If you thought Lance Armstrong was a cycling phenom, meet Floyd Landis…

Let’s face it, if Lance Armstrong were not a cancer survivor, public interest in his cycling feats (and in professional cycling) would not have been nearly as great. Nonetheless, I suspect his fellow cyclists (especially Europeans) welcomed his retirement last year. After all, this not only guaranteed that – for the first time in seven years – someone other than Lance would win their sport’s premier event, Le Tour de France; it also eliminated the prospect of their being beaten, yet again, by an athlete with a perceived disability – given how prominently Lance’s cancer treatment figured in the coverage of the race each year.

Well, so much for seizing the opportunity to redeem themselves:

Because when this year’s race ended in Paris yesterday, not only was it another American cycling to victory – along the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe – but he too had beaten these glory-starved athletes despite competing with an oft-mentioned disability: an arthritic hip….

And, alas, for the French – who seemed to suffer acid reflux at the mere mention of Lance Armstrong’s name – now comes Floyd Landis to exacerbate their gag-reflexes and prolong their national longing for a cyclist who can wrest their Tour away from these larger-than-life Americans….

NOTE: Reports are that Landis will soon undergo hip-replacement surgery. Therefore, one can only assume that if he could vanquish the competition with a bad hip then he stands a very good chance of reigning over the Tour de France for longer than Armstrong did….

Click here to see how BBC Sport reported his amazing triumph in this year’s race.

Tour de France, Floyd Landis