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Lance Armstrong




Lance Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American cyclist. After
surviving a bout with testicular cancer, he won the Tour de France five
consecutive times (from 1999 to 2003). The only others to win the Tour five
times are Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel
Indura’n. Indura’n is the only other cyclist to win five consecutively.

Armstrong was born in Plano, Texas and was raised by his mother, Linda,
whose spirit and independence has often been cited by Armstrong as his
greatest influence. Armstrong began his sporting career as a triathlete,
competing in seniors' competitions from the age of 16. It soon became clear
that his greatest talent lay in the cycling leg of the event.

After competing as a cycling amateur - winning the US amateur championship
in 1991 and finishing 14th in the 1992 Olympics road race - Armstrong turned
professional in 1992. The following year he scored his first major victory
as he rode solo to win the World Championships on the Road in Oslo, Norway.

His successes continued with Team Motorola, with whom he won a stage in the
1995 Tour de France and several classic one-day events. In that same year,
he won the premier U.S. cycling event, the Tour DuPont, having placed second
in 1994. He won the Tour Dupont again in 1996. In 1996, after abandoning le
Tour; however, it was announced that Armstrong was suffering from testicular
cancer that had metastasized. He was given a 50% chance of survival and
managed to recover after invasive surgery to remove brain lesions, and a
severe course of chemotherapy, performed at Indiana University School of
Medicine. While in remission he resumed training, but found himself
unceremoniously, if unsurprisingly, dropped by his Cofidis team. He was
eventually signed by the newly formed US Postal Service team, and by 1998,
he was able to make his successful return in the cycling world.

His true comeback came in 1999 when he won the Tour de France for the first
time, a performance he repeated in the four following seasons. Armstrong has
proved all but invincible during this time, due to his unique ability both
as a time triallist and a mountain climber. He has made a career of the Tour
de France, training in Spain for the year leading up to a Tour. The fact
that Lance Armstrong can afford to train exclusively for the Tour gives him
a big advantage over other competitors. While the success of Armstrong's
year is solely determined by his Tour performance, other cyclers must
compete in many events to earn a living, which decreases their ability to
prepare for the Tour. Pedalling very quickly in a very low gear he is able
to rapidly accelerate away from his main rivals who tend to use higher gears
but pedal more slowly while riding uphill unlike Indurain who would power a
huge gear at a low cadence. Armstrong can maintain incredible speeds even
when going up the most daunting climbs of the Tour and at times even
specialist climbers are unable to keep pace with him on a consistent basis.

However, unlike most gifted climbers, Armstrong is also exceptional in the
individual time trial, as good as, if not better than, those physically more
suited to the discipline, such as rival rider Jan Ullrich. Also, unlike many
of the past winners of the Tour, Armstrong is very aggressive during the
mountainous stages - preferring to take the lead and attack spectacularly.
Although these attacks usually come towards the end of stages, he is capable
of opening immense leads over his rivals and leaving the rest of the field
scattered behind him down the mountainside.

In his fifth Tour victory, however, Armstrong was forced to ride a more
calculated race, as he was unable to mark all the attacks of some of the
fringe contenders, instead preferring to concentrate on his main rival Jan
Ullrich. This, coupled with a sensational individual time trial by Ullrich
midway through the race, made it the closest and most exciting Tour for
years. Armstrong eventually defeated Ullrich by just over one minute after
gaining vital time with a punishing attack on the final mountainous stage
and then comfortably holding his advantage during a treacherously wet and
windy time trial on the penultimate stage when Ullrich crashed.

In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named Armstrong their Sportsman of the Year.

Armstrong is, without a doubt, one of the greatest riders of all time and
his achievements are made all the more remarkable in the light of the
illness he suffered a few years back. After his fifth Tour de France victory
(which many believe to be his best yet) on July 27, 2003 he promised to come
back to compete in 2004, to go for a record sixth consecutive Tour de France victory.

Armstrong had a baby boy with his wife shortly after his amazing comeback
victory, and twin girls two years later, however they have recently
separated after 5 years of marriage.

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