After his sixth win at the Tour de France in 2004, Armstrong pulled himself up alone onto the Everest of the cycling world by leaving only second places to the legendary Merckx, Anquetil, Delgado and Indurain. This place could be permanent especially since he is aspiring to a 7^th victory at the great loop.

A fast ascension
Armstrong grew up in Texas where the Dallas Cowboys rule as kings of the sport's world. "You had to play football or be rich in order to fit in", remembers Armstrong. No wealth in Lance's family. He grew up in a single-parent family with his mother Linda who had to have up to three jobs at the same time to ensure that her son had the essential things. She supported him also in his sport activities. Another determining influence on Armstrong, but this time in a less positive way, is his stepfather. His mother got married to Terry Armstrong, a devoted born-again Christian who imposed on the young Lance a severe discipline by force and austerity. The heritage of Terry Armstrong was in his surname and also perhaps in the strength of character toward adversity.

The young Armstrong was interested in many sports. He started with swimming where his natural endurance was already showing up. Because his mother was unable to drive him to the swimming pool, Lance went there by bike. He regularly did a 30 kilometre ride. This activity led him to the triathlon. Little by little, he became at age 16 a professional triathlete! Although his swimming and running abilities were not in doubt, cycling was his strength. He eventually chose cycling or, if we wish cycling chose him. In his last year of high school, he was on the US Olympic development team. By sacrificing his studies for a while, he qualified himself in 1990 to the junior world games where he grasped an 11^th place with the best time for an American since 1976. His first successes happened in 1991 when he became the United States amateur champion and when he won the Settimana Bergamasca race. His amateur career ended in 1992 at the Olympic Games in Barcelona with a disappointing 14^th position although some expected nothing less than the gold for him.

A recurrent pattern
One week after the Olympic Games, he participated in the San Sebastian Classic where he was clearly distanced. He was the last to finish of the 111 competitors, 27 minutes behind the winner. The worst had happened! Following this poor result, Armstrong questioned himself about his future. However, the support of his mother and of Chris Carmichael, his coach with the national team, helped him to continue. Here is a recurrent pattern in the life of Armstrong: the obstacle, the challenge and the victory. If facing adversity, he finds not only strength to surmount the obstacle but he finds also the means to succeed brilliantly. A few days later after his pitiful performance, he won a stage race at the Galice Tour. Then the following week, he finished second in Zurich. Great! This determination brought him, on some occasions, the mockery of his teammates. Nevertheless, it is this same quality that led Armstrong to unequalled results.

In 1993, he achieved ten victories, including, one stage win at the Tour de France, a world championship and an American professional championship. He also won the following races: Thrift Drug Classic, Kmart West Virginia Classic and CoreStates US Pro National Championship. This triple crown came along with a bonus of one million dollars. It seems that Armstrong received $25,000 after the redistribution with his teammates and the team personal. At the world championship, he fell down twice. However, he was still able to leave behind the fearsome Miguel Indurain and others during the penultimate climb. With this accomplished fact, he has proven his status of an established professional. At 21 years of age, he signed a contract for $500,000 per year and he has become the leader of the Motorola team in front of veterans Phil Anderson and Steve Bauer.

The year 1994 was tougher for him with only one victory, the Thrift Drug Classic. In 1995, he managed to impose himself in the tour DuPont, the most important race on American soil. Later that year, Armstrong won the San Sebastian Classic, the same race which almost ended his career.

The year 1996 has been a roller coaster for Armstrong. He abandoned in the Tour de France. Afterwards, he obtained a 6^th and a 12^th place at the Olympic Games of Atlanta. However, he succeeded to win the Flèche Wallone (a first for an American) without forgetting his second victory at the Tour DuPont. He became the first one to win it two times in a row. In the headlines, Armstrong was nicknamed the "DuPont Dominator". With these good results, he climbed up in the world standings as high as 7^th place. As a matter of fact, he signed a lucrative contract with Cofidis for an annual salary of $600,000.

The most demanding stage of his life
Unfortunately in October 1996, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The doctor told him that tumours in the abdomen, in the lungs and in the lymphatic nodes were found. His chances of survival were estimated by the specialists from 65% to 85%. Afterwards, these numbers were revised to a low 50%. To overcome the disease, Armstrong went under the scalpels. He was subjected to an aggressive and innovating chemotherapy in order to preserve his pulmonary capacities. Then, he changed his diet. Despite the exhaustive fight that he was engaged in, tumours to the brain were found. His chances were once again revised downward, this time to 40%. One of his doctors even evaluated his chances of survival to 3% and that the 40% communicated to Armstrong was done to give him hope. It seems that a normal chemotherapy would have probably ended his cycling career because of the damages that this treatment would have caused to the lungs. The doctors consequently opted for an innovating chemotherapy offered at the Indiana University. The success of the treatment is now conclusive.

