Former champ Lance Armstrong is long gone, and 2006 victor Floyd Landis is embroiled in a drawn-out doping scandal. Every day seems to bring new and uglier allegations of cheating, and teams have been decimated by the suspensions of dirty riders.

But what if all this drama actually served to draw people in? There’s nothing Americans like better than a good summer soap opera in these slow, hot months, as Paris Hilton and Rosie O’Donnell’s exploits have reminded us these past weeks.

There’s a chance, if a slight one, that all the controversy could actually help the Tour’s ratings as people tune in to see what will happen next. Take it from no less than Armstrong himself.

“I don’t know what will necessarily happen this year, I saw that the viewership and the interest in the [recent] Tour of Italy was up significantly amid all [the doping problems],” Armstrong told reporters this week during a teleconference to promote a charity event.

Though numbers won’t approach the 1.7 million total viewers Versus averaged during Armstrong's record seventh straight win in 2005, they could equal or surpass last year, when Landis’ victory averaged just under 900,000.

Doping controversies have the effect of adding to the all-important buzz around sports events. During the baseball steroids hearings before Congress a few years ago, for example, Major League Baseball actually had a very strong start to the season.

Armstrong’s final two Tour wins, when the doping allegations reached a pitch, delivered Versus’ best-ever ratings.

And track and field remained one of the most popular sports of the 2004 Olympics despite rumors swirling about Marion Jones and other top performers.

There have been a number of cycling doping developments in recent weeks. Ivan Basso, the Italian rider who finished second in the 2005 Tour, finally admitted his role in a Spanish steroid ring allegedly involving more than 60 cyclers. He’s been banned from the sport for two years.

Meanwhile, 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis has admitted to using the banned substance EPO during his victory. He’s been stricken from the record book.

But the strangest saga, and the one that could result in the biggest bump for the Tour, has been that of Landis.

Last July, Landis was the talk of the nation, the humble Amishman who overcame a huge deficit to win the race. A few weeks later, his blood was found to have increased levels of testosterone, and he’s been fighting doping charges ever since.

Last month, things turned downright weird during his U.S. Anti-Doping Agency trial. While Landis proclaimed his innocence publicly, his business manager, Will Geoghegan, privately allegedly threatened former Tour winner Greg LeMond if he should testify in the case. Geoghegan hinted to LeMond he would reveal publicly that the ex-cycler had been sexually abused as a child, something LeMond had told Landis in private.

LeMond did testify and revealed the alleged abuse on his own, with the effect of making Landis look both paranoid and scared, if not downright guilty.

This month, Landis released a book proclaiming his innocence again and claiming that the doping authorities would have let him off with a light penalty if he’d given evidence on Armstrong.

Landis has hyped the book with appearances last week on CBS’s “Early Show” and other talk programs. All that attention has put the Tour back on Americans’ radar.

Finally, the lack of a favorite in the race may actually help Versus. It’s quite possible an American could take the title, without Armstrong, Basso or past champ Jan Ullrich in the field. Anytime an American is a contender, ratings see a bounce.

The tour begins Saturday morning with a prologue. Versus will carry daily coverage from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. and repeats in primetime through the final stage on July 29.