Information AboutLance Armstrong |
Lance Armstrong (born '''Lance Edward Gunderson''' on September 18 , 1971 ) is a retired American professional Road Racing Cyclist . He won the Tour De France —cycling's most prestigious race—seven consecutive times, from 1999 to 2005 . In doing so, he beat the previous records of five wins by Miguel Indurain (consecutive) and Bernard Hinault , Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil . Previous to this achievement he also survived Testicular Cancer , a Germ Cell Tumor that Metastasized to his Brain and Lung s in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery, and extensive Chemotherapy . In 1999, he was named ABC 's Wide World Of Sports Athlete of the Year. In 2002, '' Sports Illustrated '' magazine named him Sportsman Of The Year . He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete Of The Year for 2002 , 2003 , 2004 , and 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 retired from racing on July 24 , 2005 , at the end of the 2005 Tour De France . Armstrong's athletic success and dramatic recovery from cancer inspired him to commemorate his accomplishments, with Nike , through the Lance Armstrong Foundation , a charity founded in 1997. The foundation's yellow rubber " Livestrong " wristbands, first launched in 2004, have been a major success, netting the foundation more than $60 million dollars in the fight against cancer, while helping Armstrong become a major player in the nonprofit sector. CAREER Early career }} Armstrong began his sporting career as a triathlete competing and winning in adult competitions from age 12. 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 & under age group; second place was Chann McRae, who later became a US Postal Service Cycling teammate and the 2002 USPRO National Champion . Armstrong's point total for the 1987 season was better than the five professionals ranked that year. At 16 years old, Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became the national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at age 18 and 19, respectively. It soon became clear that his greatest talent was as a bicycle racer after competing as a cycling amateur, winning the U.S. amateur championship in 1991 and, with the help of teammates Bob Mionske and Timm Peddie , finishing 14th in the 1992 Summer Olympics . In 1993, Armstrong finished the year ranked number one by capturing 10 one-day events and stage races, including becoming one of the youngest-ever riders to win the , the K-Mart West Virginia Classic, and the CoreStates USPRO National Championship in Philadelphia . Thrift Drug said it would award $1 million to any rider winning all 3 races, which had never been done. At the CoreStates USPRO Championship Race , on the final lap circuit, he sat up on his bicycle, took out a comb, combed his hair and smiled for the cameras. Cancer On to remove his diseased testicle. Tour de France success , taking over the Yellow Jersey at Grand Prix Midi Libre 2002]] Before his cancer diagnosis and treatments, Lance Armstrong had won two Tour de France stages. In 1993 , he won the 8th stage of the Tour, and in 1995 , he took stage 18 in honour of teammate Fabio Casartelli who crashed and died on stage 15. Armstrong dropped out of the 1996 Tour De France in the 7th stage after becoming ill; this was just a few months prior to his diagnosis with cancer. Armstrong's cycling comeback began in 1998 when he finished fourth in the Vuelta A España . In 1999 he became a household name with his first Tour de France win, which included 4 stage wins. He beat the second place rider, Alex Zülle , by a margin of 7 minutes 37 seconds. However, the absence of Jan Ullrich (injury) and Marco Pantani (following drug misuse allegations) meant that Armstrong had not yet proven himself against the biggest names in cycling. Stage wins included the Prologue, stage 8, an individual time trial in Metz, an Alpine mountain stage win on stage 9, and the second individual time trial on stage 19. In 2000, Ullrich and Pantani returned to challenge Armstrong. A race that began a six year rivalry between Ullrich and Armstrong ended in victory for Armstrong by a margin of 6 minutes 2 seconds over Ullrich. Armstrong took one stage win in the 2000 Tour by winning the second Individual time trial on stage 19. In 2001, Armstrong again took top honors, beating Ullrich by 6 minutes 44 seconds. In 2002, Ullrich did not participate and Armstrong won with a 7 minute lead over Joseba Beloki. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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