes might be more closely related than previously accepted
Dr Greg Edgecombe
an expert in ancient invertebrates at the Natural History Museum
says that the new fossils refine our understanding of how these animals evolved
we’ve only had well-preserved fossils of the body of Arthropleura,” Greg explains
“These had two pairs of legs on each segment
so it was often seen as an enormous millipede.”
we know that it had features that are also characteristic of centipedes
like enclosed mandibles with two pairs of head limbs behind them
Based on traditional views of how millipedes and centipedes are related
“By combining the best available data from hundreds of genes from living species in this study
alongside the physical characteristics that allow us to place fossils like Arthropleura on evolutionary trees
Millipedes and centipedes are actually each other’s closest relative.”
While many details of Arthropleura’s life remain mysterious, including how it breathed and what it ate, ongoing research is gradually building a fuller picture of this invertebrate. The findings of the study were published in the journal Science Advances
fossils found in siderite nodules were studied using casts such as this
Living between 346 and 290 million years ago, Arthropleura was the largest invertebrate on land during an era of enormous arthropods. Everything from scorpions like Pulmonoscorpius to the dragonfly-like griffinflies grew to enormous sizes
with many living in swampy forests stretching around the world’s equator
Some became surrounded by a mineral called siderite
The resulting fossils have preserved even the most delicate parts of their anatomy
making them especially useful for researchers
After hundreds of millions of years of continental drift
some of these siderite nodules eventually came to light in a coal mine in Montceau-les-Mines
They were later placed in the collections of the Museum of Autun
where CT scans are finally revealing their hidden contents
we’d split open the nodules and take casts of the specimens,” Greg says
We used a combination of microCT and synchrotron imagery to examine the Arthropleura inside
revealing the fine details of its anatomy.”
allow Arthropleura to be seen in greater detail than ever before
From the many siderite nodules in the Museum of Autun
Even though the two fossils measure just 25 and 40 millimetres long
these juveniles of an unidentified Arthropleura species reveal how the group achieved its enormous size
Arthropleura specimens have different amounts of body segments
which suggests the invertebrates added them until they reached a fixed maximum number
This is like most millipedes but differs from many centipedes
which are born with all of their segments already in place
This means that Arthropleura’s maximum size would have been reached by
The maximum size of the species used in the study is an open question
but it may not have been as massive as some of the biggest species
“Tracks found elsewhere in Montceau-les-Mines suggest that these Arthropleura were probably around 40 centimetres at their longest,” Greg explains
“While there’s nothing to say that they couldn’t be bigger
we don’t currently have any evidence of this.”
The latest reconstructions of Arthropleura show it has both characteristics of millipedes and centipedes
reflecting its position in the tree of life
Other aspects of their lifestyle are similarly ambiguous
While the researchers found that Arthropleura has club-shaped eyes
The team believe they were probably compound eyes
What the invertebrate ate is also something of a mystery
While some researchers believe they have found plant fragments preserved in its guts
this finding is not universally accepted by the scientific community
“While definite gut contents are yet to be found
other details of these fossils contribute to the debate over Arthropleura’s diet,” Greg adds
“They don’t have any venom fangs or legs specialised for catching prey
As its legs are better suited for slow movement
they were probably more like the detritus-eating millipedes alive today.”
more well-preserved Arthropleura specimens will need to be found
While this study has helped to firm up its place in the tree of life
it’s possible that more twists remain in store for the scientists studying Arthropleura
“I overturned 20 years of my own work with the molecular trees we used to place Arthropleura in this paper, but I was willing to fall on my own sword because of the evidence we uncovered,” Greg says. “As our knowledge of this iconic invertebrate continues to evolve, we’ll need to keep our minds open to new possibilities.”
