The 10 Most-Memorable Moments Of Lance's 7 Tour Wins!
Arguably the most accomplished racer in cycling history, Lance Armstrong had a legendary career that transcended sport. And he continues to do so. That's right! In case you didn't know, Lance officially committed to a 2nd return to cycling in September of 2008. Since then, the indomitable Tour champion has returned to the peloton where he once reigned. To commemorate Lance's epic career and refresh Lance's legendary exploits as he creates new ones, here are our favorite ten moments from his incredible 7-consecutive Tour wins. Thanks for everything Lance and best of luck getting back on top!
10. Passing Ivan Basso In The l'Alpe d’Huez Time Trial (2004)
Going into the 16th Stage of the 2004 Tour, a 15.5-kilometer mountain time trial up the storied l'Alpe d'Huez, Lance Armstrong held a lead of 1:25 over CSC's Ivan Basso in the race for the overall title. The two had matched each other virtually pedal stroke for pedal stroke on three previous mountain stages where they had traded victories and finished at the same time, with Basso winning one and Armstrong taking the other two. Speculation ran high as to what would happen in the time trial. Who was really the stronger climber?
Adding drama to the showdown was the fact that over a million spectators crowded the legendary climb of Alpe d'Huez. Even at 5 a.m., the 9.6-mile course was packed with fans and resembled the world's largest rock concert more than an uphill time trial to a ski station. Riders in the time trial would have to endure cheers and jeers as they charged up the steep slopes. Who would win the brightest jewel in the climber's crown?
At the first time check Armstrong and Basso were just about even. Then the American starting reeling the Italian in at a feverish pace. By the time check at 9.5 kilometers to go, Lance was up by 1:15, meaning he was just 45 seconds behind Basso after factoring 2 minutes for the time trial's staggered start. Lance caught his two-minute man with 3 kilometers to go. Basso tried to hold his wheel but there was no hanging onto the Yellow Jersey Express. The CSC rider lost 2:22 to Armstrong that day and Lance solidified his lead in what would become a record 6th Tour victory.
9. US Postal's First Team Time Trial Victory (2003)
In the preceding three Tours, though Lance had won the overall, the team had always failed to win the Team Time Trial. "Every year we get second or third, it's not a good feeling. I don't want to sit at the dinner table tonight and look at each other and be disappointed," Armstrong said as the team waited in their bus to start the event. The Blue Train took their time getting rolling, they were 7th at the first time check. By the finish, however, they had a 30-second lead over rivals ONCE-Eroski to become the first American team to win the Team Time Trial in the Tour de France.
8. Lance's Impromptu Cyclocross (2003)
Going into Stage 9 of the 2003 Tour, the race was incredibly close, with eight riders within 2:30 of Armstrong, who was in the Yellow Jersey. On the Category 3 Cote de la Rochelle, Alexandre Vinokourov (who was in third and 1:17 back at the time) attacked the Yellow Jersey group and opened up an advantage of 23 seconds. Joseba Beloki and Armstrong led an elite group of riders in a desperate chase of the T-Mobile rider on the descent. We'll let Lance set the scene:
"We were all chasing hard because Vinokourov is a dangerous rider. We came into a corner way too fast and Beloki locked up his brakes and his rear wheel started sliding everywhere and his tire blew," Armstrong recounted. "It was so hot the asphalt on the road was melting, but it wasn't slippery until we got to that section."
The Spaniard hit the pavement hard and Lance's only option was to veer left and off the pavement. Improvising, he found a small path in the field and rode down it as the road looped back on itself courtesy of a hairpin turn. Then, just before reaching the road, a deep ditch stood in his way. The Texan fluidly hopped off his bike, leaped the trench and vaulted back on his bike once he reached the road, just as the group he was leading began to pass him. Although they didn't catch Vinokourov, Lance was able to finish with the small group and lost just 36 seconds to the T-Mobile rider.
7. Passing Jan Ullrich In The Stage 1 Time Trial (2005)
Lance Armstrong's late start to his training in 2005 and less-than-stellar showings in early-season races, such as Paris Nice and the Tour de Georgia had everyone talking about whether he would show up fit enough to win his seventh Tour de France. Starting the Stage 1 Time Trial last, he pulled a foot out of a pedal just after rolling down the starting ramp and it looked as if he was off to an inauspicious start. He quickly recovered, however, and was just three seconds slower than race leader and eventual winner David Zabriskie at the first time check. His most feared competitor, Jan Ullrich, had passed the time check 42 seconds behind. It quickly became apparent the American was going to overtake the German, despite the latter's one-minute head start. With 4 kilometers remaining, he rocketed past Ullrich and went on to finish second behind fellow American David Zabriskie. Lance had sent a serious message to his competitors that he was back in full force and anyone who dreamed of wearing the Maillot Jaune in Paris had to reckon with the Texan.
