ABOUT FLOYD LANDIS

Floyd was born and raised in the small Mennonite community of Farmersville located in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County.  His father Paul, a truck driver, and mother Arlene are the parents of six children – four girls and two boys.  Floyd’s introduction to cycling came when he began using the bike as transportation to remote fishing locations.  He won the first race he entered and as his fitness improved and he began to become more competitive, eventually winning the NORBA junior national championship at the age of 17. 

When he was 20 yrs old, Floyd left home headed for California to pursue his cycling career.  After a few years of professional mountain biking, Floyd turned to the road and joined the Mercury pro cycling team.  His results in his first three professional seasons caught the attention of US Postal Service pro cycling team, who recruited Landis to ride as a domestique for Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France.  During this time, Floyd not only served faithfully for Armstrong but improved his own form as well, as seen by his 4th place finish in the final time trial of the 2004 Tour.  Landis left Armstrong at the end of 2004 and signed a contract with the Swiss Phonak team, expecting to serve as lieutenant to Tyler Hamilton.  When Hamilton received a suspension for a possible doping offense, Floyd was thrust into the role of team leader and rode consistently, finishing the Tour 9th without ever really digging into his reserves.  For 2006, he openly stated that he wanted to win the Tour, a goal he seemed to make good on with a strong early season campaign, winning the inaugural Tour of California, Paris Nice and Tour de Georgia stage races.  On July 23, 2006, Floyd became the third American to wear the Tour’s final yellow jersey on the Champs Elysses.  When not training at his Spanish base, Floyd resides near San Diego with his wife Amber and daughter Ryan. 

On July 9, 2006, the first rest day of the Tour, Floyd revealed to the world a secret he had previously shared with only a select group of friends and advisors.  He was suffering from severe pain in his hip known as osteonecrosis resulting from a fall in training in early 2003.   Floyd underwent surgery to repair the hip and has three 4” screws that are now being pushed out.  The injury severed the blood supply to the joint, leading to slow deterioration and often severe pain.  Describing the pain, Floyd says, “It’s Bad, it’s grinding, its bone rubbing on bone.  Sometimes it’s a sharp pain.  When I pedal and walk, it comes and goes, but mostly it’s an ache, like an arthritis pain. It aches down my leg and into my knee.”  The high repetition the hip joint undergoes in cycling has resulted in a deep groove being formed in the soft tissue of the hip.  Landis is now planning to have hip replacement surgery following the tour, and he also intends to come back to the highest level as a professional cyclist – something that has never been done before. 

For more information, visit www.floydlandis.com