Congratulations, Lance, On Your 7th Tour de France Win!

Lance Armstrong's Tour de Force
Amazing story of America's premier bicycle racer

By: John Shepler

The Tour de France. In the word of competitive cycling, it is the supreme test of strength and endurance. For 22 days, 20 different stages and 2,286 miles, some of the world's most conditioned athletes compete literally head to head as they work the pedals of their racing bicycles against hills and valleys, city streets and always the onset of exhaustion. As in all sports, there sometimes arises a champion of champions. He or she is the one who is in the lead more than anyone else, the one who wins not just by a nose, but clearly out front for all to see. Lance Armstrong was not supposed to be that champion of this year's Tour de France. His doctors really expected him to be weakened and likely dead of cancer. But Lance paid no attention to that kind of thinking and now stands triumphant over both cancer and the Tour de France.

Lance Armstrong's story begins in Plano, Texas. Like many athletic prodigies, his talents appeared early. He could probably have excelled in many different sports. As it was, he became a top swimmer and a triathlete during his teen age years. The U. S. Cycling Federation took notice and got him training with the Junior national Cycling Team before he even graduated from high school. Within a year or so he'd competed in the Junior world Championships in Moscow and was signed to the professional/amateur racing team sponsored by Subaru-Montgomery. He repaid their confidence by winning the U. S. Amateur Championships.

Lance Armstrong appeared to be at the threshold of a charmed life. Young, strong and talented, his career started taking on the appearance of super-stardom. The Motorola team soon recruited him to join their top-rated U.S. cycling team and looked for great things as Lance entered the arena of international cycling. His aggressive style and winning spirit helped his team reach number five in the world by 1993. Just three years later, in 1996, Lance was expected to win the Tour de France itself. That year he'd already won the Tour DuPont and Fleche Wallone races. The stars and planets were lining up his way. He was the number one ranked cyclist in the world.

It was possible, just possible, that Lance Armstrong would become the next Greg LeMond, three time champion of the Tour de France and the only American to win it. Greg's last victory had been in 1990. Now, in 1996, a new American champion cyclist would arise to become known the world over. He was physically invincible. Oh, sure, he was "sore in the saddle," but he brushed that off to the grueling regimen of cycle training. Then there were symptoms he couldn't ignore anymore. The headaches, blurry vision, soreness in the groin area, overall ill feeling and even coughing up blood were enough to get him into the doctor's office. Suddenly, out of apparently nowhere, his entire life, his future, his well being all came crashing down at once. The diagnosis had come back as cancer, massive cancer.

What Lance didn't know was spreading like wildfire throughout his body was choriocarcinoma, an especially aggressive form of testicular cancer. This was no microscopic tumor caught in the early stages. His cancer had established itself in his abdomen, his lungs and even his brain. There were eleven masses in his lungs alone, some the size of golf balls. His brain was invaded by two malignancies. Best estimate of survival? Only 50/50.

It is said that the mind and the body are linked inextricably and that how you think can promote or hinder the healing process. Perhaps that as much as anything else explains the miraculous recovery of Lance Armstrong in the year from 1996 to 1997. He gives credit to the best doctors he could find in the field, the doctors at Indiana University. Their approach was as aggressive as the cancer itself. He underwent removal of a testicle and brain surgery, followed by intense chemotherapy. It was a year of pain and misery. But it was not a year of depression, resignation or failure. For in 1997, Lance was declared, incredibly, cancer-free. He had fought through the darkness, and now the brightness of success had returned.

In just two short years his body came back, and it came back to a strength perhaps greater than even before. In the Tour de France, the leaders are given the honor of wearing traditional colored jerseys to show their standing in the race. The best mountain climber wears a polka dot jersey. The best sprinter get to wear a green one. But the most coveted jersey is the yellow one, representing the shortest time for total distance covered; in other words, the leader of the race. Often this jersey goes back and forth among strong contenders. But in 1999, Lance Armstrong captured the yellow jersey in the early stages of the race and kept it course after course, until finally, he led his U.S. Postal sponsored team through the streets of Paris to finish on the Champs Elysees with a seven minute, 37 second lead over the next racer. His victories, both in athletic competition and health, were dramatic...and now complete.

At the victory line in Paris, Lance Armstrong is quoted as saying "If there's one thing I say to those who use me as their example, it's that if you ever get a second chance in life, you've got to go all the way." He has done just that. He's won the Tour de France and established his own foundation to fund testicular cancer research. He's 27 years old, a champion athlete, husband and soon to be father, in the prime of heath again, and perhaps the best example of what a second chance in life can really become.

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Books of Interest:

Lance Armstrong and the 1999 Tour de France By John Wilcockson and Charles Pelkey; Featuring the Tour Diary of Frankie Andreu

It's Not about the Bike by Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins. This is his inspiring story, from the dark night of advanced cancer through his dramatic victory in the 1999 race.

The Lance Armstrong Performance Program The Training, Strengthening, and Eating Plan Behind the World's Greatest Cycling Victory by Lance Armstrong, Peter Joffre Nye, and Chris Carmichael. Lance teams up with his coach to share with readers a training program for achieving peak cycling performance in seven weeks. Armstrong tosses in racing anecdotes and reveals his optimum diet. 50 photos.

Season in Turmoil: Lance Armstrong Replaces Greg LeMond as U. S. Cycling's Superstar by Samuel Abt.

Greg LeMond's Complete Book of Bicycling by Greg LeMond and Kent Gordis.

In Pursuit of the Yellow Jersey: Bicycle Racing in the Year of the Tortured Tour by Samuel Abt and James Startt, photographer.

Also visit Books-A-Million for an excellent selection of new books, magazines, e-books, audio books and more at low, low prices. Who is Books-A-Million?

Visit our Lance Armstrong Poster Store for a complete selection of Lance Armstrong action posters and prints.

Also visit these related sites:

Lance Armstrong Online - All the latest on Lance's races and wins, plus a great collection of action photos and more.

Lance Armstrong Foundation - "Dedicated to fighting urological cancer through awareness, education and research."

Bike4Life - Bike4Life raised money for the Lance Armstrong Cancer Foundation. This organization sponsors unique events to raise money for people in need.

Climbing Everest to Beat Cancer - Twice knocked down by cancer, Sean Swarner has literally climbed his way from a hopeless prognosis to the top of the world.

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© 1999 - 2008 by John E. Shepler. Linking to this article is welcome, but no online republication is permitted. Print media republication rights are available at reasonable rates. Contact me at: John (at) JohnShepler.com

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First Published: August 1, 1999 as part of A Positive Light

Last Updated: April 6, 2008

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