Lance Armstrong

Armstrong on the cover of Sports Illustrated shortly before the 2005 Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong (born September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist. He is most famous for recovering from testicular cancer to subsequently win the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times—1999 to 2005. His success prompted some to nickname the event the Tour de Lance.

Armstrong's achievements have been widely lauded. In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him their Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 2002, 2003 and 2004, received ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, and 2005, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France.

Career

Early career

He 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 racing bikes. At 17, he received an invitation to train with the Junior National Cycling Team. Plano Independent School District's school board said that the six-week leave to train taken during the second semester of his senior year would bar him from graduating. Armstrong withdrew from his high school, Plano East Senior High, with his mother's blessing and went to train with the team. He graduated from another high school in Dallas the following spring and still harbors resentment toward Plano because of this and prefers his adopted home of Austin, Texas.

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 Road Championships in Oslo, Norway. His victory was so dominant (he had time to blow kisses to his mother in the home straight) that he was invited to an audience with the King of Norway, which he initially turned down after finding his mother was not included in the invitation. Minutes later, the King invited both.

His successes continued with Team Motorola, with whom he won stages in the 1993 and 1995 Tours de France and several classic one-day events. Also in 1995, he won the premier U.S. cycling event, the Tour DuPont, having placed second in 1994. He won the Tour DuPont again in 1996, and was ranked number one cyclist in the world. Later in 1996, however, he abandoned the Tour de France and had a disappointing Olympic Games. These early disappointments spurred him on to the great things he has achieved post-cancer, and he admits that if had he given in on the devilishly difficult Clasica San Sebastian he could have retired from the sport.

Cancer

On October 2, 1996, Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had metastasized, spreading to his lungs and brain. His doctors told him that he had a 40 percent chance of survival. After his recovery, one of his doctors told him that his actual odds of survival had been considerably smaller (one even went as far as to say three percent), and that he had been given the estimate primarily to give him hope. The date of October 2 was eventually commemorated by Armstrong and Nike, through the "10 / 2" line of merchandise, of which part of the proceeds would go to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which was founded in 1997. Armstrong managed to recover after invasive surgery to remove his right testicle and two brain lesions, and a severe course of chemotherapy, performed at Indiana University School of Medicine, which left him with burns on the inside of his skin. The standard chemotherapy for his cancer would have meant the end of his cycling career, because a known side effect was a dramatic reduction in lung function; he opted for a more severe treatment that was less likely to result in lung damage. While in remission he resumed training, but his contract had been canceled by his Cofidis team. This was one of the factors which led to his near retirement from the sport, because of which he and his then-girlfriend (now ex-wife) moved to France on two different occasions due to his changes of heart. He was eventually signed by the newly formed United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, and by 1998, he was able to make his successful return in the cycling world marked by his fourth place overall finish in the Vuelta a España.

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A Livestrong wristband.

Livestrong and the Lance Armstrong Foundation

During summer 2004, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (with initial funding from Nike), developed the Livestrong wristband. The band was part of the Wear Yellow Live Strong educational program, intended to support cancer victims and survivors and to raise awareness about cancer. The band sold in packs of 10, 100, and 1200 as part of an effort to raise $5 million for the Lance Armstrong Foundation in cooperation with Nike. Individual bands sold for only US$1 each. Yellow was chosen for its importance in professional cycling, especially as the color of famed leader's yellow jersey of the Tour de France. As of May 2005, over 50 million Livestrong wristbands have been sold. Armstrong has also lent his name to Nike's newest line of footwear, all branded with the familiar "Live Strong" yellow. Armstrong, a member of the President's Cancer Panel since 2002, said in a recent article (7/25/2005)[1] published in USA TODAY "we have the smartest people in the world" working on cures, so his role is to get the funds to keep that research alive.

