Floyd Landis, the Mennonite-turned-bicycle racer, was stripped of his Tour de France yellow jersey when a three-person arbitration panel upheld a positive test result that quickly cast a shadow over his comeback win in 2006.

Just as he was closing in on his victory in France when all the world was enthralled, I was dispatched to Farmersville in Lancaster County, Pa., to find his parents.

I caught up with Arlene and Paul Landis, who are Mennonites, at a modest picnic in a neighbor's backyard. They were very sweet, gracious people - certainly proud as parents but not wildly celebratory.

"The Lord's will is being worked out," Paul Landis told me, "and I think it'll blossom from here."

The words ring sadly now.

bill.ordine@baltsun.com

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