6. The First Post-Cancer Mountain Stage (1999)
Coming into Stage 9 of Lance's first Tour since recovering from cancer, he had won the Prologue and the Time Trial and made it through 7 flat stages without mishap. Skeptics expounded that he would lose his lead in the mountains, that he had managed to regain his time-trialing ability, but that he had a history of only average climbing. Starting the Col de Montgenevre, the climb to Sestriere, he was with an elite group of seven that was ahead of the closest riders by over a minute. With 8 kilometers to go to the finish, the group had been reduced to Armstrong, Alex Zulle, Ivan Gotti and Fernando Escartin. At that point, Lance accelerated and quickly rode each of his competitors off his wheel. His offensive was so fierce that the camera motorcycle driver briefly lost contact with the Texan. All the cameraman could do was point out the quickly receding dot on the camera that LA had become. He beat Alex Zulle by 31 seconds and finished almost a minute and a half ahead of gifted-climber Escartin. Unbelievably, the cancer survivor was now an improbable 6:03 ahead of second-place Abraham Olano and well on his way to winning his first Tour de France!
5. The "No Gifts" Beating Of Andreas Kloden (2004)
After Stage 12 of the 2004 Tour, Armstrong was under fire for "letting" Ivan Basso take the stage when the two finished together ahead of all others at the top of the mountain finish. Armstrong responded by outsprinting Basso to take Stages 13 and 15. Armstrong came into Stage 17 with a commanding lead of 3:48 over Ivan Basso and almost 8 minutes over Jan Ullrich.
Stage 17 featured a brutal profile that boasted 16,827 feet of climbing over five mountain passes, making it the hardest stage of the Tour. The final miles of the day's course consisted of a lightning-fast descent to Le Grand Bornand after cresting the Category 1 Col de la Croix Fry.
Armstrong's powerful US Postal Service team set a torrid pace that caught the day's breakaway on the slopes of the final climb. Postal rider Floyd Landis took over on the ascent and what remained of the small Yellow Jersey group shrank quickly. The elite of the Tour were all that were left at the summit: Armstrong, Landis, T-Mobile rider Andreas Klöden (3rd overall at the time), his teammate Jan Ullrich (4th) and CSC's Ivan Basso (2nd).
As the quintet roared toward the finish, Landis attacked the group less than 2 kilometers from the finish. He was quickly reeled in by Ullrich; Kloden counterattacked just under the 1-kilometer-to-go banner. It looked like the German National Champion had secured the win, but Landis worked hard at the front to keep Armstrong within striking distance. Lance blasted from the group on the finishing stretch and overtook the startled Kloden right at the line to snag the victory.
While Armstrong was on the winner's podium, 5-time Tour-winner Bernard Hinault stepped up to the Yellow Jersey and complimented him on the finish. "Perfect. No gifts."
4. Lance Takes Command At Hautacam (2000)
Despite winning the 1999 Tour handily, Armstrong was not an odds-on favorite to repeat and wear the Maillot Jaune in Paris. Former winners Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani were back on track after missing the 1999 Tour and the field looked much stronger in 2000.
Stage 10 was the first serious mountain stage and finished with an Above Category climb to Hautacam. Armstrong came into the day in 16th overall but 1st among pre-race contenders, with all the riders above him expected to quickly fade on the punishing climbing stages.
Lance reached the day's final ascent in a group with his main competition for the Yellow Jersey, Marco Pantani, Jan Ullrich, Alex Zulle and Abraham Olano. The slopes in front of them were littered with the remnants of the day's breakaways, with Javier Oxtoa nearly 12 minutes ahead of LA's group at the start of the climb.
Pantani scampered away from the Yellow Jersey group almost immediately and Zulle countered. Armstrong let them go for a few seconds, then accelerated to warp speed. After motoring past Zulle and Pantani, he began to pass the riders who were up the road as if they were ordinary cyclists out for a Sunday pedal. The Texan was gobbling up huge chunks of time on Oxtoa at each time check. By the finish, the Kelme rider, who was exhausted from his long break, had lost all of his advantage but 47 seconds. Lance had also demolished those who hoped to keep him from repeating as Tour champion. Joseba Beloki was the closest of the GC contenders and finished almost 3 minutes behind Armstrong. Lance was now in Yellow and had a hefty lead of 4:14 over Jan Ullrich.
