Stage Races Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré General Classification (2002, 2003) Points classification (2005) Tour de Suisse General classification (2001) Tour de Luxembourg General classification (1998) Single-Day Races and Classics Cycling World Champion (1993) US National Cycling Champion (1993) Clásica de San Sebastián (1995) La Flèche Wallonne (1996) Medal record Competitor for United States Men's Cycling World Championships Gold 1993 Oslo Elite Men's Road Race Olympic Games Bronze 2000 Sydney Men's Time Trial Infobox last updated on July 26, 2008 Lance Edward Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson; September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer support. He last rode for UCI ProTeam Team RadioShack, a team he helped found! . In October 1996 he was diagnosed as having testicular cancer with a tumor that had metastasized to his brain and lungs . His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He went on to win the Tour de France each year from 1999 to 2005, and is the only person to win seven times having broken the previous record of five wins shared by Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, and Jacques Anquetil. In 1999, he was named the ABC Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. In 2000 he won the Prince of Asturias Award in Sports.[4] In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the years 2002–2005. He received ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong announced his retirement from! racing on July 24, 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de Franc! e but returned to competitive cycling in January 2009 and finished third in the 2009 Tour de France. He confirmed he had retired from competitive cycling for good on February 16, 2011.[5] In June 2012, the USADA officially charged Armstrong with the consumption of illicit performance enhancing drugs,[6] based on blood samples from 2009 and 2010, and testimonies from other cyclists. On August 23, 2012, Armstrong announced that he would not be fighting USADA's charges.[7] It is reported that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart said the agency will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of all results since August 1, 1998, including his seven Tour de France titles, for doping. On August 24, 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said it would ban the cyclist for life and recommend he be stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles.[8][9] Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Cancer 1.3 Tour de France 1.4 Comeback 1.4.1 Astana: 2009 1.4.! 2 Team RadioShack: 2010–11 1.5 Physical attributes 1.6 Collaboration of sponsors 2 Family and personal life 3 Allegations of doping 3.1 Specific allegations 3.2 1999 Tour de France urine tests 3.3 2012 USADA charges 4 Armstrong's work outside of cycling 4.1 Marathon 4.2 Triathlon 5 Politics 6 Teams and victories 7 Filmography 8 Accolades 9 See also 10 References 11 Further reading 12 External links Career Early career Armstrong was born on September 18, 1971, at Methodist Hospital in Plano, Texas, north of Dallas.[10] At the age of 12, he began his sporting career as a swimmer at the City of Plano Swim Club and finished fourth in Texas state 1,500-meter freestyle. He abandoned swimming-only competition after seeing a poster for a junior triathlon called the Iron Kids Triathlon, which he entered and won at age 13.[11] In the 1987–1988 Tri-Fed/Texas ("Tri-Fed" was the former name of USA Triathlon), Armstrong was the number-one ranked triathlete in the 19-and-under group; ! second place was Chann McRae, who became a US Postal Service cycling te! ammate and the 2002 USPRO national champion. Armstrong's points total for 1987 as an amateur was better than the five professionals ranked that year. At 16, Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at 18 and 19, respectively.[12] It became clear that his greatest talent was for bicycle racing after he won the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1991. Representing the U.S., he finished 14th in the 1992 Summer Olympics. This performance earned him his first professional contract with Motorola. He won his first race with Motorola, the Trophee Laigueglia in Italy, beating the favourite Moreno Argentin. In 1993, Armstrong won 10 one-day events and stage races. He stunned the cycling world when at age 21 he became one of the youngest riders to ever win the UCI Road World Championship, held in pouring rain in Norway that year. Prior to his World's win, he took his first stage win at the Tour de France, in the stage f! rom Châlons-sur-Marne to Verdun. He was in 97th place overall when he abandoned the 1993 race in the Alps after the 12th stage. He also collected the Thrift Drug Triple Crown of Cycling: the Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh, the K-Mart West Virginia Classic, and the CoreStates USPRO national championship in