The Hindu : Sport : Armstrong's last tango in Paris

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 25, 2005

Sport

Sport

Armstrong's last tango in Paris

PARIS: Lance Armstrong closed out his amazing career with a seventh consecutive victory on Sunday in the Tour de France — a little earlier than expected.

Because of wet conditions, race organisers stopped the clock as Armstrong and the main pack entered central Paris. Although riders were still racing, with eight circuits of the Champs-Elysees to complete, organisers said that Armstrong had officially won.

The stage started as it has done for the past six years — with Armstrong celebrating and wearing the race leader's Yellow Jersey.

One hand on his handlebars, the other holding a flute of champagne, the 33-year-old Texan toasted his team-mates as he pedalled into Paris to collect his crown. He held up seven fingers — one for each win — and a piece of paper with the number 7 on it.

His sixth win last year already set a record, putting Armstrong ahead of four other riders. Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spaniard Miguel Indurain all won five Tours.

Armstrong's new record of seven wins confirmed him as one of the greatest cyclists ever, and capped a career where he came back from cancer to dominate the sport's most prestigious and taxing race.

Three team-mates tumble

But Armstrong's last ride as a professional, the closing 144.5 km (89.8 miles) 21st stage into Paris from Corbeil-Essonnes south of the capital, was not without incident. Wet weather rained on his victory parade.

Three of his team-mates slipped and crashed negotiating a bend shortly before they crossed the River Seine.

Armstrong, riding just behind, braked and skidded into his prostrate riders support riders but did not fall.

His team-mates, wearing special shirts with a band of yellow on the right shoulder, recovered and led him up the Champs-Elysees at the front of the pack.

Organisers then announced that they had stopped the clock because of the slippery conditions.

In retiring after he has mounted he winner's podium, against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, Armstrong will manage a rare feat in sports — going out on top.

He has said that his decision was final and that he was walking away with "absolutely no regrets."

Armstrong's departure begins a new era for the 102-year-old Tour, with no clear successor.

An American hero

The American's riding and inspiring comeback from cancer attracted new fans — especially in the United States — to the French race.

Millions turned out each year, cheering, picnicking and sipping wine by the side of the road, to watch him flash past in the race leader's Yellow Jersey, the famed "Maillot Jaune."

Cancer survivors, autograph hunters and enamored admirers pushed, shoved, and yelled "Lance! Lance!" outside his bus in the mornings for a smile, a signature, or a word from the champion.

He had bodyguards to keep the crowds at bay — ruffling feathers of cycling purists who sniffed at his "American" ways.

Some spectators would shout obscenities or "dope!" — doper. To some, his comeback from cancer and his uphill bursts of speed that left rivals gasping in the Alps and Pyrenees were too good to be true.

Armstrong insisted that he simply trained, worked and prepared harder than anyone. He was drug-tested hundreds of times, in and out of competition, but was never found to have committed any infractions.

"Everybody wants to know what I am on. What am I on? I'm on my bike busting my ass for six hours a day," he said in a commercial for sponsor Nike in 2000. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport