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The following biography
has been copied from
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Lance Armstrong (born
September 18, 1971, Plano, Texas) is an American professional road
racing cyclist. He is most famous for recovering from cancer to
subsequently win the Tour de France a record six consecutive times—1999
to 2004. His success prompted some to nickname the event 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 and 2004, and won the BBC Sports
Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. In April
2005, Armstrong announced that he would retire from racing after the
2005 edition of the Tour.
* * * *
Career
Early career
Armstrong was born in
Plano, Texas and was raised by his mother, Linda Mooneyham, whose spirit
and independence has often been cited by Armstrong as his greatest
influence. Armstrong received his surname at the age of three, when his
mother married Terry Armstrong.
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 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, 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 had he given in on the devilishly
difficult Clasica san Sebastian he could have retired from the sport.
During his time with
Motorola, Fabio Casartelli, a teammate, died on a descent in the Tour.
As a young and hugely promising cyclist this was a blow for the team,
the sport, and Fabio's nation, Italy. Team Motorola was allowed to take
an uncontested next stage as a mark of respect.
Cancer
In October 1996, Armstrong
was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had metastasized, spreading to
his lungs and brain. His doctors told him that he had a 50 percent
chance of survival. After his recovery, one of his doctors told him that
his actual odds of survival were considerably smaller (one even went as
far as to say three percent), and that he had been given the 50 percent
estimate primarily to give him hope. Armstrong managed to recover after
invasive surgery to remove brain lesions, and a severe course of
chemotherapy, performed at Indiana University School of Medicine. 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
found himself unceremoniously, if unsurprisingly, dropped by his Cofidis
team. This was one of the factors which lead 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.
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, when he finished 1:01 ahead of Jan Ullrich, following an
unusual set of circumstances including a stomach illness at the outset
of the race.
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 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.
Family and hobbies
Armstrong and his ex-wife
Kristin Kik, (pronounced Keek), had a son shortly after his amazing
comeback victory, and twin girls two years later, all by in vitro
fertilization. Armstrong and his wife divorced in 2003. As of July 2005,
Armstrong was in a relationship with singer Sheryl Crow who was
following the 05 Tour by car .
For relaxation, Armstrong
also enjoys mountain biking and trout fishing, and casual rides on his
bike with his son.
Reasons for success
Armstrong has triumphed
partly because he has made a career of 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.
His riding style is also
distinctive. Pedaling very quickly (a high "cadence"), often in a lower
gear than his competitors, he can maintain a cadence of 120 cycles per
minute on flats during time trials, and is able to rapidly accelerate
away from his main rivals who tend to use higher gears but pedal more
slowly while riding uphill. As an example, the Spanish five-time Tour de
France winner, Miguel Induráin, preferred to 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 consistently. The ability to maintain a
high cadence for such long distances is based on his extremely high
anaerobic threshold, allowing him to work at a high intensity without
building up lactic acid levels that force lesser athletes to back off.
Much of his training is based on raising this level, and in learning
exactly where the limit is.
Unlike most gifted
climbers, however, Armstrong is also exceptional 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 are so forceful that he often puts minutes on his rivals over
the course of just a few kilometers.
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.
Allegations of drug use
Like many top international
sports men and women, Armstrong has long been dogged by allegations that
he used performance-enhancing drugs. However, despite being subjected to
dozens of drug tests, he has never tested positive to any illicit
substance. 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 a corticoid, and although he did not declare taking the medication
on the form before the test, the UCI accepted it was in his system due
to his use of a legal skin cream to treat road rash and saddle sores.
Particularly vocal 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, Dr. Michele Ferrari, who
in 2004 was found guilty in an Italian court for unlawful distribution
of medicines and sporting fraud. Armstrong has stated that his
connection to Dr. Ferrari did not go beyond occasional consultations on
altitude training and diet. Another racer, Italian Filippo Simeoni,
implicated Armstrong when confessing to the use of illegal drugs
prescribed by Dr. Ferrari. Armstrong stated that Simeoni was not telling
the truth, 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. In stage 18 Simeoni was
in a group that had broken away from the main peloton. As there was
nobody in the breakaway that threatened in the General Classification,
the group stood a good chance of staying in front until the finish line.
Armstrong, however, single-handedly chased them down. He told the
members of the breakaway that he would be staying with them 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 Armstong. The breakaway went on to take the stage. Armstrong's
tactic was controversial, 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. In 2005, Italian
police are investigating Armstrong for "private violence" and
intimidating a witness as a result of this incident.
None of his accusers have
produced evidence to substantiate the rumors. In 2004, circumstantial
evidence was published in the book L.A. Confidentiel : Les secrets de
Lance Armstrong (ISBN 2846751307) which was released less than three
weeks before the Tour de France. It 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 respected 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 LA Confidential and the publishers of l’Express which
printed excerpts from the book.
In 2004, Armstrong sent a
letter to the Amaury Sport Organization, the UCI, and the WADA to warn
of a possible doping method being used by other pro cyclists. He also
silently donated money years ago to the UCI to aid research to detect
drug use in sports.
[Added by PSP: Lance Armstrong has won an
unprecedented seven Tour De Frances before retiring from professional
bicycle riding in July of 2005.]
The Future
Immediately after winning
his record 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. Armstrong held a press conference
to announce that he would retire from professional cycling after the
2005 Tour de France, which would be the final race of his 14 year
career. He cited wanting to spend more time with his children as a major
reason for retirement.
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 (http://outside.away.com/outside/toc/200507.html),
Armstrong himself hinted at possibly running for governor - although
"not in 06."
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 (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 (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 (4 stage victories)
Tour de
Suisse (2 stage victories)
|
|
2002
Tour de
France (4 stage victories)
Critérium
du Dauphiné Libéré, Stage 6 Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
GP du
Midi-Libre
|
2003
Tour de
France (1 stage victory + Team Time Trial)
Critérium
du Dauphiné Libéré (Overall), Stage 3 Critérium du Dauphiné
Libéré (ITT)
|
2004
Tour de
France (5 stage victories + Team Time Trial)
Tour de
Georgia (2 stage victories)
Stage 5
Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon
Stage 4
Volta ao Algrave (ITT) |
* * * *
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