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Armstrong wins 7th straight Tour de France
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-25 06:27
For one last time, the Star Spangled Banner rang out over the Champs-Elysees
in honor of Lance Armstrong, the cancer survivor who finished his amazing career
with a seventh consecutive victory Sunday in the Tour de France.
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| Discovery Channel team rider Lance Armstrong of the U.S. (C)
celebrates his seventh victory on the podium alongside CSC team rider Ivan
Basso of Italy (L), who earned overall second place, and T-Mobile team
rider Jan Ullrich of Germany, who earned overall third place, after the
21st and final stage of stage of the 92nd Tour de France cycling race
between Corbeil-Essonnes and Paris, July 24, 2005.[Reuters] |
| On the winner's podium set against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, the
Tour's record-setting champion held his yellow cap over his heart as the
American anthem played. His three children joined him on the podium. His twin
daughters, Grace and Isabelle, wore yellow dresses _ the color of the race
leader's jersey that Armstrong slipped into one last time.
"Vive le Tour, forever," he said.
But Armstrong also delivered a parting shot at the "the cynics" who suspect
that doping is rife in cycling and fueled his dominance of the past seven years.
"I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles," he said.
Armstrong looked gaunt, his cheeks hollow, after riding 3,593 kilometers
(2,232.7 miles) across France and its mountains over the past three weeks. He
said U.S. President George W. Bush called to congratulate him.
Because of wet conditions, race organizers stopped the clock as Armstrong and
the main pack entered central Paris. Although riders were still racing, with
eight circuits of the Champs-Elysees to complete, organizers said then that
Armstrong had officially won.
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