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305-Million-Year-Old ‘Almost Spider’ Unlocks Arachnid History
The creature had spiderlike mouthparts and eight legs
By Stephanie Pappas & LiveScience
A computed tomography image reveals the 305-million-year-old arachnid that is almost
Garwood et al 2016/Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
A new fossil found in France is almost a spider
The arachnid, locked in iron carbonate for 305 million years, reveals the stepwise evolution of arachnids into spiders
Dubbed Idmonarachne brasieri after the Greek mythological figure Idmon
a weaver turned into a spider by a jealous goddess
the "almost spider" lacks only the spinnerets that spiders use to turn silk into webs
"It's not quite a spider, but it's very close to being one," said study researcher Russell Garwood, a paleontologist at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. [See Images of the Fossilized 'Almost Spider']
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leaving few traceable evolutionary changes in their genes
The oldest known spider fossil comes from the Montceau-les-Mines
The newfound fossil from the same time period reveals that these ancient spiders lived alongside not-quite-spider cousins.
The 0.4-inch-long (10 millimeters) arachnid was discovered decades ago
because the front half of the fossil is buried in rock
Computed tomography unlocked the mystery by allowing Garwood and his colleagues to peer inside the rock at the arachnid's walking legs and mouthparts
which are important for identifying the genus and species of this kind of creature
an amateur fossil hunter discovered what ultimately turned out to be the closest known relative of modern-day spiders.Photo courtesy of Garwood RJ et al.
The arachnid turned out to have had spiderlike mouthparts and legs
"We're looking at a line of spiderlike arachnids that haven't survived but must have split off before 305 million years ago," Garwood said
tail-like structure called the flagellum that disappeared before I
brasieri branched off the family tree
but did have structures called spigots that could have excreted silk
the researchers said they suspect that I
just without the spectacular weaving abilities that spinnerets allow
Suggested appearance of the spiderlike arachnid Idmonarachne brasieri.Illustration courtesy of Garwood RJ et al.
The researchers said they plan to examine other fossils to get a better understanding of the rise of spiders. Very little is known about how spiders and other arachnids, such as scorpions and harvestmen
"Arachnids as a whole are an incredibly successful group," he said
"They're the most diverse group of living organisms after insects
really successful—but we have a very limited understanding of how they are related to each other."
Ewwww! Photos of Bat-Eating Spiders
Incredible Photos of Peacock Spiders
Goliath Birdeater: Images of a Colossal Spider
Copyright 2016 LiveScience
Stephanie Pappas is a freelance science journalist based in Denver
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The creature had spiderlike mouthparts and eight legs, but lacked spinnerets
A new fossil found in France is almost a spider, but not quite.
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nIn the mid-1970s, an amateur fossil hunter discovered what ultimately turned out to be the closest known relative of modern-day spiders.Photo courtesy of Garwood RJ et al., Proc. R. Soc. B, (2016)
\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nSuggested appearance of the spiderlike arachnid Idmonarachne brasieri.Illustration courtesy of Garwood RJ et al.
