Word: armstrong
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...years ago, Armstrong was more than halfway dead, his testicular cancer having spread to his lungs and brain. A kind doctor told him he had a 40% chance of surviving. But through a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and drugs, he managed to beat the disease. He had been a promising rider, an amazing one for an American but not a real threat to the great Europeans. His main role, with his beer-drinking Texan bluntness, was to make the European stars look even more ridiculously European...
...drug scandal in 1998, in which many riders were suspected of or implicated in using performance-enhancing drugs. This year 1997 champion Jan Ullrich and 1998 winner Marco Pantani, as well as perennial leader Alex Zulle, are all in the race, backed by strong teams. So when Armstrong, with a weak Postal team (as of Friday, his nearest teammate was in 31st place) and a body that looks stronger than it did last year, sprinted those eight miles, all of Europe had to accept that the Texan would be the first repeat champion since Spain's Miguel Indurain...
...barren, snowy Ventoux Mountain, the toughest ascent of the race and the one in which rider Tom Simpson died in 1967, from exhaustion. So while mountain-climbing specialist Richard Virenque, who just last week was bragging to reporters about his unparalleled fan base, was sucking from an oxygen tank, Armstrong, his teammates far behind, rode with Pantani toward a victory in the moonlike, vegetationless mountain-top. And Armstrong lost the day, as at every other stage thus far, this time to Pantani...
Unlike last year, when Armstrong won four days of the Tour, this year he has won none, losing even his miraculous Monday ride to Spaniard Javier Otxoa, who had started his sprint hours before Armstrong made his breakaway. Armstrong nearly applied his brakes to allow the wobbling Spaniard to cross the victory line within sight of cheering countrymen who had come to see the race. Even the Pantani win up Ventoux was a gift, with Armstrong slowing down to let the troubled ex-champion catch up. "He's come to win the war, not kill everyone in every single battle...
...LANCE ARMSTRONG Oops, you did it again! Cancer survivor cycles up a powerful Tour de France performance...