 Landis (centre) now leads the race by eight seconds |
Russian Denis Menchov outsprinted American duo Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer to win the 11th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday. The trio broke away in the final climb of the tough 206.5km leg from Tarbes to Val d'Aran Pla de Beret in Spain.
The Rabobank rider proved strongest to get to the finish line first.
But Landis, who rides for the Phonak team, did enough to take the leader's yellow jersey from Frenchman Cyril Dessel, who was over four minutes back.
"To win the stage was not my objective, I'm not a very good sprinter anyway," said Landis, who plans to have hip surgery after the race is over.
"Our goal is to win the Tour and I wanted to open gaps as wide as possible with the other general classification pretenders."
The American will start Friday's 211.5-km 12th stage from Luchon to Carcassonne with an eight-second lead over Dessel.
Menchov is 61 seconds behind Landis in third, with Australian Cadel Evans in fourth overall, 1min 17secs back.
Gerolsteiner's Leipheimer is 5:39 off the lead in 13th.
The battle for the stage heated up on the final ascent, the first-category Pla-de-Beret.
Menchov, Leipheimer and Landis were among the first group of eight riders to reach the 7.5-km slope, which has an average gradient of 5.5%.
 | We still have to go through the Alps, so it is too soon to tell, but I think that Floyd Landis remains the favourite |
Christophe Moreau (AG2R), Andreas Kloden (T-Mobile) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) were soon dropped, followed by Carlos Sastre (CSC) and Evans (Davitamon-Lotto).
That left Menchov, Leipheimer and Landis to fight it out for the win, with the Russian coming out on top to claim his first stage victory in six Tours.
Menchov, who won the Tour of Spain last year after Roberto Heras was stripped of the title after a positive drug test, must now be regarded as one of the favourites for overall success.
However, the 28-year-old, who won the white jersey for the best young rider in 2003, is refusing to get carried away.
"Winning a mountain stage is very important," he said.
"We still have to go through the Alps, so it is too soon to tell, but I think that Floyd Landis remains the favourite."
The hopes of several high-profile contenders look to be over for another year.
| This is not going to be our Tour de France... it's better to forget the overall standings Johan Bruyneel, Discovery Channel team manager |
The Discovery Channel trio of George Hincapie, Paolo Salvodelli and Yaroslav Popovych all struggled in the mountains while Euskaltel's Iban Mayo abandoned the race.
Hincapie, Lance Armstrong's former lieutenant, was unable to sustain the pace on the penultimate climb to the Col du Portillon and ended 21 minutes behind Menchov.
"It's over for me for the overall standings," said the American.
And Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel admits none of his riders have a chance of succeeding Armstrong in the race's roll of honour.
"This is not going to be our Tour de France," he said. "It's better to forget the overall standings. We should be looking for a stage winner."
Results from stage 11:
1. Denis Menchov (Rus/Rabobank) 6 hours, 6 minutes and 25 seconds
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA/Gerolsteiner) same time
3. Floyd Landis (USA/Phonak) same time
4. Cadel Evans (Aus/Davitamon-Lotto) +17"
5. Carlos Sastre (Spa/Team CSC) same time
6. Michael Boogerd (Ned/Rabobank) +1:04"
7. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa/Euskaltel) +1:31"
8. Fraenk Schleck (Lux/Team CSC) same time
9. Andreas Kloeden (Ger/T-Mobile) same time
10. Christophe Moreau (Fra/AG2R) +2:29"
Selected others:
91. David Millar (GB/Saunier Duval) +35:47"
112. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Confidis) +40:32"
General classification:
1. Floyd Landis (USA/Phonak) 49 hours, 18 minutes and 7 seconds
2. Cyril Dessel (Fra/AG2R) +8"
3. Denis Menchov (Rus/Rabobank) +1:01"
4. Cadel Evans (Aus/Davitamon-Lotto) +1:17"
5. Carlos Sastre (Spa/Team CSC) +1:52"
6. Andreas Kloeden (Ger/T-Mobile) +2:29"
7. Michael Rogers (Aus/T-Mobile) +3:22"
8. Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa/Agritubel) +3:33"
9. Christophe Moreau (Fra/AG2R) +3:44"
10. Markus Fothen (Ger/Gerolsteiner) +4:17"
Selected others:
43: David Millar (GB/Saunier Duval) +43:10"
143 Bradley Wiggins (GB/Confidis) +1h 14:49"
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