"Funding is tough to come by these days," he says. "The biggest downside to a war in Iraq is what you could do with that money. What does a war in Iraq cost a week? A billion? Maybe a billion a day? The budget for the National Cancer Institute is four billion. That has to change. It needs to become a priority again."

Tour de France

Armstrong's true comeback came in 1999, when he won his first Tour de France. His final lead times over his closest competitor have been over six minutes every year except for 2003 and 2005. In 2003, he finished 1:01 ahead of Jan Ullrich, following an unusual set of circumstances including a stomach illness at the outset of the race, and in 2005, he finished 4:40 ahead of Ivan Basso. In addition to his 7 overall wins, he has won 22 individual stages (1993-1, 1995-1, 1999-4, 2000-1, 2001-4, 2002-4, 2003-1, 2004-5, 2005-1). He has won 11 time trials in the Tour de France; his team has won the team time trial three times (2003–2005).

In his 2004 Tour victory, Armstrong won a personal-best: five stages, plus the team time trial (TTT) with his U.S. Postal Service "Blue Train". He contends that he let his friend Ivan Basso win Stage 12 at the finish line as his way of offering support for Basso's mother's struggle with cancer, though video footage appears to show Armstrong being beaten fairly. He outsprinted Basso to take the next stage, and followed that up by becoming the first man since Gino Bartali in 1948 to win three consecutive mountain stages—15, 16, and 17. For the first time Armstrong also found himself unable to ride away from his rivals in the mountains (except for the individual time trial in stage 16 up L'Alpe d'Huez when he started two minutes behind Basso and passed him on the way up). He won sprint finishes from Basso in stages 13 and 15 and made up a huge gap in the last 250 meters to nip Andreas Klöden at the line in stage 17. He won the final individual time trial (ITT), stage 19, to complete his personal record of stage wins.

Armstrong's 2005 Tour victory took place on July 24. His Discovery team won the team time trial, but he won only one individual stage, the final individual time trial. He looked strong from the beginning of the tour, being beaten in the first stage by only two seconds and passing one of his major competitors, Jan Ullrich, on the road. In the Alps and the Pyrenees he answered all attacks, even when his teammates, whose role was to support him, could not keep pace. Because of wet streets in Paris on the last stage, the referees decided that the final General Classification overall time for the Tour would be taken 50 kilometers before the end, to avoid even more crashes. Armstrong crossed the finish line to cheers of the French and international public, for his seventh consecutive Tour de France win, records for total Tour wins and consecutive Tour wins.

Other interests

Armstrong and his ex-wife, the former Kristin "Kik" (pronounced Keek) Richard, had a son, Luke, shortly after his amazing comeback victory, and twin girls Grace and Isabelle two years later, all by in vitro fertilization. They divorced in 2003 and he later entered into a relationship with singer Sheryl Crow, who supported his cycling, following the 2004 and 2005 tours by car.

Armstrong has diversified interests outside cycling. He had a cameo role in the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and has topped the bestsellers' lists with his book It's Not About the Bike. He has also become a spokesperson for the cancer research movement.

Reasons for success

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Armstrong on the cover of Sports Illustrated after winning the 2005 Tour de France.

Many have surmised about the reasons for Armstrong's success in winning seven Tours in a row. Few would disagree that his success involved some combination of the following reasons, and probably a different mix each year.

Training methodology and preparation

Armstrong has clearly triumphed at least partly because he learned to apply the obsessive focus he developed fighting cancer to making a career of winning the Tour de France, training in Spain for months leading up to the Tour and making frequent trips to France to fully analyze and ride key parts of the upcoming Tour course. During his preparation for the 2004 Tour, he rode virtually every stage at least once, and rode the Alpe d'Huez climb, site of a key time trial, multiple times in the course of five days. It may well be that Armstrong was willing to suffer more than his competitors in preparing for the Tour.

