Armstrong To Retire After Tour
Armstrong To Retire After Tour
July 24 will mark the end of a sporting era after Lance Armstrong made his widely expected announcement that he will retire from professional cycling after this year's Tour de France.
The Texan - who became the first man to win six Tours last summer - will try for a seventh but wearied by legal battles and the demands of a fame which dwarfs his sport, he will then call it a day.
Speaking in Augusta ahead of the start of the Tour of Georgia on Tuesday, the 33-year-old made good on his promise that he would have "something important" to say.
Predictions on what the something would be varied from marriage to his rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crowe to plans to run for governor of Texas but most expected Armstrong to admit he had had enough.
"After a lot of thought I have decided that the Tour De France will be my last race as a professional cyclist," said Armstrong.
"July 24 will be the last one, win or lose. And I am fully committed to winning a seventh Tour title."
Armstrong may insist on his commitment but his rivals will see a growing chance to become the first rider to win the Tour since the American claimed his first title in 1999.
Talk about Armstrong's future has been growing louder since Paris-Nice in March when, although the bitterly cold weather played a part, he was some way short of the minimum standard.
After finishing 140th in the opening time-trial - his worst ever showing - he dropped out after the third stage, the first time he had left a race since 1998, the year he made his comeback from testicular cancer.
"Ultimately athletes have to retire," he said. "The body just doesn't keep going and going."
Cancer is key to the Armstrong story and is part of the reason why he feels he cannot continue racing beyond the summer.
He has a full-time job as the figurehead of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which supports research into the illness and he is hoping to devote more time to the charity beyond July.
His comeback from testicular cancer inspired thousands of fellow sufferers around the world and sparked a publishing phenomenon with his autobiography 'It's Not About the Bike'.
Since 1999 he has dominated the sport, although a failure to tackle the other Grand Tours - the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana - means he can never be considered cycling's greatest.
He has, however, brought more positive publicity than the sport could rightly have expected as it considered its ruined reputation in the wake of the 1998 Festina crisis.
But his fame has come at a price - in attracting a series of drugs allegations which he has contested in law courts in this country, mainland Europe and the United States and in the failure of his marriage.
And the difficulty in maintaining a relationship with his three children with ex-wife Kristin has weighed heavily on him.
"My biggest inspiration has been my children," he said.
"They've made it easy to cycle and they've also been the ones to say it's time to come home."
Armstrong has rarely ducked a fight and is thought to be involved in eight legal disputes around the world, the latest being with former personal assistant Mike Anderson who - after he was sacked - alleged he had found a banned substance in his employer's bathroom.
Such claims are to be expected if you succeed in cycling but the Texan will happily point to his record - he is probably among the most tested athletes in the world yet the best his critics have come up with so far is circumstantial evidence.
Attracting hero-worship and opprobrium, his legacy is difficult to assess but Armstrong - as befits a son of the Lone Star State who triumphed in France - has no doubts.
"I'm not interested in leaving a deep imprint in cycling," he said earlier this month.
"I know I'll always be the outsider who came from a different country." |
發表於 2005-4-19 06:23 PM
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