Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Armstrong will try for seventh straight Tour victory
By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
February 16, 2005

PARIS (AP) -- Lance Armstrong will be back in the saddle at this year's Tour de France, chasing title No. 7.

The Tour's only six-time winner finally put an end to questions about his plans for 2005, announcing Wednesday on his Discovery Channel team's Web site that he'll try to extend his record streak of consecutive victories in cycling's most prestigious event.

"I am grateful for the opportunity that Discovery Communications has given the team and look forward to achieving my goal of a seventh Tour de France,'' Armstrong said, according to the team's site.

Until Wednesday, the Texan had left open the possibility that he wouldn't compete in this year's Tour. As recently as last month, Armstrong said: "I'll definitely be in France this summer. It just might not be on the bike.''

He has said he's ready to pursue other challenges in racing and wants to try to win other big races. Still, he has dedicated most of his cycling life to the Tour, leaving little room for such Classic races as the Spanish Vuelta, the Paris-Roubaix or Fleche Wallone, which he won in 1996 shortly before being diagnosed with testicular cancer.

His sixth Tour crown last year elevated Armstrong above four five-time champions: Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

The team Web site said Armstrong will start his 2005 season with the Paris-Nice stage race in March. He will then compete in the Tour of Flanders on April 3, before returning to the United States to defend his title at the Tour de Georgia later that month.

Armstrong told the Web site that he and Johan Bruyneel, his friend and team manager, "will evaluate my fitness later this spring and possibly add some races to the calendar.''

"I am excited to get back on the bike and start racing,'' Armstrong said, "although my condition is far from perfect.''

Hmmm. Other racers probably won't give much weight to that last bit.

After all, while the Texan will be nearly 34 when the Tour begins July 2 -- too old, some might think, to win the three-week cycling marathon yet again -- there were plenty of doubters last year, too. And yet Armstrong managed to defeat younger competitors with arguably his most dominant Tour de France performance ever.

"It's good that he is there. The best should be at the Tour,'' said Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champion and five-time runner-up who is one of Armstrong's biggest rivals.

Andreas Kloden, last year's runner-up, said: "I always said he would ride. I am glad he's there.''

Only time will tell whether Armstrong can get as fired up about winning a seventh Tour as he did to clinch record No. 6. But he already has said that if he did come back, he would aim for nothing but victory. He says he loves the classic race too much to treat it with anything less than the respect it deserves.

And Armstrong showed last year that in the saddle, he can shut out all manner of distractions -- from a court battle over a book that implied he used drugs to all the attention focused on his girlfriend, singer Sheryl Crow -- to focus on winning.

This year's Tour de France route passes through Germany and features 21 stages over 2,222 miles from July 2-24.

The mountaintop finishes are less intense and the time trials shorter this year. Both are disciplines where Armstrong excelled in the past, so the changes may mean he will have fewer opportunities to take huge chunks of time off his rivals.

But some initially thought that the 2004 route also might trip up the champion. Instead, it proved just to his liking.

Armstrong's winning margin over Kloden -- 6 minutes, 19 seconds -- was not his biggest. But his five solo stage wins and a team time trial victory with his squad made it arguably Armstrong's best Tour.

I'm glad Lance is going for seven, he should extend his mark of a two hand win count to one more, just so that it will be atleast another seven years for someone to contend with it, and Lance can sit and watch them. But I am sure because of the type of man he is, that he will be cheering them on. He really deserves a seventh, and it would honestly be a shame if he didn't get it, but I am sure he's training like hell and has been all year. Good luck Lance!

--Mike

Lance Armstrong says he will retire after Tour de France

April 18, 2005

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Lance Armstrong will retire from professional cycling after this summer's Tour de France, ending one of the great careers in all sports.

"Ultimately, athletes have to retire ... the body doesn't just keep going and going,'' Armstrong said Monday at a news conference.

The 33-year-old Texan will attempt to win his record seventh straight Tour de France in July. Before Armstrong, Miguel Indurain's five straight Tour de France wins were the record.

Eddy Merckx of Belgium and Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil of France are the only other riders to win five Tour de France races overall.

Armstrong's streak of six straight titles, along with his inspirational recovery from testicular cancer, has made him a superstar in the sport and an international celebrity.

Armstrong's possible retirement plans had become the focus of growing speculation as he spoke in recent months that he wants to spend more time with his three children and in his campaign against cancer.

Armstrong says he is "100 percent committed'' to his decision to retire and that he will not be participating in any other races after July 24 -- the scheduled end of the Tour de France.

The announcement came on the eve of Armstrong's defense of his Tour de Georgia championship. The six-day, 648-mile event he uses as a training tool for the Tour de France begins Tuesday.

His new two-year contract to race for the Discovery Channel team requires he compete in just one more Tour de France.

"I was fortunate to win six times. Can I win again this year? I'm not sure, but I'm going to try,'' he said. "It's my ambition to win and also a little bit of my job to win.''

He has said previously if he retires he would amplify his high-profile role as a cancer survivor.

Armstrong's relationship with rock star Sheryl Crow has also made him the focus of the tabloids and paparazzi.

"Sheryl, you've been an amazing woman. For someone who is the queen of rock n' roll, you've been a great cycling fan ... a great teammate,'' he said.