Pennsylvania native secures yellow jersey

Floyd Landis established himself as the favorite to succeed Lance Armstrong.
VIELHA, Spain (AP) -- This could be the last Tour de France for Floyd Landis. If so, then at least the U.S. cyclist is determined to go out in style.
Landis, competing in cycling's most grueling race with what he says is a potentially career-ending arthritic hip condition, took the overall lead Thursday in the hardest stage of the high Pyrenees.
Landis didn't win the stage -- that honor went instead to Russian Denis Menchov. But it didn't matter. The Pennsylvania native's goal was to distance key rivals, establishing himself as the favorite to become the heir to Lance Armstrong, his former teammate. He did so, with style.
The 30-year-old, who rebelled against his pious Mennonite upbringing to start racing as a teen, grinned broadly as he became the fifth U.S. cyclist in the Tour's long history to don the leader's prized yellow jersey.
"A dream come true," he said.
His performance offered a little clarity to the Tour, too. The race had been leaderless since a doping scandal knocked out several of the favorites before the start on July 1. Thanks to the Pyrenees, there's the beginnings of a hierarchy for the first time. Stage 11's five arduous climbs over 128 miles, under the hot sun, mercilessly whittled down the field.
Whittled down field
By the finish, at the Pla-de-Beret ski station above this Spanish town, just two riders had managed to cling to Landis: Menchov and fellow American Levi Leipheimer, looking to redeem what has been a horrible Tour for him so far.
Behind, still laboring up the gradient and on the short downhill to the line, were a host of riders whose names had been bandied around as possible contenders to fill the vacuum left by Armstrong's retirement last year and by the withdrawal of German Jan Ullrich and Italian Ivan Basso -- sent home because of allegations they were linked to a doping ring in Spain.
Although the gaps that Landis opened up aren't as large as those that might come in the even harder Alps next week, they were still significant -- if not decisive.
German Andreas Kloeden, runner-up to Armstrong at the 2004 Tour, finished 1 minute, 31 seconds behind. Portuguese rider Jose Azevedo dropped 4:10, as did Italian Gilberto Simoni.
Landis took the race lead from Cyril Dessel, who held the yellow jersey for just one day. The unheralded Frenchman, who had been 4:45 ahead of Landis at the start of the stage, is now 8 seconds back overall and can be expected to drop back further in the Alps.
"Everything will be decided in the last week in the Alps," Menchov said.
The stage win was the Russian's first in six Tours. He is now third overall, 61 seconds behinds Landis. Australian Cadel Evans is fourth, 1:17 back. Leipheimer placed second in the finishing sprint behind Menchov and ahead of Landis on Thursday, but still trails by 5:39 overall, in 13th place.
A question is whether Landis' arthritic hip -- the legacy of a training crash in 2003 -- can carry him to victory in Paris on July 23. Even he says he's not 100 percent sure -- although it did not prevent him from finishing the last three Tours, the last one in ninth place after he switched from Armstrong's team to his current squad, Phonak.
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