I remeber following LeMond’s little runs when I was a wee tike. He’d be in the top 5 and the next American would be around 40th. After he stopped riding the tour, we were lucky to get an American in the top 20 of any given stage… top 50 in a TT. Check out the 1995 TT results in the “who beat lance” thread.
This year, we’ve had lance doing his thing, hincapie winning KBK and second in Roubaix, Jullich 1st in Paris-nice and 3rd at the olympic TT, Hamilton (probably drugged up) winning olympic TT, and Daneilson (though admittedly not a high-caliber race) in tour of GA. Not just the winners, but if you look deeper into the results, Americans are showing up in force in the top 15 of most road races/tours.
THAT is a pretty impressive one-year resume for American cyclists. Is America becoming a powerhouse in cycling?