American Landis Gets Over the Mountain

Rider Completes Comeback to Win Tour de France

"I kept fighting," Floyd Landis tells the crowd at the victory ceremony with the Arc de Triomphe as a backdrop. "I never stopped believing." Landis's win keeps the Tour title in American hands for the eighth consecutive year. (Bas Czerwinski - AP)

PARIS, July 23 -- American cyclist Floyd Landis won the Tour de France on Sunday in one of the most tumultuous races in recent years. He recovered from a devastating mountain ride earlier in the week to stand atop the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees.

Landis, 30, who rejected his Pennsylvania Mennonite upbringing as a teenager to start a bicycle racing career, became the third American to win the world's premier bicycle race and maintained U.S. dominance of the contest for the eighth straight year.

"I kept fighting, never stopped believing," Landis told the crowd at the victory ceremony with the Arc de Triomphe forming a dramatic backdrop.

His struggle to pedal his way back to the head of the competition after dropping into 11th place four days ago on steep Alpine slopes won him admiration and cheers on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday -- even among European fans who said they hoped American Lance Armstrong's retirement last year after seven wins would give another country the chance to claim the winner's yellow jersey.

Landis beat Spaniard Oscar Pereiro by 57 seconds to win the 2,272-mile journey across two mountains ranges in 89 hours 39 minutes 30 seconds. Landis and Pereiro traded the leader's position repeatedly during the race. German racer Andreas Kloeden finished third, 1 minute 29 seconds behind Landis. Landis placed 69th in Sunday's final 96-mile stage, eight seconds behind the winner, Norwegian cyclist Thor Hushovd.

Landis's valiant reversal of fortunes provided both the human and athletic drama the Tour needed to overcome lagging television and Internet viewership in its first race of the post-Armstrong era and a drug scandal that forced several of the top contenders out of the race the day before it started.

His victory seemed all the more hard-earned to the fans who lined France's country lanes and city roads because of the hip-replacement surgery Landis is scheduled to have in August to repair damage he suffered in a 2003 training accident.

"I've heard it said that I had a great comeback, but I'll let other people be the judge of that," Landis said after the race. "More than anything, I've learned to fight for what you want at this race. Like most things in life, most people don't go for three weeks without having one bad day, but you shouldn't give up. You get up the next day and do the best you can."

But it was the red-haired racer's unassuming public persona as much as his tough spirit that captivated many fans and viewers.

"He seems to be on another planet, far from the American-style celebrity," said Gerard Holtz, a sports commentator for France Television. "He can control his emotions, he is very calm. He's a true champion, a vulnerable one."

"I've imagined winning this race quite a few times," said Landis, who won some of his earliest races as a teenager near Frederick. "I was fortunate enough to be here a few times with Lance and see how he did it and that helps. But it's quite an experience to do it myself."

When Landis left Armstrong's team and joined the Swiss Phonak team in hopes of becoming a team leader, rather than one of Armstrong's many team assistants, Armstrong was furious.