One of the great athletes — and better stories — in American sports history, Lance Armstrong, has announced that the 2005 Tour de France will be his last competitive race. Armstrong, having won the last six Tours de France, will seek to extend his record win total to seven in the July event, for his “other team, the 10 million cancer survivors around the country,” who he thanked in his retirement announcement. Armstrong was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996. The cancer spread to his brain and lungs, but after months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Armstrong had beaten the odds. Less than three years later, he became the world’s greatest cyclist. Newsday reports:
“I am fully committed to winning a seventh Tour,” said Armstrong, the only rider to have won six. “When I watch sport, I love to see the guy go out on top, and I would love to do that.”
Armstrong, 33, cited being apart from his children - a 5-year-old boy and 3-year-old twin girls - while training and racing in Europe as the major reason for the decision. The retirement news had been expected since he recently told journalists they should attend the news conference in Augusta, Ga., where he will begin racing today in the six-day Tour of Georgia.
Nathan Novak at 10:54 am
