Cycling Great Lance Armstrong

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Cycling Great Lance Armstrong
Cycling Great - Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong, born on September 18, 1971 is a professional road-racing cyclist. He started his occupation by winning in an adult competition at the age of twelve. He was initially a tri-athlete and was ranked # 1 in 1987-88 Tri-Fred. He obtained the status of professional tri-athlete and in 1989 and 1990; he became the sprint course triathlon champion. He finished the race at fourteenth position in the 1992 Summer Olympics. He became the youngest rider to get the World Road Race championship.

He won the most prominent race, Tour de France, seven times consecutively, from 1999-2005. By this, he broke the previous record set by Miguel Indurian, who won the race five times consecutively. ABC titled him as the Wide World Sports Athlete of the Year in 1999. Sports Illustrated magazine honored him by naming him as the Sportsman of the year in 2002. For four consecutively years, from 2002-2005 he was named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year. BBC, in 2003, gave him the Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award.

He received brain and testicular surgery for getting treatment for testicular cancer, in 1996. The nonseminomatous testicular cancer was spotted at the third stage and the cancer had spread to his brain, lungs and abdomen. His chances of living were only three percent and he opted for a harmful chemotherapy so regarding resume his occupation. His incredible rehabilitation and his success influenced him to lay the foundation of his charity, Lance Armstrong Foundation, in 1997. He went back to cycling after three years to win for the very first time in Tour de France title by beating Alex Zulle by seven minutes and thirty-seven seconds. He was yet to gain Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich who were big personalities in cycling and didn't attend due to some health issues.

Armstrong encountered both of them in 2000, and Armstrong defeated both of them by six minutes and two seconds. He continued to do so in the next four consecutive years. Some people doubt his achievements and say that Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs to win in some cases. But none of them can be verified with good evidence.

He supported his victories by mentioning that he had trained for months together in Spain. He aimed only for the Tour de France and didn't participate in any kind of other competition, which gave him the chance to train for one hundred and eighty days at a stretch. During that period former cyclist Chris Carmichael, who was also his instructor, trained him.

Armstrong was able to maintain higher cadence in a lower gear when compared to past champions who utilized a high gear and brute strength. High cadence causes less leg muscles wear down when compared to lower cadence, which causes serious leg muscle contractions. He also had a high aerobic threshold. His high pedaling cadence was attributed to his low lactate level, which was his most unusual quality.

Although his team wasn't that strong initially in the Tour de France, his later victories brought up the team level. Armstrong is part of the US Postal Service cycling team. But his team member weren't a match to his caliber and frequently he was isolated. He boosted the team by making sponsors and equipment suppliers to work in harmony. Instead of getting his bicycle parts being created by different companies who hardly interact with each other, he made the sponsors and suppliers to work closely so as get total advantage of all the resources. Lots of in the cycling circuit later adapted this technique.

Born as Lance Edward Gunderson, appeared in the motion pictures Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, in 2004, and You, Me and Dupree, in 2006. Armstrong took his retirement at the closing of the 2005 Tour de France racing event, on July 24, 2005. After retirement he concentrated on his charity foundation and has taken part in lots of marathons.


Lance Armstrong, born on September 18, 1971 is a professional road-racing cyclist. His incredible rehabilitation and his success influenced him to lay the foundation of his charity, Lance Armstrong Foundation, in 1997. Armstrong encountered both of them in 2000, and Armstrong defeated both of them by six minutes and two seconds. Armstrong was able to maintain higher cadence in a lower gear when compared to past champions who utilized a high gear and brute strength. Armstrong took his retirement at the closing of the 2005 Tour de France racing event, on July 24, 2005.