Poor preparation of Ullrich

Widely recognized as Lance's chief rival, Jan Ullrich, winner of the 1997 Tour de France, and perennial runner-up, clearly started the Tours during Lance's reign less well prepared than Armstrong. In the early years he arrived visibly overweight. Even in later years when he looked better, he still had to "ride into shape", growing relatively stronger towards the end of each Tour. In 2004, he lost by only 61 seconds, much if not all of which was lost due to a crash in the final time trial, and in the team time trial due to having a relatively weak team (Team Bianchi) that year.

Johann Bruyneel

Few would disagree (perhaps least of all, Armstrong himself) at how instrumental the team's sports director, Johann Bruyneel, had been in all of Lance's victories. A master technician who shared Lance's obsession for detailed preparation, Bruyneel's symbiotic relationship with Armstrong makes it difficult for even them to ascertain which one influenced the other how much. Starting with Armstrong talking Bruyneel into becoming their sports director, and Bruyneel convincing Armstrong that he could win the Tour, to their almost constant radio communications during each race, the amount of support these men provided for each other through the seven victories is immeasurable.

Superior tactics

Regardless of whether the credit goes to Armstrong or Bruyneel, there is no question that the superior tactics employeed by Armstrong and his team through the seven victories were virtually flawless (with forgetting to eat lunch on one mountain stage in the 2000 Tour standing out as the rare exception). Focusing the efforts of all team members on a victory for Armstrong; carefully timed surprise attacks; conserving energy by going all out only when gaining critical time against the true contenders (primarily time trials and mountain top finishes); feigned weakness to cause an opponent's team to use more energy trying to drop Armstrong and to give his team a break; correctly deciding which breaks could go, and which needed to be chased; when teammates should go into the red to reduce the size of the lead group in the mountains... the list of brilliant tactics employed by Armstrong and his team goes on and on. In contrast, the glaring mistakes made by his opponents, some repeated year after year, didn't hurt his ability to succeed.

Riding style

Armstrong's riding style is also distinctive. He has an extremely high anaerobic threshold and therefore can maintain a higher cadence (often 120 rpm) in a lower gear than his competitors. This style is in direct contrast to previous champions such as five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Induráin, who used a high gear and brute strength. Armstrong maintained a high speed even when going up the most daunting climbs of the Tour and, at times, even specialist climbers were unable to keep pace with him consistently.

Strongest in climbing and time trials

Unlike most gifted climbers, Armstrong also excelled in the individual time trial, and is as good as, if not better than, those physically more suited to the discipline, such as rival Jan Ullrich. In the mold of Induráin, Armstrong is not consistently aggressive during a Tour, preferring to gain a lead in the time trials or with a few well-placed mountain attacks before sitting back and letting his team defend the lead. Despite this relatively defensive strategy, Armstrong's mountain attacks were often so dominant that he put minutes on his rivals over just a few kilometers.

Rare athletic physical attributes

Some have alleged that a key contributor to Armstrong's success may be his rare athletic physical attributes. Armstrong's heart is reportedly 30 per cent larger than average, and his lungs have the capacity to absorb twice as much oxygen as the average person. Some surmise that this unique combination means more oxygen-rich blood reaches his muscles, helping him fight fatigue and exert more energy than his competitors, though whether his competitors were similarly physically gifted is not known.

Strength of his team

Some have attributed Armstrong's success in recent years in part to his US Postal Service cycling team (now the Discovery Channel Team). While the U.S. Postal Team competes in races worldwide, the riders selected to join Armstrong in the Tour de France are there specifically to help Armstrong win the yellow jersey. However, the decisive moves in which he gains very large leads over the competition almost always involve Armstrong racing far ahead of his team, and Armstrong has often fended off multiple attacks even when his team falters and he is isolated unexpectedly.