Ewwww! Photos of Bat-Eating Spiders
Incredible Photos of Peacock Spiders
Goliath Birdeater: Images of a Colossal Spider
Stephanie Pappas is a freelance science journalist based in Denver
LiveScience is one of the biggest and most trusted popular science websites operating today
Now one with a head has finally been found
2024Get email notification for articles from Ruth Schuster FollowOct 9
a giant bug living in France died tragically young
The deceased Arthropleura was apparently just a kiddie
while adults of its species could reach more than 2.5 meters (8 feet)
We are more accustomed to our arthropods being bite-size
Arthropleura was the biggest ever to walk the face of the planet
Now we are. The true identity of Arthropleura, popularly known as "a giant millipede" and shown to be "a giant millipede"was revealed Wednesday by Prof. Mickaël Lhéritier and colleagues in Science Advances
James Lamsdell of West Virginia University
Arthropleura has been known for about 170 years
Because paleontologists hadn't found any with their heads
Open gallery view3-D reconstruction of Arthropleura from top
10.An arthropod is an invertebrate that typically possesses an exoskeleton that it must periodically molt in order to grow
All begin embryonically with segmented bodies and each segment theoretically has a pair of legs
the final body shapes of the arthropods have become highly diverse
Common arthropods we know and love include shrimp
Fossils of Arthropleura's body and legs had been found all over Europe and North America
There may even be fossils of its exoskeleton: as they grow
Over the 170 years that the animal has been known
many theories arose for its identity: a crustacean; a cousin of trilobites
thanks to the two juveniles found in Montceau-les-Mines in a beautiful state of preservation
we can look Arthropleura in its mineralized eyes and know who it really was
the heads change everything we thought we knew about myriapod evolution
centipedes and millipedes are cousins after all
Open gallery viewAn African giant black millipede.Credit: Wandel Guides/Shutterstock.comEyes on the prize
has features of both millipedes and centipedes
Centipedes and millipedes had emerged over a hundred million years before this beast
Arthropleurans lived cheek by jowl with both and retained features of their common ancestor
It wasn't ancestral to millipedes or centipedes – it was a cousin
what were they and how did the discovery of their heads upset classic theory
Classically millipedes were grouped with pauropods and pseudocentipedes
But recent molecular data had suggested that to be wrong
Now the heads indicate support the new theory that millipedes group with centipedes and the others are distant relations
the heads reveal that Arthropleura's eyes were on stalks
This is not a common feature in centipedes and millipedes
At this point paleontologists suspect stalked eyes to have been ancestral to myriapods
which climbed onto land but did originate in the sea
The prominent eyes could also support the theory
Arthropleura has some traits characteristic of centipedes (but not millipedes) and some traits unique to millipedes
But the conclusion is that it was an early millipede after all
centipedes today have some traits that appear in Arthropleura (but not in millipedes) - suggesting that these traits are deeply ancestral
Open gallery viewThe Stalk-eyed fly insect on a leaf.Credit: Sarin Kunthong/Shutterstock.comHow dangerous was this creature
Millipedes are harmless unless you happen to hassle one
it happens to spray you with defensive elixir
and you happen to be allergic to that spray
Centipedes are venomous though they usually can't kill you
Gigantism in the Carboniferous has long inspired us – dragonflies with wingspans of almost a meter
giant cockroaches and centipedes that could hunt a goat
Which leads us to ask: how did Arthropleura achieve its dimensions
Most paleontologists assume it scavenged (what is called a detritivorous diet)
we couldn't know how Arthropleura ate and achieved its giant stature
but Lhéritier and the authors explain why they think the starting assumption was right
Open gallery viewThe pretty punim of a giant centipede (Scolopendra sp.) on a leaf.Credit: Manoj Kumar Tuteja/Shutterstock.com"Even in the light of our results that some aspects of the group's feeding apparatus are more similar to those of carnivorous centipedes … the overall anatomy of Arthropleura suggests that it was likely a detritivorous myriapod," they write
Their theory that it dined on the dead is supported by not finding venom delivery apparatus
It also doesn't seem to have the modified prey-catching legs
Lamsdell points out that absent stomach contents
we cannot be sure they were detritovores but they could have been
The fact that they had stalked eyes may or may not cast on their diet; another theory
is that the juvenile form of the Arthropleura had stalked eyes
but the condition didn't persist into their adulthood
Open gallery viewReconstruction of the Arthropleura.Credit: Lhéritier et al.
