In 2003 Armstrong claimed his fifth consecutive Tour de France, tying a record set by Miguel Indurain of Spain. He finished the 2001 race 6 minutes and 44 seconds ahead of the next cyclist and the 2002 race with a margin of 7 minutes and 17 seconds. He won the next two Tour de France races with even stronger showings. Armstrong won the 2000 Tour de France, finishing the 21-stage race 6 minutes and 2 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. The International Cycling Union (Union Cycliste Internationale UCI) cleared him after he produced a prescription for a steroid-based cream used for saddle sores, though the validity of this prescription would later be called into question. Armstrong was only the second American to win the Tour de France-and the first to win for an American team (three-time winner Greg LeMond had raced with European teams).ĭuring the race, traces of a banned substance-corticosteroid-were found in Armstrong’s urine. He won the opening stage and all three time trials of the 2,254-mile (3,630-kilometer), 22-day race, winning by 7 minutes and 37 seconds. He joined the United States Postal Service team in October and began preparing for the 1999 Tour de France. In September 1997, Armstrong, unranked and riding with the French Cofidis team, finished a respectable fourth in the Tour of Spain. By April 1997 the tumors had disappeared. Between treatment sessions, Armstrong still took rides of some 30 miles (48 kilometers). Armstrong won legs of the Tour de France in both 19 but withdrew from three of four Tours he attempted from 1993 to 1996.Īfter the 1996 Tour de France, Armstrong fell ill, and later that year doctors diagnosed him with testicular cancer, which had by that time also spread to his lungs and brain.

One year later he became the second youngest champion in world road racing, and he ranked fifth in world standings. In 1992 he turned professional, joining the Motorola team. Armstrong competed in Moscow at the Junior World Championships and in 1990 won the U.S. Cycling Federation, had already recruited him. Before his high school graduation, the Junior National Cycling Team, part of the U.S.

By the time he was a teenager, he was competing in triathlons and swimming competitions. He entered sports at a young age, excelling in both swimming and cycling. In addition to losing his titles, Armstrong was banned for life from the sport of cycling.Īrmstrong was born in Plano, Texas, on September 18, 1971. All of his titles were later revoked, however, after an investigation revealed that he was the key figure in a wide-ranging doping conspiracy while he compiled his Tour victories. American cyclist Lance Armstrong was the first rider in history to win seven Tour de France titles (1999–2005).

Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong