Tuesday, July 24, 2001
Armstrong on 3rd tour de force
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
Tour de France fever, catch it.All eyes turn this week to Lavaur, Brive-La-Gaillarde and Saint-Amand-Montrond. Wherever they are. The reason is clear, of course. Lance Armstrong is at it again.
With just a few stages left through the French countryside on the way to Paris, his threepeat now seems in the bag, barring injury, sickness or a cement truck pulling out in front of him.
This is historical business. Only four men in history have pulled it off.
But is his native country, whose normal view of cycling is a Tour de Around the Block, paying attention? Gee, I hope so. Each July, he reminds us what a miracle is.
Five years
removed from the cancer that had a 60-percent chance of killing him, Armstrong is the unstoppable force in cycling. He is our ranking sport superman, now that Tiger Woods takes triple bogeys on Sunday at a major.
Ignored at home
The irony has always been to find such a fable in a sport so devoutly ignored in his homeland. How big would Armstrong be if he were a quarterback?
Most of us have only the barest grasp of the Tour de France. A lot of Belgians, Spaniards and French on bicycles, all chasing the guy wearing yellow. I don't even know if they have kickstands.
They go hellbent for three weeks and 2,159 miles, passing places such as Dunkirk and Verdun, on paths previously worn by German generals.
They all grow exhausted. They all suffer. They all ache. Occasionally, one of them dies.
And in nearly 100 years, only two U.S. men have won — Armstrong and Greg LeMond — putting it roughly on the same level as the hammer throw.
But we must follow this sport, if only once a year. Because this is where Lance Armstrong lives.
To review, the testicular cancer had spread to his lungs and brain in 1996 when the treatment finally began to work.
Now he is on the cusp of a third straight Tour de France. A wondrous dominance achieved because he is best in the mountains.
Imagine the preparation required. “It's called sacrifice,” he said this week. “And I think I have it.”
Critics cry foul
Portions of the European media have continually speculated on darker secrets to his success. Cycling has long been drenched in drug scandal, and he is the king of the hill, so maybe it is logical the questions be asked. Or maybe sour grapes made into fine whine.
A French TV station served up film after last year's race, claiming it showed members of Armstrong's team dumping medical waste in trash containers on a country road — in the manner kidnap ransoms are paid, or espionage film is dropped.
In any case, the material was seized, tested and came back negative. Armstrong has steadfastly denied any improprieties, and passed every test.
It is time for his skeptics to either show us the goods, or shut up.
Meantime, 2001 could be the year of his life, with twin girls due in December, with another Tour de France in his grasp.
And it would be his fifth year in remission, a landmark only a cancer patient can truly understand.
He is healthy, hearty and five minutes ahead of everyone else. Feel free, once again, to marvel.
Tour de France coverage from Associated Press
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Armstrong on 3rd tour de force