Philadelphia. Thrift Drug said it would award $1 million to a rider winning all three races, a feat previously unachieved. At the USPRO championship, Armstrong sat up on his bicycle on the final lap, took out a comb, combed his hair and smiled for the cameras. In 1994, he again won the Thrift Drug Classic and came second in the Tour DuPont in the United States. His successes in Europe were second placings in Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Clásica de San Sebastián, where just two years before, he finished in last place as his first all-pro event in Europe. He won the Clásica de San Sebastián in 1995, and this time won the Tour DuPont and took a handful of s! tage victories in Europe, including the stage to Limoges in the Tour De! France. He dedicated the win to teammate Fabio Casartelli who had died in a crash on the descent of the Col de Portet d'Aspet on the 15th stage, two days before. Armstrong's successes were much the same in 1996. He became the first American to win the La Flèche Wallonne and again won the Tour DuPont. However, his performances began to suffer and he was able to compete for only five days in the Tour De France. At Atlanta he was able to finish only 6th in the time trial and 12th in the road race in the 1996 Olympic Games. Cancer On October 2, 1996, then aged 25, Armstrong was diagnosed as having developed stage three testicular cancer (Embryonal carcinoma).[13] The cancer spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain. On that first visit to a urologist in Austin, Texas, for his cancer symptoms he was coughing up blood and had a large, painful testicular tumor. Immediate surgery and chemotherapy were required to save his life. Armstrong had an orchiectomy to remove his diseased tes! ticle. After his surgery, his doctor stated that he had less than a 40% survival chance.[14] The standard chemotherapeutic regimen for the treatment of this type of cancer is a cocktail of the drugs bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin (or Platinol) (BEP). Armstrong, however, chose an alternative, etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin (VIP), to avoid the lung toxicity associated with the drug bleomycin.[14] This decision may have saved his cycling career. His primary treatment was received at the Indiana University (IU), Indianapolis, Medical Center, where Lawrence Einhorn had pioneered the use of cisplatinum to treat testicular cancer. His primary oncologist there was Craig Nichols.[14] His brain tumors were surgically removed by Scott A. Shapiro, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery at Indiana University and Resident Director, and were found to contain extensive necrosis.[15] According to Armstrong's first book, Shapiro convinced him that he was the right neurosurgeon for him by s! aying: "You'll have to convince me you know what you're doing," said Ar! mstrong. "Look, I've done a large number of these," Shapiro said, "I've never had anyone die, and I've never made anyone worse." "Yeah, but why should you be the person who operates on my head?" Armstrong responded. "Because as good as you are at cycling"-he paused-"I'm a lot better at brain surgery".[14] His last chemotherapy treatment was received on December 13, 1996. His cancer went into complete remission, and by January 1998 he was already engaged in serious training for racing, moving to Europe to race for the U.S. Postal team. A pivotal week (April 1998) in his comeback was one he spent training in the very challenging Appalachian terrain around Boone, North Carolina, with his racing friend Bob Roll.[14] Tour de France Before his cancer treatment, Armstrong had won two Tour de France stages. In 1993, he won the 8th stage and in 1995 he took stage 18 in honor of teammate Fabio Casartelli who crashed and died on stage 15. Armstrong dropped out of the 1996 Tour on the ! 7th stage after becoming ill, a few months before his diagnosis. Armstrong finishing 3rd in Sète, taking over the Yellow Jersey at Grand Prix Midi Libre Armstrong's cycling comeback began in 1998 when he finished fourth in the Vuelta a España. In 1999 he won the Tour de France, including four stages. He beat the second rider, Alex Zülle, by 7 minutes 37 seconds. However, the absence of Jan Ullrich (injury) and Marco Pantani (drug allegations) meant Armstrong had not yet proven himself against the biggest names. Stage wins included the prologue, stage eight, an individual time trial in Metz, an Alpine stage on stage nine, and the second individual time trial on stage 19. In 2000, Ullrich and Pantani returned to challenge Armstrong. The race that began a six-year rivalry between Ullrich and
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Lance Edward Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson ; September 18, 1971) is an American former professiona! l road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record Read the rest
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