Cyclist Lance Armstrong sped his way into the history books on Sunday, scooping his fourth consecutive win in the Tour de France. The 30-year-old Texan is now one of a handful of men who have won the Tour at least four consecutive times, incuding Spanish legend Miguel Indurain, who won a record five races in a row.
The 30-year-old cancer survivor rebounded from a second place finish in a July 15 time trial – his first loss in that stage of the Tour in three years – to triumph with his second-largest winning margin since his first Tour victory in 1999.
“After the first time trial, everyone said, ‘Armstrong isn’t good at time trials’,” he says. “Today, I was very motivated to come back with a win.”
The athlete’s perseverence is legendary – in 1996, two months after pulling out of the French sporting event claiming he felt “blocked,” Lance was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After undergoing drastic surgery and chemotherapy, he returned to competition, defying his doctors and astounding the sporting world. “I think about it a lot,” he says of his experience with the disease. “Maybe not on a daily basis, but 90 per cent of the time. It's a big part of my life, and a big part of who I am and why I'm here and why I almost wasn't here.”
Though earlier this year Lance hinted that this might be his last Tour, he now says that’s definitely not the case. “I think what I meant was that it’s harder and harder to be away from home, away from my wife and three children… You miss monumental events. My girls started crawling when I was away.” Lance and his wife Kristin have a son, Luke, and welcomed twins last year. “Those are things that you start thinking about,” he adds. “But, it’s not my last Tour de France.”
And even if he does take his fifth consecutive win home next year, Lance may never leave the prestigious French race. “Stop doing the Tour?” he asks. “Once I stop doing the Tour, I’ll stop doing everything.”
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
