Landis was just the first name that anyone in this country would recognize and respond to. There were all kinds of allegations mounting against Armstrong from various sources for years, all while it became clear that the entire sport was dirty, which would have required the narrative to become that the one clean racer was dominating all the cheats - fun, but unlikely. No one in this country cares about cycling, no one in our media would see any value in going after Armstrong absent a smoking gun, and pretty much everyone wanted to believe him, so Lance was always able to control the message until this last USADA investigation.