Lance wins his 7th Tour de France Armstrong makes bicycling history

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PARIS – One last time, “The Star-Spangled Banner” rang out over the Champs-Elysees in honor of Lance Armstrong.

One last time, on the podium against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, the cancer survivor who became the greatest cyclist in Tour de France history slipped into the leader’s yellow jersey Sunday. This time, it was the winner’s jersey, for an unprecedented seventh consecutive year in the world’s most grueling race.

He held his yellow cap over his heart as the American anthem played, and his twin 3-year-old daughters, Grace and Isabelle, wore matching yellow dresses.

“Vive le Tour! Forever,” Armstrong said.

Vive Lance, the once but not future champion.

It was the end of Armstrong’s amazing career, and in retiring a winner he achieved a rare feat in sports – going out on top. He said his decision was final and that he walks away with no regrets.

“I’m finished,” Armstrong told a motorcycle-borne TV reporter as he rode a victory lap of the Champs-Elysees, waving to the crowds and accompanied by another rider waving the Stars and Stripes.

On Monday, he’ll be on a beach in the south of France, “with a beer, having a blast,” he said.

Before that, though, he couldn’t resist a parting shot at “the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics” who suspect that doping is rife and fueled his dominance of the past seven years.

“I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles. But this is a hell of a race,” he said. “You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I’ll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets – this is a hard sporting event, and hard work wins it.”

Race organizers afforded the 33-year-old Texan the unprecedented honor of speaking from the podium. And that came after an unusual ending to the overall race he comfortably won by more than 41/2 minutes.

With the pavement slick from rain, and Armstrong comfortably ahead, he was declared the winner with 30 miles to go. The rare decision was made rather than risk having a mad dash to the finish in treacherous conditions.

Riders were still racing at the time, with eight laps of the Champs-Elysees to complete, and the stage competition continued.

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan eventually won the final stage, with Armstrong finishing safely in the pack to win the Tour by 4 minutes, 40 seconds over Ivan Basso of Italy. The 1997 Tour winner, Jan Ullrich, was third, 6:21 back.

“What he did was sensational,” Ullrich said.

Looking toward a Tour without him, Armstrong said to his challengers, “It’s up to you guys.”

One hand on his handlebars, the other holding a flute of champagne, Armstrong toasted his teammates as he pedaled into Paris to collect his crown. At different points, he held up seven fingers – one for each win – and a piece of paper with the number 7 on it.

Looking gaunt, his cheeks hollow after riding 2,232.7 miles across France and its mountains for three weeks, Armstrong still could smile at the end.

President Bush called to congratulate his fellow Texan for “a great triumph of the human spirit,” saying the victory was “a testament not only to your athletic talent, but to your courage.”

Armstrong’s 5-year-old son, Luke, delivered a different message.

“Daddy, can we go home and play?” the boy whispered to him as he stepped off the podium.

Armstrong choked up on the podium and rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow, wearing a yellow halter top, cried during the ceremony.

“This is the way he wanted to finish his career, so it’s very emotional,” she said.

Armstrong set the record last year with his sixth win – one more than Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spaniard Miguel Indurain – and No. 7 confirmed him as one of the greatest cyclists ever.

Armstrong mentioned Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi as personal inspirations.

“Those are guys that you look up to you, guys that have been at the top of their game for a long time,” he said.

As for his accomplishments, he said, “I can’t be in charge of dictating what it says or how you remember it.

“In five, 10, 15, 20 years, we’ll see what the legacy is. But I think we did come along and revolutionize the cycling part, the training part, the equipment part. We’re fanatics.”

Armstrong’s last ride as a professional – the closing 89.8-mile 21st stage into Paris from Corbeil-Essonnes south of the capital – was not without incident.

Three of his teammates slipped and crashed on the road coming around a bend just before they crossed the River Seine. Armstrong, right behind them, braked and skidded into the fallen riders, using his right foot to steady himself and stay on the bike.

His teammates, wearing special shirts with a band of yellow on the right shoulder, recovered and led him up the Champs-Elysees at the front of the pack.

Vinokourov surged ahead of the main pack to win the last stage. He had been touted as one of Armstrong’s main rivals at the start of the Tour on July 2, but like others was overwhelmed by him.

Armstrong donned his 83rd and last yellow jersey in Paris. Only Merckx – with 111 – won more.

Armstrong’s departure begins a new era for the 102-year-old Tour, with no clear successor. His riding and his inspiring comeback from testicular cancer attracted new fans – especially in the United States – to the race, as much a part of French summers as sun cream, forest fires and traffic jams down to the Cote d’Azur.

Millions turned out each year, cheering, picnicking and sipping wine by the side of the road, to watch Armstrong flash past in the yellow jersey, the famed “maillot jaune.”

Cancer survivors, autograph hunters and admirers pushed, shoved and yelled “Lance! Lance!” outside his bus in the mornings for a smile, a signature or a just word from the champion.

He had bodyguards to keep the crowds at bay – ruffling feathers of cycling purists who sniffed at his “American” ways.

Some spectators would shout obscenities or “Dope!” To some, his comeback from cancer and his uphill bursts of speed that left rivals gasping in the Alps and Pyrenees were too good to be true.

Armstrong insisted that he simply trained, worked and prepared harder than anyone. He was drug-tested hundreds of times, in and out of competition, but was never found to have committed any infractions.

Armstrong came into this Tour saying he had a dual objective – winning the race and the hearts of French fans. He was more relaxed, forthcoming and talkative than last year, when the pressure was on to be the first six-time winner.

Around France, some also urged Armstrong to go for an eighth win next year- holding up placards and daubing their appeals in paint on the road.

Armstrong, however, wanted to go out on top – and not let advancing age get the better of him.

“At some point you turn 34, or you turn 35, the others make a big step up, and when your age catches up, you take a big step down,” he said Saturday after he won the final time trial, his only stage victory this year. “So next [year] could be the year if I continued that I lose that five minutes. We are never going to know.”