LANDIS: "I HAD A BAD DAY"

Floyd Landis was deeply disappointed after losing any chance of winning the Tour de France on Tuesday but true to character he accepted defeat with simple philosophy.

?I had a very bad day on the wrong day. I suffered from the beginning of the stage and tried to hide it but couldn?t go and that was the best I could do,? he said from the entrance to his hotel a couple of hours after the stage to La Toussuire in the Alps.

?I don?t have an explanation for what happened. Sometimes you don?t feel well and sometimes it?s on the wrong day. Today was not a good day to have a bad day. I don?t think it was a problem of not eating enough; I just wasn?t good from the beginning. A lot of times I feel that way and it comes around later in the stage but there was never a flat part of the stage were I could recover.?

Landis finished ten minutes behind stage winner Michael Rasmussen and is now 8-08 behind race leader Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d?Epargne). He said he will stay in the race but admitted he has now has little chance of winning the Tour.

?My chances of winning the Tour are very small at this point I?ll keep fighting because you never know what can happen but I wouldn?t say the odds are good.?

?I never assumed that the Tour was won at any point and always said I could have a bad, that?s why I was trying to ride conservatively everyday I felt good. The bad day came at the wrong time.?

Landis predicted that Saturday?s time trial will decide who win?s this year?s Tour.

?I think Kloden has a good chance and Sastre was strong today but it?ll hard for him to get more time tomorrow because it?s not as hard as today. I think it?ll come down to the time trial because the time gaps are not so big between the first few guys.?