For those of you who don’t know it yet, the 2010 Tour de France will start this weekend and we decided its time to write about the man who has done some pretty amazing things in his life and made a lot of people love cycling, Lance Armstrong.
He’s one of the most recognizable figures in sports and unlike most North American superstars who are only big in US Lance is truly a global figure. His dominance in the world of cycling is the stuff legends are made of and his story is an inspiration for many, many people.
His cycling career started pretty great in the early 90s but in 1996 he was diagnosed with cancer with less than a 50% change of survival. He defeated the cancer that began in his testicle and spread to his brain and lungs and after calling that battle the best thing that has ever happened to him he returned to cycling with ferocity and won a record seven consecutive Tour de France between 1999 and 2005.
But that’s not all and last year our boy returned to cycling after years of inactivity and after competing in some warm up events he raced in the 2009 Tour de France and, at the age of 38, he finished this incredible 3000km race on a remarkable third. In 2010 he’s back again with his own team, RadioShack, ready to win Le tour for a record eight time!
Now you all know that Lance Armstrong has like a legion of fans but during his career he also faced a ton of accusations and unlike other athletes he has never backed away from testing or talking about how he’s clean. It’s nice to see an athlete as transparent as Lance and I remember a poster or something with Lance biking down some road saying “Everybody wants to know what I’m on. What am I on? I’m on my bike busting my ass six hours a day.”
Apart from his incredible career, Lance is also a bit of a ladies’ man and he had several high profile conquests under his belt such as Kate Hudson, Sheryl Crow and even one of the Olsen twins, Ashley. That makes him even greater in our eyes.
Since we’re talking about chicks, we all love to see chicks in spandex right? That’s hot, seeing a guy in spandex in not. But Lance goes to work in spandex shorts, a tight shirt and often a giant helmet that makes him look like he’s from Mars and he still looks cool. I can’t think of other sportsmen who could pull this off.
And don’t forget the millions he has raised to help others win their cancer fight with his ultra successful Livestrong campaign through the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
In the end, we hope Lance will get his record eight Tour de France win in the next weeks!
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