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Third time's the charm

Armstrong's win in Paris propels Texan into pantheon of cycling greats

By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Lance Armstrong
Photo: © Sirotti

As hundreds of thousands of spectators and millions of TV viewers worldwide witnessed Lance Armstrong on the podium of the 88th Tour De France, it was the playing of the Star Spangled Banner on the Champs-Elysées yesterday that brought home tears to the eyes and a distinct feeling of déjà vu; that we had been here before. And in fact, we had. Armstrong had won his third consecutive Tour, and won by a magnificent domination that brought the 29 year old USPS rider from Austin, Texas four stage wins along the way. The fat lady had sung, and once again, she had sung Lance's tune.

"It's fantastic," said Armstrong. "all this emotion. All these people, especially all the Americans who have some to see me in Paris. A fourth Tour win is my goal now."

Postal arrives on the Champs Elysees
Photo: © AFP

Armstrong and his USPS team certainly have the template in place now on how to win the Tour. After his hat trick completed yesterday, Lance has proved he knows how to win and win big.

"The first year, It (TDF win) was a big, big surprise. Last year, it was a confirmation and this year was a lot of fun."

Armstrong dominated his competition this year like never before. It was the second fastest TDF in history; 40.07 km/h, just off Armstrong's record winning pace of 1999. Jan Ullrich of Team Deutsche Telekom was a tenacious, worthy opponent who battled the American throughout the Tour, constantly attacking, but somehow always a pedal stroke behind the American.

Armstrong and Ullrich
Photo: © Sirotti

"I'll come back next year; I know I can do better," the upbeat 27 year old German declared yesterday. "I still think I can improve and if I don't get better, I'll stop bike racing."

With the top three in the '01 Tour the same as last year, and Armstrong's margin over Ullrich and Beloki of 6'44" and 9'05" roughly the same as in '00, he will be under major pressure to repeat next year for a 4th straight win. Third place Joseba Beloki (ONCE-Eroski) Is proving to be a potent threat as well.

"Fundamentally, I am very happy with my Tour, because I know I can improve and that I can come back and try to win. Above all, I have to get better in the mountains. This year, in any case, Armstrong and Ullrich were the strongest."

This year's Tour De France was viewed as a positive one; a return to the days before the doping scandal of 1998 ripped the heart out of the world's greatest cycling event. Huge crowds lined the road, with an estimated 15 million spectators visiting Le Tour, including record numbers of Americans and Australians. Armstrong has gone out of his way to soften his public image this year; speaking French on TV as TDF director Jean-Marie LeBlanc advised him. But above all, it was Lance's sporting expressions, his dramatic, dynamic wins that finally won the hearts of the sporting public worldwide.

Christophe Moreau
Photo: © AFP

Bad weather greeted the Tour kick-off on the north coast of France, where a Frenchman, Christophe Moreau of Festina powered to the first Maillot Jaune. Fittingly, he gave up the Lead to a Belgian, Mark Wauters (Rabobank) as the Tour received a tumultuous welcome in Antwerp and Wauters won the stage in front of his King & Queen. Across Belgium and back to France, the Tour took an antipodean twist as Stuart O'Grady of Credit Agricole took the Maillot Jaune.

Stuart O'Grady
Photo: © AFP

Thus began the incredible saga of CA's 2001 Tour. O'Grady proceeded to wear it with class for four stages, including an upset win for the team in the TTT from Verdun to Bar-Le-Duc. O'Grady "lent" his Maillot Jaune to his turbo-diesel teammate Jens Voigt on 14 July in Colmar, where a resurgent Laurent Jalabert took a popular win on France's national day.

Then came the "echappe fleuve", the long, crucial break that changed the face of the 2001 Tour De France. Under A cold, rainy sky, a major break escaped across the cow pastures of Franch-Comté, coming into Pontarlier with an unprecedented 35'54" lead on the peloton. The Maillot Jaune passed to another Frenchman, the journeyman from Troyes, Francois Simon (Bonjour), while Kazakh climber Andrei Kivilev (Cofidis) emerged as a potential dark horse for the podium.