Support of broader team

Armstrong also revolutionized the support behind his well-funded teams, asking his sponsors and equipment suppliers to contribute and act as one cohesive part of the team. For example, rather than having the bike frame, handlebars, and tires of a bicycle designed and developed by separate companies miles away from each other, his teams adopted a Formula 1-style relationship with sponsors and suppliers, taking full advantage of the combined resources of several organizatons working in close communication. This is now the standard in the professional cycling industry. Needless to say, Lance demanded the same level of perfection from others he sought for himself.

Allegations of drug use

Like many top cyclists, Armstrong has long been dogged by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. The only positive test he has had for illicit substances was caused by the use of an appropriate, legal, medication. Specifically, his hematocrit rate was never found to exceed the threshold above what suggests that the racer used the drug EPO, which was once rife throughout cycling. Armstrong did take EPO for one of its approved medical uses, to help his recovery during cancer treatment, but there is no suggestion that this was an unfair advantage for his subsequent cycling achievements. When training, Armstrong boosts his red blood cell count through cycling at altitude and sleeping in an altitude tent.

In 1999, he tested positive for the corticoid triamcinolone, which was an ingredient of a legal topical skin ointment he had taken to treat road rash and saddle sores. Armstrong had not declared his use of this skin cream, but his explanation was accepted by the UCI.

Particularly critical have been Greg LeMond, the only other American to have won the Tour, and the French newspaper Le Monde, who have questioned his association with doctor/trainer Michele Ferrari, who in 2004 was found guilty in an Italian court for unlawful distribution of medicines and sporting fraud. Armstrong has explained that his connection to Ferrari did not go beyond occasional consultations on altitude training and diet. Another racer, Italian Filippo Simeoni, confessed to the use of illegal drugs as prescribed by Ferrari. Armstrong said Simeoni was lying, calling him "a compulsive liar", and a legal process started between the two.

During the 2004 Tour, the Armstrong-Simeoni feud manifested its presence during the race itself [2]. In stage 18, Simeoni attacked to catch a group that had broken away from the main peloton. Even though none of the leading riders nor Simeoni were a threat to the General Classification, Armstrong followed Simeoni as he chased the breakaway. He told the members of the breakaway that he would not drop back to the peloton if Simeoni was present. It was apparent that the peloton would chase down a breakaway which included Armstrong, so Simeoni was persuaded to leave it - with Armstrong.

The breakaway went on to take the stage. Armstrong's tactic was considered controversial by some, with some commentators considering it vindictive. Others viewed it as a demonstration by Armstrong that he did not need drugs to be a superior rider to Simeoni. Others still simply look back to the days of Eddy Merckx, nicknamed "the cannibal," who was perpetually on the attack and refused to willingly concede "courtesy" stage wins to breakaway groups (or Bernard Hinault, praised despite his famously bad temperament), and see this controversy as a case of severe over-sensitivity and infantilism by Simeoni, as well as yellow journalism by the Italian press. In 2005, Italian police are investigating Armstrong for "private violence" and intimidating a witness as a result of this incident. [3]

None of his accusers have produced evidence to substantiate drug rumors. In 2004, allegations were published in the book L.A. Confidentiel: Les secrets de Lance Armstrong (ISBN 2846751307), released less than three weeks before the Tour de France. The book was publicised on Le Monde billboards which featured a menacingly dark photo of Armstrong. The book was written by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, who readily admitted that "There's no smoking gun. It's all circumstantial evidence." Walsh is a sportswriter with the London Sunday Times and Ballester a former sportswriter for l'Équipe in France. Armstrong's solicitors issued proceedings in the High Court in London against the Sunday Times and David Walsh, seeking substantial damages, and in Paris against Walsh, Ballester, the publishers of L.A. Confidentiel and the publishers of L'Express which printed excerpts from the book.

In 2004, Armstrong sent a letter to the Amaury Sport Organisation, the UCI, and the WADA to warn of a possible doping method being used by other pro cyclists. [4] He also donated money years ago to the UCI to aid research to detect drug use in sports. [5]

After receiving the prizes for his last Tour victory, as he retired from professional cycling, Lance Armstrong made a short speech in which he reprimanded those skeptical of cycling, alluding to the widespread accusations that most, if not all, professional cyclists are doped.

