Garrett Lai

With five categorized climbs and a mountaintop finish, Thursday's 11th stage was the first real stage of this year's Tour de France. And Floyd Landis just ended the Tour’s hardest day in yellow. So what’s this mean?

AG2R’s Cyril Dessel was the surprise Wednesday, taking the maillot jaune with a successful early break that stayed away for the day. He’s not an overall contender, but AG2R did the expected in trying to defend his position by riding tempo. And it was a good move, until T-Mobile decided they’d had enough and went to the front with 51 kilometers to go.

T-Mobile brought a busload of talent to the Tour, and it showed in the way the field blew apart with the relentless pace. In just a few kilometers the field went from a relatively cohesive bunch to a fragmented mess, with a speed so unyielding even Iban Mayo, a pre-race contender, was forced to abandon.

Landis stayed with the T-Mobile guys, riding near the front. George Hincapie blew, leaving Jose Azevedo as the lone Discovery Channel rider in the lead bunch — a situation that wasn’t to last.

The group continued to shed riders until Rabobank’s Denis Menchov launched the move of the day, with 7.7 km to go, burning off T-Mobile’s Andreas Kloden, a potential contender. The only riders to respond were CSC’s Carlos Sastre, Davitamon-Lotto’s Cadel Evans, Floyd Landis and a surprisingly strong Levi Leipheimer, who has seemingly recovered from his disastrous time trial day and found some form.

Near the summit it was down to three: Menchov, Landis and Leipheimer. Levi was the most aggressive and cagey, obviously gunning for the stage win, but he couldn’t shake Menchov and Landis. And at the final tape it was Menchov, who easily held off an aggressive Levi Leipheimer, with Floyd content to ride their draft in to the finish.

Dessel started the day with more than four-and-a-half minutes on Landis, but in the end it wasn’t enough, and he conceded the jersey to the Floyd.

So now it falls to Phonak to defend the jersey. It’s what they’ve trained for, it’s what they’ve planned for. Now they’ll have to deliver.

MORE FROM CYCLING / TOUR DE FRANCE

Armstrong and Contador train together for 1st time

Armstrong and Contador train together for 1st time Tour officials ho-hum about Armstrong’s return Celizic: Armstrong looks like drama queen on wheels Armstrong fears for his safety at Tour de France Opinion: Armstrong’s return isn’t about vanity Opinion: Armstrong’s quest for 8th title no breeze Vote: Can Armstrong win his 8th Tour?   Images: Top Tour de France pictures Slide show: Tour de France crashes Slide show: Fans at Tour de France   Add Cycling / Tour de France headlines to your news reader: