Armstrong Wins Record Sixth Tour De France
By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
PARIS -
Lance Armstrong rode into history Sunday by winning the Tour de France
for a record sixth time, an achievement that confirmed the
victory-hungry cancer survivor as one of the greatest sportsmen of all
time. His sixth crown in six dominant years elevated Armstrong above
four great champions who won five times.
And never in its 101-year-old history has
the Tour had a winner like Armstrong — a Texan who just eight years ago
was given less than a 50 percent chance of conquering a deadly form of
testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain.
President Bush (news - web sites) called Armstrong to tell him: "You're awesome."
Bush "congratulated him on behalf of the
nation, and told him his country was proud of him, and that he was an
outstanding athlete," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan. Bush
was at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Armstrong's unbeaten streak since 1999
has helped reinvigorate the greatest race in cycling, steering it into
the 21st century. And the Tour, as much a part of French summers as
languid meals over chilled rose, molded Armstrong into a sporting
superstar.
No. 6. The record. The achievement was almost too much even for Armstrong to comprehend.
"It hasn't sunk in yet. But six, standing on the top step on the podium on the Champs-Elysees is really special," he said.
For him, Sunday's final ride into Paris
and its famous tree-lined boulevard was a lap of honor he savored with
a glass of bubbling champagne in the saddle. Even Jan Ullrich, his big
adversary in previous years who finished off the podium for the first
time this Tour, gulped down a glass proffered by Armstrong's team
manager through his car window.
Belgian rider Tom Boonen won the final
sprint on the Champs-Elysees, with Armstrong cruising safely behind
with the trailing pack to claim his crown. Armstrong's winning margin
over second-placed Andreas Kloden was 6 minutes and 19 seconds, with
Italian Ivan Basso in third on 6:40.
Armstrong, recovered from the cancer
diagnosed in 1996, opened a new page for the Tour in 1999 just one year
after the race faced its worst doping scandal, ejecting the Festina
team after police caught one of its employees with a stash of drugs.
Armstrong's victories and his inspiring
comeback from cancer have drawn new fans to the race. His
professionalism, attention to detail, grueling training methods and
tactics have raised the bar for other riders hoping to win the
three-week cycling marathon.
Eye-catching in the bright yellow race
leader's jersey that he works so hard for, Armstrong donned a golden
cycling helmet for Sunday's relaxed roll past sun-baked fields of wheat
and applauding spectators into Paris from Montereau in the southeast.
He joked and chatted with teammates who
wore special blue jerseys with yellow stripes. They stretched in a line
across the road with their leader for motorcycle-borne photographers to
record the moment. The team was the muscle behind Armstrong's win,
leading him up grueling mountain climbs, shielding him from crashes and
wind and keeping him stoked with drinks and foods.
With five solo stage wins and a team time
trial victory with his U.S. Postal Service squad, this was Armstrong's
best Tour. He built his lead from Day 1, placing second in the
third-fastest debut time trial in Tour history.
That performance silenced doubts that
Armstrong, at age 32, was past his prime. Even more so than in other
Tours that he dominated, Armstrong finished off rivals in the mountains
— with three victories in the Alps, including a time trial on the
legendary climb to L'Alpe d'Huez, and another in the Pyrenees. He also
took the final time trial on Saturday, even though he his overall lead
was so big at that point that he didn't need the win.
"We never had a sense of crisis, only the
stress of the rain and the crashes in the first week," Armstrong said
Sunday. "I was surprised that some of the rivals were not better. Some
of them just completely disappeared."
Basque rider Iban Mayo peaked too early
when he beat Armstrong in the warm-up Dauphine Libere race three weeks
before the Tour. Mayo crashed in the Tour's rain-soaked, nervous first
week, racing toward a treacherous stretch of cobblestones that
Armstrong crossed safely. Mayo finally abandoned after the Pyrenees,
his morale shot after two disappointing rides in the mountains where
he'd hoped to win in front of Basque fans.
Former Armstrong teammates Roberto Heras,
left trailing in the mountains, and American Tyler Hamilton, badly
bruised in a crash, also went home.
"The little guys, the pure climbers —
Mayo, Tyler — the first week is very hard on them, always fighting for
position, the wind. A lot of acceleration through villages at the
finish. This becomes a problem for them after 10 days," said Armstrong.
"That's the beauty of the Tour. If the race was 10 or 12 days long,
they'd be much better. You have to do it all."
Ullrich, the 1997 champion and a five-time
runner-up, never recovered from seeing Armstrong zoom into the distance
for two straight days in the Pyrenees.
There, the only rider to stay with
Armstrong was Basso, a 26-year-old with the makings of a future winner.
He came out of the Alps, where Armstrong for the first time in his
career won three consecutive stages, in second place overall.
But Kloden, the German champion and
Ullrich's teammate, outdid the soft-spoken Basso in the final time
trial, placing third behind Armstrong and Ullrich. That ride propelled
Kloden, who did not complete last year's Tour, onto second spot on the
podium, pushing Basso back to third.
"I never would have predicted Kloden
before the Tour. But you could see he was really strong and skinny in
the first week," said Armstrong.
Armstrong still hasn't decided whether he
will back next year to compete in the race he loves above all others,
for which he trains relentlessly, leaving his three children in Texas,
with his former wife Kristin, while he pounds the roads in Europe.
"I don't know what I'll do next summer. I
suspect I'll be here. It's too big of a race. My only hesitance is I
think the people and the event perhaps need a change, new faces, a new
winner," he said. "If I'm here, I race to win."
Seven wins would be like owning seven
sports cars, nice but not necessary. Armstrong says he's interested in
trying other races — the Tour of Italy, Classics, and beating the
1-hour cycling world record held by Britain's Chris Boardman.
After more than 3,000 kilometers (1,900)
miles of racing, riders mostly took it easy on Sunday's 163-kilometer
(101-mile) final stage, until they reached the crowd-lined
Champs-Elysees. Some took souvenir photos of themselves as they rode
and Armstrong even stopped by the side of the road momentarily to
adjust his saddle.
He also chatted to Belgian rider Axel
Merckx, whose father, Eddy, is one of the five-time champions Armstrong
eclipsed. The others are Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil
and Spaniard Miguel Indurain.
Victory in France has brought Armstrong
fame, wealth and softened some of the brashness he displayed as a young
rider. He's picked up rudimentary French and says his love of the Tour
won't end when he eventually retires.
"I'll definitely watch the Tour on TV, always." he said.
___
Associated Press writer Jerome Pugmire contributed to this report.
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