Not many people are familiar with the Tour de France, simply because cycling in the U.S. is rather esoteric. Those of us who know about the Tour have likely heard about it because of Lance Armstrong - the American legend with his record shattering 7 straight wins in the Tour, and even more impressively, his successful battle over testicular cancer (which had metastasized to his lungs and brain). Lance has contributed his fair share in raising awareness about cancer through his LiveStrong campaign, and is also responsible for those trendy rubber yellow bracelets.
After announcing his retirement, cycling as a sport in the U.S. seemed to have completely died. Most Americans would have cared less about who would win the Tour seeing as they couldn't put their hopes in any obviously familiar names.
Alas after 3 years of deadwinds, Lance returned for the 2009 Tour de France trying to go for his eighth win, though his main objective, as he put it, was to raise greater awareness for his LiveStrong campaign.
The Tour de France concluded yesterday, with disappointing results for us Americans as Lance wasn't not able to pull another win. This result was actually clear in stage 17, when Contador, his teammate and arch-rival, took off at adrenaling-like speeds on an excruciating uphill climb where no one was able to follow.
Sadly, Lance was not able to hold second place either.
However, one cannot expect too much from Lance Armstrong. He's currently 37-years old, an age at the verge of retirement for most cyclists. One also has to consider his impressive conditioning after his 3-year sabbatical. Had he been in his prime, the Tour de France would have been another walk in the park.
To watch the Tour de France, visit:
http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html
On pt. 4 I think I'll talk about sizing your road bike.
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so when he was cozying up with ashley olsen on his lap, was that also to raise awareness for his livestrong campaign? regardless, his accomplishments are very impressive.
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