Impressive Landis victory seals it Tour de France isn't just for Europeans

Everybody still is talking about the great weekend it was for American Sports. On Sunday, Floyd Landis made a heroic comeback to win the Tour de France and Tiger Woods won The Open, his first major since his father died three months ago. After the U.S. team's bust in the World Cup, it was great to see international sports fans waving the red, white and blue.

As impressive and as emotional as Mr. Woods' victory was, let's consider the Tour. For much of its history, the Tour de France has been a European event. Most Americans, in love with their cars, considered the long distance, endurance bicycling race a curiosity. Then in 1990, the 77th Tour, Greg LeMond became the first American to win what's considered the world's greatest bicycling competition.

For the next eight years, the Tour was dominated by Europeans, including five straight victories by Spaniard Miguel Indurain. Then, in 1999, the historic era of Lance Armstrong began, and for the next seven years -- a record string of Tour victories -- he was so dominant that he was usually the favorite from start to finish.

This was the first Tour without Mr. Armstrong, who retired last year. Americans like George Hincapie and Mr. Landis, the Lancaster County native, were among pre-race favorites. But, without Mr. Armstrong, would Europeans recapture the Tour?

Today we know the answer, but it didn't seem probable last week after Mr. Landis melted on the penultimate climb in the Alps, losing his lead and falling more than eight minutes behind and slipping to 11th place.

The next day, on the last mountainous section, he attacked fiercely to win the stage and pull with 30 seconds of the yellow jersey. The race director called it "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour." On Saturday's time trial he regained the lead. And he did it all with a hip that's so arthritic he's having it replaced next month.

From his Pennsylvania Mennonite roots to the Champs-Elysees, Mr. Landis has been a story of courage and determination. After eight straight American victories, the Tour de France is no longer an exclusively European event.