Armstrong rediscovers joy of cycling in win

PARIS, July 25 (Reuters) -- Lance Armstrong said he had enjoyed winning his record-breaking sixth Tour de France more than his previous five because he had rediscovered the joy of racing.

"I think the biggest difference is in my head, the morale and the motivation, the pure joy of racing," said the 32-year-old after he clinched his sixth Tour victory on Sunday.

"It's as if I was with my five friends and we were 13 years old and we all had new bikes and we said: 'ok, we're going to race from here to there'.

"You want to beat your friends more than anything. You're sprinting and you're attacking. It was like that for me this year, a simple pleasure."

Armstrong said he had gone into last year's Tour, which he won by just 61 seconds, overconfident and was determined not to repeat that mistake this year.

"Last year, I was not in great shape and I thought I could win fairly easily," said Armstrong. "That was a recipe for disaster. So this year I had both eyes open.

"It's not like me but last year was a dip in a lot of things and I paid the price and learned a valuable lesson, and I won't ever make that mistake again."

EXPECTED BETTER

Armstrong felt he was always in control of the 2004 Tour even though he did not leave his rivals behind in the mountains as he did in the previous years.

"I felt strong but I was never able to ride away alone on the climbs.

"That's the first time I didn't do that but I was surprised that some of the rivals were not better. Some of them just completely disappeared," he said.

"Fortunately we were always in control of the race. Anytime the race was dangerous, we controlled the race, on the cobblestones, in the team time trial, during the first, second and third week of the race."

Armstrong said he thought the reason he had been able to

dominate the tour was because his rivals were not able to race on every type of terrain.

"Tyler Hamilton and Iban Mayo are similar kind of riders while Ullrich is different because he is a tall, big guy.

"Physically, the first week is not so stressful and tiresome for him whereas, the little guys, the pure climbers like Mayo and Tyler have to fight for position and suffer in the wind and during the acceleration through villages near the finish.

"This becomes a problem for them after 10 days. However that's the beauty of the Tour. You have to do it all."

While he had cemented his place in Tour de France history, Armstrong said he was undecided about whether he would be back for the 2005 race.

"I don't know what I'll do next year but I suspect I'll be there, the Tour's too big of a race," he said.

"My only hesitation is that the people and the event need to change. The Tour needs news faces and a new winner but if I'm here, I'll race to win."

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