Retirement

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Jon Stewart on The Daily Show making light of Armstrong's retirement.

Immediately after winning his sixth Tour de France, rumors began circulating about Armstrong's future, with some speculating that he would like to spend more time with his family, as well as girlfriend Sheryl Crow.

On April 18 2005, these rumors were confirmed as Armstrong held a press conference to announce that he would retire from professional cycling after the 2005 Tour de France. At 5:29 p.m. CET on July 24, 2005, after winning his seventh Tour de France, Lance Armstrong retired after a storied 14-year career.

He cited wanting to spend more time with his children as a major reason for retirement.

Political possibilities

In an interview with the New York Times, teammate George Hincapie hinted at Armstrong possibly running for Governor of Texas after retiring from cycling. In the July 2005 issue of Outside magazine [6], Armstrong himself hinted at possibly running for Governor, although "not in '06." By Texas political standards, he would almost certainly run as a Democrat, as he has described himself in the past as being "middle to left," "against mixing up State and Church," "not keen on guns," opposed to the Iraq War, and pro-choice. U.S. Senator John Kerry, interviewed on OLN at the 2005 Tour de France, indicated Armstrong has the potential to be successful in politics. "I think he'd be awesome, he'd be a force. I just hope it's for the right party," Kerry said on OLN. President George W. Bush, a Republican and fellow Texan, also considers Armstrong to be a close friend. President Bush called Armstrong in France after his 2005 victory to congratulate him.

Armstrong was quoted by The Times in 2004 about his views on Iraq: "I don't like what the war has done to our country, to our economy. My kids will be paying for this war for some time to come. George Bush is a friend of mine and just as I say it to you, I'd say to him, 'Mr President, I'm not sure this war was such a good idea', and the good thing about him is he could take that."

In an interview with Charlie Rose, that aired on PBS on August 1st, 2005, Armstrong pointed out that running for Governor would require the type of time commitments that caused him to decide to retire from cycling.

Teams and victories

Teams

1991–1992: United States National Team
1992–1996: Motorola
1997: Cofidis
1998–2002: US Postal Service
2003–2004: US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor
2005: Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

Victories

1992: First Union Grand Prix; GP Sanson; Longsjo Classic (1 stage win); Thrift Drug Classic; Tour de Ribera (4 stage wins)

1993: Thrift Drug Classic; Trofeo Laigueglia; 8th stage of the Tour de France; USPro Championship; West Virginia Classic (2 stage wins); World Road Championships

1994: Thrift Drug Classic

1995: Clasica San Sebastian; 18th stage of the Tour de France; Tour du Pont (3 stage wins); West Virginia Classic (1 stage win); Stage 5 Paris Nice

1996: Tour du Pont (5 stage wins); La Flèche Wallonne

1998: Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt; Tour de Luxembourg (1 stage victory); Cascade Classic

1999: Tour de France (overall, 4 stage victories); Prologue Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT); Stage 4 Route du Sud; Stage 4 Circuit de la Sarthe (ITT)

2000: Tour de France (overall, 1 stage victory); GP des Nations; GP Eddy Merckx; Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT); Bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics Individual Time Trial, Men

2001: Tour de France (overall, 4 stage victories); Tour de Suisse (overall, 2 stage victories)

2002: Tour de France (overall, 4 stage victories); Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, Stage 6 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré; GP du Midi-Libre

2003: Tour de France (overall, 1 stage victory, Team Time Trial); Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (Overall), Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT)

2004: Tour de France (overall, 5 stage victories, Team Time Trial); Tour de Georgia (overall, 2 stage victories); Stage 5 Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon; Stage 4 Volta ao Algarve (ITT)

2005: Tour de France (overall, 1 stage victory, Team Time Trial)

External links