If you missed yesterday's stage in Tour de France, you are certainly not a cyclist fan. Let's admit it… you'll probably never get the chance to see anything like that in the next 5 or 10 years. After the boring - and yet spectacular - last 7 years, when Armstrong was just playing with his opponents and won the Tour with no major difficulties, Floyd Landis brought another image of the French competition into the eyes of all its fans.

After losing 10 minutes in the 16th stage, the American seemed to have wasted all hope for a tour victory. And he was pretty disappointed himself, stating that his chance are slim, but that he will continue to fight until the end. Still, after his poor performance on Wednesday, who was to believe him?

The American proved to be one of the greatest champions of the sports on Thursday, when he made an early attack and maintained the momentum till the end. He didn't quite manage to get the "yellow jersey", but his chances of winning the Tour are far more impressive than before. And everybody agrees that his effort was what made this Tour de France edition "the best ever".

And the greatest words about his performance didn't come from his team officials or colleagues, but from his opponents. Bjarne Riis and Alain Gallopin (CSC) both admitted that Landis is the favorite for the final win, while also stating that the American proved everybody that he's a great champion. And it was time for another team director to praise Landis' performance. T-Mobile's Olaf Ludwig admitted that Landis was just "phenomenal" and that he made the Tour one of the best in history.

"I think the riders don't like it that much because it's so fast and open. Obviously, the audience loves it because it's such an exciting race. Sporting wise, it's been the best Tour in years", said Ludwig. Michael Rogers, one of his riders, agreed: "That was unscripted. You can't plan for attacks like that. Congratulations. Wow... that was a super ride".

Lance Armstrong did not yet make any statements on Landis' performance, but we're pretty sure that he's happy about it, since the American dynasty in the competition has a pretty good chance of staying alive.