3. Crash And Win On Luz-Ardiden (2003)
The 2003 Tour was amazingly close coming into Stage 15. Jan Ullrich was just 15 seconds in arrears of Armstrong and Alexandre Vinokourov was only 3 seconds behind the German. The stage's second half was going to be critical. It featured a Category 1 climb followed by two Above Category climbs and a mountaintop finish at Luz Ardiden.
On the second climb, the infamous Tourmalet, Ullrich attacked twice attempting to rid himself of Armstrong and the rest of the contenders. By the time they reached the slopes of the final climb to Luz Ardiden, the Yellow Jersey group was reduced to a group of ten, including Armstrong, Ullrich, Vinokourov, Tyler Hamilton and two of Lance's teammates, Manuel Beltran and Jose Luis Rubiera.
As they approached the 10k-to-go banner, Iban Mayo attacked and Armstrong countered, quickly reaching and passing the Euskatel rider. As they rounded a corner close to the fans, a musette bag snagged Armstrong's handlebar and threw him to the ground and Mayo crashed as well. The group made their way around the two riders and slowed a bit to wait up, as cycling tradition dictates. As Armstrong tried to chase his way back on, he unclipped from a pedal and almost crashed again. Hamilton made his way to the front of the group and slowed the group even more. Lance caught back on and for a brief minute, the bunch rode at a calm tempo.
With 9 clicks to go, Mayo attacked again with the same result as before, a counter move was made by the man in Yellow, who swiftly caught and passed him. Mayo was able to hold his wheel for a short bit, but Ullrich and the rest of the contenders were all dropped. LA stormed past Sylvain Chavenel, the lone remnant of the day's breakaway who started the climb with an advantage of 4:35 over Armstrong's group.
By the time he reached the finish, his lead over Ullrich and Mayo was 40 seconds and he gained an extra 12 seconds as a result of the difference in the time bonuses between his first place and Ullrich's third. Vinokourov, who had started the day just 19 seconds behind the Yellow Jersey lost 2:07, essentially putting him out of the race for the Golden Fleece. Armstrong went on to win the 2003 Tour by just 1:01 over Ullrich.
2. Passing Abraham Olano In The Time Trial (1999)
Stage 8, an individual time trial of the 1999 Tour was the first real contest for the GC contenders. World Time Trial Champion Abraham Olano was lurking just 11 seconds behind LA and was heavily favored to win the 56-kilometer event, although Olano himself was worried about the strong showing Lance had in the Prologue.
At the first time check, Armstrong was 18 seconds faster than Olano, who had started just in front of LA. Then, Olano's day started to unravel. He had a minor crash in which he lost about 30 seconds, but it seemed to destroy his rhythm. Lance soon passed him and the Spaniard tried to get his second wind. According to Lance passing Olano was, "Psychologically so hard, (after I caught him) he was staying with me and I couldn't get away — it was killing me!"
At the second time check, roughly halfway through the race, Armstrong was in complete command. He led Alex Zulle by 42 seconds, and Olano by 1:24. By the finish, his advantage over Zulle was 57 seconds and he had a lead of 2:04 over third-place Christophe Moreau. On GC, he now had a lead of 2:20 over Moreau and was back in the Maillot Jaune.
1. The Look, And l'Alpe d'Huez (2001)
In the 2001 Tour, an early breakaway had been allowed to finish ahead of the peloton by over 35 minutes. The race favorites, including Armstrong, were anywhere from 33 to 37 minutes behind at this point. Stage 10 was the first tough mountain stage and was set to hammer the peloton with three Above Category (HC) climbs and a finish on Tour legend l'Alpe d'Huez.
Telekom set the pace-making on the early climbs and the peloton had been reduced to about 40 when they hit the second HC climb of the day. It even looked as if Armstrong was struggling. He was riding at the back of the pack with two teammates as Jan Ullrich easily powered away at the front of the group. Race radios crackled with speculation about the two-time Tour winner. Was he really hurting or was he bluffing? Telekom took no chances and hammered at the front, hoping to shake the US Postal rider.
As they hit the slopes of l'Alpe d'Huez, LA moved to the front to join Ullrich, Joseba Beloki, Christophe Moreau, Oscar Sevilla and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano at the fore. In a now-famous move known as The Look, Armstrong stood, attacked and turned around as he rocketed away from the group, appearing to stare at the face of Ullrich. Armstrong contends that it never was intended as a stare down, he was simply looking for teammates and trying to see if any of the group was going to try and follow. None were able to and Lance finished with Ullrich 1:59 behind, Beloki 2:09 back, Moreau 2:30 behind and Sevilla at 2:54. He also made up 13 minutes on the best placed of the riders from the breakaway in what was surely the most memorable of his mountain stage wins.