Armstrong Wins 87th Tour de France

July 23, 2000 -- — American Lance Armstrong’s win last year proved his triumph over cancer, but his second straight Tour de France victory today proved his dominance in the sport of cycling.

Armstrong began the largely ceremonial running of Stage 21 six minutes and two seconds ahead of closest challenger Jan Ullrich of Germany, a seemingly insurmountable lead heading into the final leg of the 2,250-mile Tour de France.

Indeed, it was, as Armstrong rode through Paris in the yellow jersey of the Tour champion for the second year in a row. He became the 11th rider ever to win consecutive Tours, and joined Greg LeMond as the only Americans to have accomplished the feat.

“It was more emotional this time than it was last year, believe it or not,” Armstrong told ESPN after the race. “It’s a sweeter victory.”

A Champion’s Coronation

Italy’s Stefano Zanini of the Mapei team outlasted a frantic sprint at the finish to win the 21st stage with a winning time of 3 hours, 12 minutes and 36 seconds.

German Erik Zabel finished second, and Romans Vainsteins of Latvia came in third in the 138-kilometer (85.7-mile) stage, which began in Paris at the base of the Eiffel Tower and concluded with seven laps of the famous boulevard, the Champs-Elysees.

But the real champion of the day was Armstrong, who completed the entire three-week Tour in the fastest time among the 180-rider field: 92 hours, 33 minutes and 8 seconds.

Ullrich made up no time today on the defending champion and finished second overall, 6:02 behind Armstrong. Third-place finisher was Spaniard Joseba Beloki, at 10:04 off the overall lead.

Zabel earned his final green points jersey as the Tour’s most consistent sprinter, while Colombia climber Santiago Botero won the prestigious polka-dot jersey as King of the Mountains.

On the winner’s podium, the 28-year-old Texas hoisted his 9-month-old son Luke on his shoulders. “It’s a great day for our family. It’s really unbelievable,” said Armstrong’s wife, Kristin.

Armstrong wins $315,000 for winning the Tour, plus $7,200 for his stage win.

His only scheduled appearance today after the race was toattend a benefit for cancer research, a cause he’s championed sincebeing diagnosed in 1996 with advanced testicular cancer. Given lessthan a 40 percent chance of survival, he underwent brain surgeryand chemotherapy and had a testicle removed.

“I take inspiration from these people,” Armstrong said aftermeeting with cancer victims. “It’s almost an unfair advantage thatI get to talk to these people every day.”

Dramatic Three Weeks

Armstrong entered this Tour as both the clear favorite and an immenselypopular figure, a man who had not only beaten cancer, but utterly dominated the Tour for his first win.

But this year, Armstrong also had something to prove: that his 1999 win, in the absence of credible challengers like Italian Marco Pantani and Ullrich, was not a fluke. Many commentators questioned whether Armstrong would fare as well in a Tour with other champions.

And from the start of the opening time trial in Futuroscope, France, it looked as those the commentators, and Armstrong, would have their battle of champions.

Conservative Start

The American finished second, losing his yellow jersey to Britain’s David Millar, and coming in just 12 seconds ahead of Ullrich, who seemed to have found his old form.

In the following days, Armstrong laid low, playing a tactically smart race and letting Millar and others fight for the yellow jersey, while his team conserved their energies for the first major test: the team trial in Stage 4.

Here again, however, the Americans seemed to be off the mark, losing by 26 seconds to the ONCE team of Frenchman Laurent Jalabert, and beating Ullrich’s Deutsche Telekom team by only 40 seconds.

Again, Armstrong laid low. During the next few stages, he bided his time, watching as Jalabert lost the yellow jersey to an enterprising Alberto Elli, who broke away from the main pack in stage 6 to finish nearly 8 minutes ahead of the leaders.

Elli’s breakaway was one of many that spiced up the first nine days of the tour-days that are normally dominated by pure sprinters, like Belgium’s Tom Steels, but which this year seemed to favor escape artists like Elli, Dutchman Erik Dekker, and Italian Salvatore Commesso.

King of the Mountain

But such antics, though exciting, did little to alter the real story of the Tour: after nine days, Armstrong was going into the Pyrenees mountains just 52 seconds ahead of the powerful Ullrich, whom Armstrong himself has called the “biggest talent in cycling.”

Nor was Ullrich his only concern. Although Pantani had emerged from the time trials some 5 minutes behind Armstrong, anyone familiar with the Italian super-climber’s powerful style in the mountains knew he could make up that deficit with just one of his lightning-quick attacks.

Not surprisingly, many expected the first mountain stage to be the first real test-the first real chance for Pantani and Ullrich to attack Armstrong, forcing the defending champion to show his stuff.

Yet when the fateful day arrived, it was Pantani and Ullrich who foundthemselves on the defensive. Looking even stronger than last year, Armstrong attacked his rivals repeatedly, riding away from a gasping Ullrich, then catching and passing a startled Pantani. When it was over, Armstrong was 4:14 ahead of Ullrich and 10:34 ahead of Pantani.

Time-Trial Test

With such hefty margins, many were already calling it a race for secondplace. But Armstrong, though confident, knew he faced four tough days in the mountains, and a final time trial.

Armstrong’s caution was borne out. Two days later, on the tough climb to Mont Ventoux, Pantani was able to stay with Armstrong and beat him at the line.

Pantini was on an upward curve. In stage 15, the Italian left everyone in his wake, including Armstrong, and seemed on the verge of a breakthrough that could change the entire race.

Then it was Ullrich’s turn. After cracking on Stage 15, and seeing the gap between him and Armstrong stretch to nearly 7 minutes, the German finally hit his stride just as Armstrong hit the wall. On the final, steep climb of stage 16, a surging Ullrich pushed the pace so high that first Pantani and then Armstrong fell back.

The lapse cost Armstrong nearly 2 minutes of his lead over Ullrich, and showed, for the first time, that the Texan was human. And for the first time, racing enthusiasts wondered whether Armstrong might win the Tour without taking a single stage.

Two-Time Champion

That concern proved groundless. After three days of riding behind his team in the flat stages, Armstrong was clearly recovered from whatever had ailed him on the mountain. Armstrong rode like a man possessed, winning the time trial stage and sealing his second Tour victory.

While neither Ullrich nor Pantani came to the Tour fully trained, it’s also clear that Armstrong was even stronger than last year. With the exception of one day, he climbed in the mountains better than most of the so-called climbing specialists, and his time trials were superb.

And once again, he was the champion.