American Lance Armstrong secured his seventh Tour de France yellow jersey in a 21-day cycling event, held over 144 kilometres from Corbeil-Essonnes to Paris on Sunday 24 Jul 2005. Armstrong, a man diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain was not expected to even survive the disease. Yet, he provided a dream finish to an illustrious career that ended on Sunday with his retirement. It was the sort of fairy-tale finish that every sportsperson dreams of and yet, few have managed to achieve.
Armstrong is the ultimate champion and his is a saga of a man who fought the odds, refused to give in to life-threatening adversity and finally pedalled some 3,500 kilometres in 21 days for seven consecutive years, thus setting a record that is unlikely to be matched, leave alone bettered for generations to come.
Le Tour is the most difficult and physical sporting event in the World as the cyclists traverse some of the most challenging and varying terrain anyone could imagine. In the pre-Tour build-up, experts wrote off Armstrong who, for the first time in his career was getting into the race without a single victory in the season. It was thought that the Texan was past his prime and might find the field far too competitive.
At the podium by the finishing line, with kids in hand, this was what he had to say: “The last thing I'll say to the people that don't believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics – I'm sorry for you, I'm sorry you can't dream big and I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles, but this is one hell of a race, this is a great sporting event and you should stand around and believe. You should believe in these athletes and you should believe in these people. And I'm a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live and there are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event, and hard work wins it, so vive la tour forever! Thank you.
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