Endurance defined: The ability to withstand hardship or adversity. The ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity. Add a quarter of a century of enduring and you've defined Lance Armstrong.
The only man to win seven Tours de France.
Lance Armstrong's seven straight victories in the 1999-2005 Tours de France are awe-inspiring. The only man to win seven Tours de France. Seven wins is two victories more than the four men that share the prior five victories record in the Tours de France history.
Lance returned to professional cycling in August 2008, after a four year retirement at age 37. To finish in the top 5 again, in the Tours de France, would be a miracle at age 37. Lance finished 3ed this year -proving he is human, but still a winner. Like a wily fox, he used years of accumulated race smarts to compensate for what his 37-year-old body has lost in speed and resilience; a few seconds saved here, a few more clawed back there. When the youngsters sped off ahead, he gritted it out behind. Lance found enough gas in the tank to keep all but two other riders - winner Alberto Contador and runner-up Andy Schleck - at arm’s length all the way to Paris.
Lance was winning adult Triathlon at age 13
He began as a triathlete, winning adult competitions from the age of 13. In the 1987–1988 USA Triathlon, Armstrong was the number one ranked triathlete in the 19-and-under group.
At 16, Armstrong became a professional triathlete and became national sprint-course triathlon champion in 1989 and 1990 at 18 and 19, respectively.
At age 25, Lance Armstrong was one of the world's best cyclists. He proved it by winning the World Championships, the Tour Du Pont and multiple Tour de France stages. Lance Armstrong seemed invincible and his future was bright.
Then they told him he had cancer. Next to the challenge he now faced, bike racing seemed insignificant. Lance Armstrong's victories in the Tours de France are inspiring, but his simultaneous battle against cancer makes Lance, Mr. Endurance.
Lance is now leading the fight against cancer, and he hopes that you join him. This is a life he owes to cancer. This is his choice to live strong.
At the Lance Armstrong Foundation, LiveStrong, unites people to fight cancer believing that unity is strength, knowledge is power and attitude is everything.
