7-Band Man’s Triumph

Lance Armstrong wouldn’t cry.

He whispered to his children -- son Luke and twin daughters Grace and Isabelle. He kissed his mother Linda, and hugged his rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow, whose eyes did get wet behind her oversized sunglasses.

With his Discovery Channel team director Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong shared a glass of champagne. Bruyneel held his with one hand while driving the team car with the other. Armstrong reached over to clink glasses while he rode his black bike with only his legs.

Armstrong bit his lip when the American national anthem was played for him. In the background was the Arc de Triomphe. Rising in the distance was the Eiffel Tower. Armstrong wore a yellow jersey, the one that has come to symbolize so much for a 33-year-old Texan who always wanted to win. At cards, at rock throwing, in a bike race, over deadly cancer.

“Vive the Tour forever. Goodbye,” were Armstrong’s last official words to the French crowd at the Tour de France. Armstrong finalized his seventh consecutive Tour win Sunday with a nervous ride into Paris on slippery, rain-slicked streets. With two more victories than any other cyclist in the 92nd edition of the world’s most famous race, Armstrong is now emphatically retired. “It’s absolutely final,” he said.

Armstrong concluded his 14-year professional career with an 89-mile ride from suburban Corbeil-Essonnes into Paris and for eight laps around the Champs-Elysees. The final result had all but been determined over three weeks of riding 2,242 miles in sun and rain, heat and chill, over mountain passes, switchback roads and winding paths past cows.

He finished the three-week trip in 86 hours 15 minutes 2 seconds. That was 4:40 better than Italy’s 27-year-old Ivan Basso and 6:21 better than Germany’s 32-year-old Jan Ullrich, who won the 1997 Tour and who has finished second five times.

Said Ullrich: “Lance was too strong from the start.”

Added Basso: “Lance is just better.”

Even so, it was Armstrong’s second-smallest margin of victory. In 2003, badly affected by the lingering effects of a pre-Tour crash and suffering dehydration in a brutal heat wave, Armstrong defeated Ullrich by only 61 seconds. His first Tour victory, in 1999, was by 7:37, occurring less than three years after he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs.

When Armstrong won his first Tour in 1999, the event barely registered on the U.S. sporting radar. A year earlier, a drug scandal had tarnished the race so badly there were fears it would end. But in his first appearance at the Tour since his cancer diagnosis in the fall of 1996, Armstrong rode powerfully to a shocking victory.

As he kept winning in dramatic fashion -- coming from behind in mountain stages and dominating during the individual time trial stages -- Armstrong brought the little-understood sport to the point where the Outdoor Life Network televises the entire three weeks live and has seen its ratings rise in each of the last four years.

Armstrong also started the Lance Armstrong Foundation to raise money for cancer research. The foundation created the “Livestrong” bracelet, a yellow ring of rubber symbolizing both Armstrong’s stranglehold on the yellow jersey and his belief that cancer can be conquered. Selling at $1 each, the bracelets are worn by schoolchildren and heads of state (President Bush wears one, as does Monaco’s Prince Albert) and more than 52 million have been sold.

The Tour route is filled with groups of fans who are cancer survivors and who credit Armstrong’s return to cycling with their determination to return to their pre-cancer lives.

Armstrong’s 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughters, dressed in matching yellow sundresses, were conceived with the sperm Armstrong had saved before undergoing chemotherapy. He divorced the children’s mother, Kristin Armstrong, last year but shares custody of the children and owns a home in Austin within a mile of Kristin’s.

Since his divorce, Crow has been a constant presence. Last year when the U.S. cyclist broke the record of five wins held by France’s Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, Spain’s Miguel Indurain and Belgium’s Eddy Merckx, Armstrong’s children didn’t attend, but Crow rode in the team car and took practice rides with Armstrong.

This year Armstrong said his incentive to race wasn’t for more money or fame or to make his record harder to break. It was to have his children see him retire wearing the yellow jersey.

“They are the three most important people in my life,” Armstrong said. “I wanted to ride into Paris today for them, so that the last image they had of their father as a sportsman was that of a champion, wearing the yellow jersey. There was no other incentive for me in terms of money or history or legacy. Only to have these three precious little people remember their dad in the yellow jersey.”