10Apropos the stalked eyes and postulated semi-aquatic lifestyle
we also note that paleontologists have identified trackways made by Arthropleurans on land over 300 million years ago
which support a supposition that compared with today's zippy myriapods
Open gallery viewFossil trackway of a large Myriapod
on the bedding plane of a Namurian (early Late Carboniferous) sandstone
that while they call the Montceau find juvenile
they didn't find giant adult conspecifics there
But it mainly means that their inference – that these specimens were youngsters of the much bigger animal – is unproven
The team explains at length why they believe these to be the infants of the species
forcing Hollywood's finest to resort to CGI
Here is a link to a movie about an imaginary giant centipede
the highest honor bestowed upon chefs around the world
a sign that he had succeeded at the highest level as a chef
But after a costly kitchen renovation put him in debt and Brochot couldn't keep a steady stream of high-paying customers in the restaurant
he wrote to the Michelin Guide to give up his star
a symbol of fine dining with prices to match
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France AP — American Floyd Landis is all but assured of winning the Tour de France after regaining the overall lead Saturday
shaped up as the decisive stage in one of the most topsy-turvy Tours in years
adding he had been nervous before the stage
The Phonak team leader reclaimed the yellow jersey from Spain's Oscar Pereiro
who started Saturday's race against the clock with a thin 30-second lead over Landis
gaining 59 seconds on the now second-place Pereiro
an injury from a 2003 crash that he hopes to correct with surgery this fall
"I'm a person who works hard and never gives up
Landis is in prime position to take home the maillot jaune — barring disaster in Sunday's ride into Paris — in the first Tour since fellow American Lance Armstrong's record seven straight victories
like he did in the seventh stage time trial
dominated the 35.4-mile course from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines
Kloeden's strong ride Saturday moved him from fourth overall to third at 1:29 back
but he crossed the line 4:41 back of Honchar
Landis and Pereiro have traded the yellow jersey four times since the American first claimed it in Stage 11
"Hopefully I won't give it away again," he said with a smile
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By Brecht Decaluwé in Montceau-les-Mines George Hincapie finished 29th in the time trial
By Brecht Decaluwé in Montceau-les-Mines
George Hincapie finished 29th in the time trial
It was not the usual result that is expected from the Discovery rider: "I tried hard until the first split
"From then on I saved as much energy as possible."
Serguei Gonchar won the race with an impressive advantage on his rivals
we asked the American if he'd spoken Floyd Landis this morning: "Not today no
The final test of the 2006 Tour de France saw no real surprises
but he did more than enough to take the maillot jaune(Image credit: AFP Photo)Floyd Landis (Phonak) speeds towards victory(Image credit: AFP Photo)Floyd Landis (Phonak) was compactly fast(Image credit: AFP Photo)Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) sprints for the line
once again asserted his dominance in the race of truth
while a resurgent Floyd Landis continued his fairytale comeback from two days ago
his third place 1'29 faster than overnight leader Oscar Pereiro
and more than enough to place him back into the maillot jaune
"But when the yellow jersey is on the line
I knew he'd be inspired and that it wasn't going to be easy
"Pereiro did an exceptional time trial; I was also a little concerned about the four-hour time trial I did two days ago
With just the traditional afternoon procession to Paris' Champs-Elysées remaining
it's more than likely a maillot jaune for keeps
who said that despite being one of the favourites
"I wasn't very convinced this morning," said Gonchar on his chances
"But everybody in the team wanted to do a good chrono because we could improve our position in the teams classification
I wanted to surprise myself and I think I did that today."
Asked how he managed to turn around his below-par performance in the Alps so swiftly
the sprightly 36 year-old replied: "It's a mystery to me as well."
"I was ill in the Alps and I had to take antibiotics
our team manager told us that we had to fight for the teams classification
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Pereiro to keep the maillot jaune
but at the first time check after 16.5 kilometres
the 28 year-old Spaniard was only 10 seconds down on Landis
He was allowed to lose another 19 seconds more
Pereiro eventually succumbed to the strawberry-haired blonde by one and a half minutes
second step on the Paris podium is most certainly nothing to sneeze at
Another surprised at his own performance was Gonchar's team-mate Andreas Klöden
2'29 down on Pereiro at the start of the day
the 31 year-old T-Mobile man rode the race of his life to finish second on the stage
Klöden moved into third place overall by almost two minutes over the man he displaced
who cracked on the road to Montceau-les-Mines and lost nearly five minutes to the stage winner
"After the difficulties I had this spring and the setbacks in the Alps
it's great to perform so well in the last time trial
My team always believed in me; they motivated me yesterday
"I actually asked my directeur-sportif Valerio Piva not to give me any times during the first 25 kilometres
as that would have only driven me crazy," said Klöden
I was already one and a half minutes' ahead of Sastre
and I had Serguei's times as well to gauge myself
It certainly was one of my best time trials ever."
