The Rise and Fall of Lance Armstrong
American cyclist Lance Armstrong holds the record for the most overall victories at the Tour de France, having won seven straight times from 1999 to 2005. The champion then retired from professional cycling, only to return with a strong performance in the 2009 Tour de France, finishing in third place behind Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck.
Armstrong announced that the 2010 Tour would be his last, and all eyes were on him for an 8th overall victory. But this has proven more difficult than he may have thought.
"He had more bad luck (Sunday) than in the seven years he won his Tours," said his former teammate Fankie Andreu. "His comeback's been difficult, a lot more difficult than he imagined. When he raced, things came easy. He came back and everything was harder.
At the end of the 2009 Tour, the third-place finisher announced the formation of Team RadioShack, co-owned and led by Armstrong, and including mostly former Astana cyclists. Armstrong himself rode for Astana alongside in 2009 alongside Alberto Contador, the Tour winner. RadioShack was leading the race after the first stage, and now stands in 2nd place thanks to Sergio Paulinho tenth stage victory.
A cursed Tour for Armstrong
As his second retirement approaches, Armstrong has been plagued by bad luck, crashes and injury. In the Alps, the 38-year-old cyclist fell into 39th place, 13 minutes behind the leader. Andreu is convinced Armstrong will not return.
"He crashed, he got sick, injuries, broken collarbone,” said Andreu. “It's just been one thing after another for the guy. I'll say this: When he retires this time, I'll be pretty confident it's for good."
Armstrong maintained top-20 until the 8th stage, going as high as 14th overall before a 61st place finish in the 8th. His worst performance so far was in stage 10, when he was the 130th cyclist over the finish line. Andy Schleck, who finished ahead of Armstrong last year and finished the 10th stage in 21st, remaining in the yellow jersey as of stage 10, spoke graciously of the former champion.
“Lance had a pretty bad crash, it was right in front of me, actually,” said Schleck. “He was pretty beaten up, and on the (Col de la Ramaz) climb he lost contact with our group. I thought he could be up there at the front, and all respect for him, to still be there, and to see what he did all year already. To be honest, I’m a little sorry for him; he really wanted this, his last Tour.”
Competing with Contador
27-year-old Tour champion Contador is within reach of his third Tour win, and with Armstrong out of the picture he remains very confident. The Spaniard’s first win was in 2007 with Armstrong's former Team Discovery Channel. When the team disbanded in 2008, Contador joined Astana, which made he and Armstrong rivals on the same team for the 2009 Tour de France.
While Contador was the team leader, Armstrong made no secret of his ambitions to the podium, and the team was divided in loyalties. Despite the tension, both champions finished on the podium, though the third-place finisher left the team after the Tour and Contador said that Armstrong:
“Is a great rider and had a great Tour, [but] on a personal level I have never admired him and never will."
It then came as a surprise when Contador, confident with his performance so far and his ability to overtake Schleck before Paris, express regret for Armstrong’s falling behind.
"He was very unlucky yesterday. I don't like to see that happening to great riders like him," Contador said of Armstrong. "But my admiration is still the same for him. Maybe it's even stronger now."
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