Stage 10
Photo: © Sirotti

As the rain and cold was left behind, the "real" race began with back-to-back Alpine stages. Armstrong slammed dunked both stages with his historic win to l'Alpe d'Huez. Lance's "look" behind as he made his stage winning move at Jan Ullrich and the other riders will forever be a key moment in Tour De France history, whatever its intent, it was pure Lance! Dynamic, intelligent and brash, as the man defined the moment, the moment defined the man. The next day in the Mountain TT to Chamrousse, the impeccably prepared Armstrong once again demonstrated he was leg strong with his win over Ullrich.

When an immovable force meets an irresistible object, something's gotta give and as the Tour De France faced three stages in the Pyrenees, all the talk was that it was now or never for Ullrich, Telekom must go on the attack and isolate Armstrong. Indeed, this was the game plan over the 505 km of racing with three consecutive mountaintop finishes, but despite their best efforts, the Telekom tactics came asunder. Ullrich and Telekom attacked Lance for three days, but what gave eventually was Ullrich, not the irresistible onslaught of the American.

For Fabio
Photo: © AFP

As crystal clear skies and a high pressure dome enveloped the Pyrenees, Kelme Colombian Cardenas took an opportunistic win to Ax-les-Thermes. Now the stage was set for the toughest stage in this year's Tour, the 194 km, 6 col chevauchee to Pla d'Adet. Like a script in an improbable Saturday morning Disney movie, Armstrong dominated again, winning the stage and donning the Maillot Jaune. The day to Pla d'Adet was also marked by a magnificent solo by Laurent Jalabert, who picked up enough mountain points to sew up the Maillot Pois of best climber. The Pyrenees triptych closed with a popular win to Luz-Ardiden by Euskaltel Roberto Laiseka, who delighted his ikkurina flag shakin' over the top with glee Basque homeboys with his solo victory.

Jens Voigt
Photo: © AFP

With Armstrong in command, his USPS boys move to the front of the peloton, a thin red and blue line to police the race and keep tabs on Team Telekom. But the German squadra was kaput; they had given their all to crack the American and couldn't even help Erik Zabel take back the Maillot Vert, worn by Australian O'Grady after his days in the Maillot Jaune. Stage wins by turbo-diesel Voigt (Credit Agricole) and comeback kid Serge Baguet (Lotto-Addeco) set the stage for another Armstrong win in the 61km TT from Montluçon to Saint-Amand-Montrond.

The TT
Photo: © AFP

Armstrong "never felt better in a time trial" and rode the race of his life to win his 4th stage at this 2001 Tour De France, a level of domination unseen in two decades since the best days of Bernard Hinault.

One issue haunted Armstrong this year; doping. Although some sports journalists continue to promote the cynical view that Armstrong is "on" something, that his domination is too easy, that his recovery from cancer could never allow him to comeback so strongly without the use of performance enhancing substances, this writer chooses to look at it differently. Lance maintains that the only thing he is "on" is his bike; that his success comes from dedication, hard work and a huge training volume and his long time coach Chris Carmichael backs this up.

First of all, Armstrong has never been positive for any banned substances in his cycling career since he burst on the world cycling scene at the Jr. Worlds in 1989. Until Armstrong IS found positive, in our opinion, he should be considered innocent until proven guilty by the appropriate cycling authorities.

Speaking to the press
Photo: © Sirotti

Secondly, in the interest of fair play, this writer chooses to believe Armstrong at his word. "Why would I compromise my health by taking something?" (banned performance enhancing substances), he asks rhetorically. Armstrong has said all throughout this Tour to the media that he is very happy in his life, he loves his job and can look himself in the mirror. These are not the words of a drugs cheat.

To paraphrase the words of Abraham Lincoln, Lance Armstrong is not looking to fool some of the people some of the time by his declaration of his non-use of performance enhancing substances. He's not looking to fool anyone anytime. Armstrong appears to be 100% pure Texan straight shooter, not a dissembling cowboy. When Armstrong does chose to finish his cycling career in the next few years, I believe that he'll leave as he came in, with a clean, unmarked record vis a vis doping.

As final strains of the American national anthem wafted towards the Arc de Triomphe, the fat lady packed up her sheet music and exited stage right, ready to return again in 2002. Armstrong's third consecutive Tour De France win has propelled him into the pantheon of Tour champions, just a few lengths behind champions like Indurain, Hinault and Merckx. So get ready for more; Armstrong will be back next year and so will Ullrich, Beloki and his other rivals. The question is, will the Tour De France become the Tour De Lance? It may already be.

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