Apart from first and second places as well as third and fourth positions on GC being reversed
the rest of the top ten remained unchanged - Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto)
Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Michael Rogers (T-Mobile) all held their fifth to tenth spots on the Classement Général
youngsters Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital) and Marcus Fothen (Gerolsteiner) were duking it out to see who would become the best young rider of the 93rd Tour de France
Since his fantastic ride to L'Alpe d'Huez where he finished second to Fränk Schleck
'Kid' Cunego has been riding like a man reborn
holding off Fothen by half a minute to keep his maillot blanc
"I'm delighted - this is the best time trial I've ever done," he said
the legs count more than being a specialist in the time trial
"I dreamed about Fothen last night!" remarked Cunego with a smile
"I deeply wanted to win this jersey; this time trial is a good test for the future
This experience at the Tour shows me that the best result can come with serenity instead of pressure."
I didn't expect that Cunego would ride so fast; I don't know if anybody did
Floyd Landis may be saying the Tour's not over till it's over; understandably
it's a little premature to ask him how it feels to win the world's biggest bike race and begin a new chapter in the history of La Grande Boucle
a little after half-past five tomorrow afternoon
he'll need to have an answer to these questions
"I wished and hoped that some day I'd have the opportunity to be the leader of a team and to get the jersey," said Landis on his time riding with seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong
"I know that it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices from a lot of people
The penultimate stage of the 2006 Tour De France was a rolling time test over a course that is similar to one that Jan Ullrich won in 1998 from Montceau-les-Mines to Le Creusot
Ullrich beat Bobby Julich by 1'01 eight years ago
The long TT was where riders had little chance to recover and was a great test for which riders still had energy at the end of a long and difficult
The weather was hot and very humid eight years ago
with temperatures expected to rise into the mid-thirties
141 riders would exit the start house on Saturday for the long
Davitamon-Lotto's Wim Vansevenant was the first man off at 11:15 and set the fastest time
but the first serious time was from Phonak rider big Bert Grabsch
1h11'28 for an average speed of 47.85 km/h
but first it was 40 year-old 2000 Olympic TT champ Slava Ekimov (Discovery) who bested Grabsch by 0'02
then CSC's Dave Zabriskie powered home six seconds under Eki's time to take the lead
But Dave Z wasn't long in the hot seat as German Seppel Lang in his elegant white German National Champion's jersey flew home in Montceau-les-Mines in 1h11'03
a Ukrainian TGV was out of control as stage 7 winner
Finally he humped and pumped his 55X11 over the finish line with the tremendous time of 1h07'45
Gerolsteiner's Marcus Fothen finished in 1'12'00 and many expected him to take the maillot blanc of best young rider
but tough little Italian Damiano Cunego (Lampre) wasn't having it
who had beaten him by 5'00 in the stage 7 TT
but the young Italian had the best time trial of his career: 1'11'29 for for an eventual 10th best time
He would now finish his first Tour De France
Floyd Landis (Phonak) started off at 16:19 and went out hard
passing through the first time check in Montchanin-le-Haut (16.5km) in 19'46
already pulling 10 seconds back on Pereiro and setting the new best time
then Landis powered across the mid race time check in 41'45
Landis was 0'26 behind Gonchar's and the Phonak man had also lost some time to Klöden
But maillot jaune Pereiro had already lost time to Landis
CSC's second placed on GC Carlos Sastre came through Montcenis in 44'05 for 16th fastest and was 2'13 behind Klöden and just about to lose his podium place
Maillot jaune Pereiro was hanging tough and motivated by his precious tunic of race leadership