Armstrong and his Discovery Channel teammates started Sunday’s stage wearing specially designed black shirts that had the Arc de Triomphe with seven yellow stars on the front and a yellow wristband around the sleeve symbolizing the wristbands Armstrong’s cancer foundation sells.

During the stage, won by Kazakhstan’s Alexandre Vinokourov in 3:40:57, Armstrong received congratulations and handshakes from a parade of riders. Early in the stage Armstrong mugged for cameras, holding up seven fingers.

Armstrong has never been fully embraced by French fans, who found his personality sometimes abrasive and wondered if his dominance was fueled by something more sinister than his intense desire to live fully after the cancer.

In a sport marked by a massive doping scandal in 1998, Armstrong has never failed a drug test but would still see fans holding up signs saying “Armstrong Doper,” or dressed as syringes on the side of the road.

And even in his last remarks to the French public Sunday, Armstrong couldn’t help but show a little anger at his doubters.

“For the people who don’t believe in cycling -- the cynics, the skeptics -- I’m sorry for you,” he said. “I’m sorry you can’t dream big, and I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles. But this is one heck of a race, this is a great sporting event, and you should stand around and believe. There are no secrets. Hard work wins it.”

Almost the entire stage was contested under a steady drizzle that made conditions dangerous. As the 155 racers made a last turn before crossing the Seine into Paris, three of Armstrong’s teammates slipped and fell into a corner. Armstrong had to put a foot down to avoid crashing himself.

Shortly after the crash, race officials announced that because of the dangerous conditions of old cobblestone pavement, the clock was stopped for those contesting the overall title. Racing was still allowed for those interested in winning the final stage, so Vinokourov took advantage to earn his second stage win of the Tour.

Thousands of fans lined the Champs-Elysees. American flags hung from hotel balconies. Two men stood together linking arms and holding a Texas flag and a British flag.

“We’re here for Lance,” said Bradley McDonald, who came from Scotland. He said he and his friend bought the Texas flag on a trip to the U.S. last year.

Armstrong finished 118th overall in his final stage, content to cross the line hidden in a rolling rainbow of brightly colored jerseys. His yellow was barely noticeable.

After being ceremoniously dressed in that famous shirt one last time with his kids holding his hands, Armstrong stepped back on to the podium one last time to hear the anthem. On his right was Basso, on his left was Ullrich.

“It’s a dream podium I’m standing on here,” Armstrong said. “Jan is a special person and a special rival. Ivan, maybe it’s your turn next year. Or Jan, maybe it will be yours.”

But that’s for next year. Armstrong had a party for 600 Sunday evening at a Paris hotel. He, Crow, his children and some close friends are heading today for the south of France and a vacation. As for reconsidering retirement and coming back to try for an eighth win, Armstrong had an emphatic answer.

“No way,” he said. “If anything, I’m more convinced than ever. It’s time.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

His Tour

Lance Armstrong holds the record for most victories, which is also the consecutive victory record. Top multiple winners (11 tied with two):

7 LANCE ARMSTRONG, United States 1999-2005

5 MIGUEL INDURAIN, Spain 1991-1995

JACQUES ANQUETIL, France 1957, 1961-1964

EDDY MERCKX, Belgium 1969-1972, 1974

BERNARD HINAULT, France 1978-1979, 1981-1982, 1985

3 PHILIPPE THIJS, Belgium 1913-1914, 1920

LOUISON BOBET, France 1953-1955

GREG LeMOND, United States 1986, 1989-1990

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FINAL STANDINGS

1. Lance Armstrong, United States 86:15:02

2. Ivan Basso, Italy 4:40 behind

3. Jan Ullrich, Germany 6:21

4. Francisco Mancebo, Spain 9:59

5. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan 11:01

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MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Recap of Armstrong’s seven victories, including margin of victory and stages won:

*--* Year Time Margin Stages 2005 86:15:02 4:40 1 2004 83:36:02 6:19 5 2003 83:41:12 1:01 1 2002 82:05:12 7:17 4 2001 86:17:28 6:44 4 2000 92:33:08 6:02 1 1999 91:32:16 7:37 4

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Touring the globe

Victories by country:

France...36

Belgium...18

United States...10

Italy...9

Spain...8

Luxembourg...4

Netherlands...2

Switzerland...2

Ireland...1

Denmark...1

Germany...1