Eventually, Armstrong got completely over the cancer and he started again to train. Another tough blow awaited him, he was released promptly from the Cofidis team.

Without losing time, he joined in 1998 the team of the US Postal Service for a more modest $200,000. Once again, he was confronted with the idea of ending everything after a catastrophic race, Paris-Nice, which he abandoned. This result can be explained by a precipitated comeback. Following this, he left for a retreat in North Carolina where he met again his friend and mentor, Chris Carmichael. While building back his confidence, he mounted his bike again but this time without looking to perform. Armstrong understood one thing: he really likes cycling. For his foundation, he won a race in Austin, his adopted town. He confirmed his return to the eyes of the world with good results at the Tour of Spain and at the world championship.

The appropriation of the Tour de France
The consecration came in 1999 with the Tour; from now on, it became the principal objective of the Texan. Carmichael, Ochowicz and Motorola's coaches had already a feeling, as early as 1993, that Armstrong could be an impact cyclist of the great loop. During the 1999 race, all the attention of the cycling world was upon him, because he was in total control of the race. He won with more than 7 minutes ahead of the Swiss Alex Zulle. For American cycling, it was a return to success since the last victory of Greg LeMond in 1990. At the end of the Tour, the average speed of Armstrong was 40.2 km/h, a record.

He repeated his achievement in 2000 by overcoming his natural competitor Jan Ullrich, the German and winner of the Tour in 1997. The gap between him and his closest rival was 6 minutes and 2 seconds. With this victory, he quietened his detractors who bellyached that the Tour 99 had been one against poor opposition.

He continued to deliver superb performances from 2001 to 2004 with gaps brought down as far as a low 1 minute and 1 second. During a stage of the Tour 2003, Armstrong crashed twice. He got back on his bike every time. As soon as he caught up to Ullrich and the others competitors in the leaders' pack, he launched a tremendous attack which led him to victory and which has demonstrated his incredible will. With such attitude, he has become in 2004 the first sextuple champion of the great loop with a decisive victory of more than 6 minutes ahead of his closest competitor. Like Dali and his melted down watches, Armstrong is a surrealist.

The strengths of Armstrong
When he made his comeback in 1999, he put entirely his focus on the Tour de France. Trainings and preparatory races of Armstrong were centred on the Tour. In 2004, he prepared himself by doing several trips to France in order to familiarize himself with the diverse stages and to establish the appropriate strategies. Armstrong biked all stages at least once. He did not neglect to climb the Alpe d'Huez (the most distressing stage). He did it four times in five days. Simply excessive!

One should not neglect Armstrong's physical condition to explain his success. Edward Coyle, supervisor at the laboratory of human performances at Texas University, estimates that the genetic frequency to have a fatigue threshold equivalent to the one of Armstrong is one of a millionth. He evaluates also that Armstrong generates four times less lactic acid than average elite cyclists. Stunning!

It would be possible to describe numerous reasons explaining the Armstrong phenomena. Chris Carmichael explains it rather by his predatory instinct. Lance is known to do really aggressive attacks while climbing in order to crush his adversaries. When he unleashes an explosive attack, the surprise effect can be devastating.

His very high cadence at 120 revolutions per minute on flat ground also distinguishes him from the other competitors. The difference is clear while he climbs. The advantage of his style permits him to react rapidly to attacks and to start sudden accelerations that few can equal.

In adversity, Armstrong triumphs
Few athletes can claim to have surpassed obstacles of the magnitude of the ones which have been on Lance Armstrong's route. His triumphal performances lie on his great strength of character to always wish to do better and to never limit his dreams even in deep adversity. Never the famous sportive cliché, "sport has helped me to learn many things that will be useful in my life", has stuck to the reality of an athlete.

In April 2005, the king of the Tour announced that after the one in 2005, he will bow out. His sportive and human legacy is huge. We are right to ask ourselves if the Tour de France should be renamed to the Tour de Lance, because he gave himself principally to the Tour while personifying it. Yet, his veritable race has been the one of life against cancer.