The Caisse d'Epargne rider was at 42'42 after 34.5 km and had already lost 0'57 to Landis and was 1'00 slower than Klöden
but had a 2'29 margin on the German and was looking good to finish as runner-up in Paris
At the third time check in Villa-Sirot after 51.5km
0'47 slower than his T-Mobile teammate and then caught his three minute man Cadel Evans in the last kilometre
Landis had faded over the second half of the long TT and was third fastest at 51km in 1h03'44
and the American then finished his race against the clock in 1'08'56
enough to take over the maillot jaune and take command of the 93rd Tour De France
CSC's Carlos Sastre tried with all he had in the long ITT
but the Spanish climber crossed the line in 1h12'27 for 20th
Maillot jaune Pereiro was still riding with class and force
and had the best TT performance of his career to finish in 1h10'25 for 4th
and his superb effort held off Klöden for second place
Chapeau to T-Mobile's Sergei Gonchar's for dominating both time trials at this year's Tour De France as he won Stage 7 in Rennes and Stage 19 in Montceau-les-Mines
Good rides also on Stage 19 from David Zabriskie (CSC) in 6th
Discovery Channel's 40 year old hard man Viatcheslav Ekimov in 7th
best young rider Damiano Cunego (Lampre) in 10th
Today was the fifth time in recent history that the maillot jaune changed hands after the final time trial at the Tour De France
then 1987 when Roche beat Delgado and 1989 and 1990 when LeMond beat Fignon and then Chiappucci to win Le Grande Boucle
With only Stage 20's 152km separating the Tour peloton from the final parties in Paris
Floyd Landis looks like he has his first Tour De France win all but locked up
while gutsy runner-up Oscar Pereiro Sio at 0'59 and smooth operator Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) at 1'29 will round out the podium at the finish
Team CSC's Carlos Sastre tried valiantly to fill the shoes of Ivan Basso
but the Spanish climber just wasn't strong enough against the watch and fell off the podium after Stage 19
5th place Davitamon-Lotto's Aussie Cadel Evans leaped like a 'roo up the GC ladder after his 8th place last season and can still improve his Tour performances in the years to come
Rabobank's rockin' Russian Denis Menchov ended up a respectable sixth and had a stage win
but more was expected at this Tour from the defacto winner of the '05 Vuelta
AG2R-Prevoyance showed they are the best French team even though they don't have the biggest budget
placing two French riders in the top 10 with audacious unknown Cyril Dessel in 7th and old warhorse Christophe Moreau in 8th
smart riding got Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel) back into the top 10 in 9th place
while Aussie World TT champ Mick Rogers (T-Mobile) had his best ever Tour finish to round out the top 10
12th place Damiano Cunego (Lampre) will take the maillot blanc of best young rider back home to Italy after his first Tour
closing strongly with good climbing and a strong TT in the third week and showing he's got potential to come back to Le Tour and move up the GC ladder in the future
Was in the form of his life and despite doing yeoman's work all Tour long
Gerolsteiner's Levi Leipheimer was a disappointment at the 2006 Tour and even if the American could get back the 6-plus minutes he lost in Stage 7's TT
the would have still finished just inside the top 10
Yaroslav Popovych in 25th and George Hincapie in 32nd
it's decidedly back to the drawing board for Discovery Channel's sports director Johan Bruyneel
the Belgian will not direct the winning rider and team at the Tour De France
team staff and hundreds of thousands of the assembled masses will hear the Star Spangled Banner play as Floyd Landis is crowned Tour De France champion
July 23: Antony (Parc de Sceaux)-Paris Champs-Elysées / 154.5 km
It's fun, fun, fun on the final stage as the maillot jaune and his team celebrate on the way to the Champs-Elysées for the final 50km criterium around the French capital
then the pomp and circumstances to crown the new Tour champ
it must be maillot vert Robbie 'Aussie Oi Oi Oi' McEwen as the winner