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Lance Armstrong: Factbox Posted: Sunday July 27, 2003 12:00 PMPARIS (Reuters) -- Factbox on Lance Armstrong who won the Tour de France for a record-equalling fifth time on Sunday: Born: September 18, 1971 in Texas, U.S. Brought up by his mother Linda. Team: U.S. Postal since 1997, previously with Motorola 1984: Demonstrated his potential as an athlete by winning the Iron Kids triathlon. 1989: Competed in the junior world cycling championships. 1991: U.S amateur champion. Signed with Subaru-Montgomery. 1992: Competed in the Barcelona Olympics, finishing 14th in the individual road race. Turned professional with Motorola and finished last in his first race, the San Sebastian Classic. 1993: Raced in the Tour de France, winning a stage at Verdum. Won the one-million dollar Triple Crown in the U.S and the World Championships in Oslo, Norway. 1994: Second in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race and San Sebastian Classic. 1995: Won the 18th stage of the Tour and dedicated it to his fallen teammate Fabio Casartelli who had died in a crash earlier in the race. Won the San Sebastian Classic. 1996: Twelfth in road trace and sixth in individual time trial at Atlanta Olympics. Diagnosed with cancer and given less than a 50 percent chance of survival. Underwent surgery and chemotherapy. 1997: Joined U.S. Postal Service team 1998: Returned to professional cycling. Did not race in the Tour but finished fourth in both the road race and time trial at the World Championships. 1999: Won the Tour for the first time, taking four stage wins on the way. 2000: Earned a second Tour victory beating previous winners Jan Ullrich and Marco Pantani. Won bronze medal for individual time trial at Sydney Olympics. 2001: Became only the fifth man in 88 editions of the Tour to win three or more times in succession following Louison Bobet (1953-55), Jacques Anquetil (1961-64), Eddy Merckx (1969-72) and Miguel Indurain (1991-95). 2002: Won Midi Libre and Dauphine Libere races in warm up to Tour. Took his fourth Tour title -- one short of the record held by Anquetil (France), Merckx (Belgium), Bernard Hinault (France) and Indurain (Spain). Armstrong won four stages and wore the yellow jersey continuously after taking it on stage 11. 2003: Named sportsman of the year at the Laureus World Sports Awards. Won the Dauphine Libere. July 13: Took the Tour de France yellow jersey with third on the eighth stage to L'Alpe d'Huez. July 15: Fell on the final climb of the 15th stage but recovered to win in Luz-Ardiden. July 26: Was third in the Tour second time trial after losing the first one to Jan Ullrich but still beat his German by 11 seconds. July 27: Won a record equalling fifth Tour with a 61-second lead over Ullrich. Tour wins: Five consecutive, from 1999-2003, matching Spaniard Miguel Indurain record five straight, from 1991-1995. Three others won five but not consecutively; Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, and Belgium's Eddy Merckx. Stage Wins: Armstrong has 16 -- 1 in 1993, 1995, 2000, 2003; 4 in 1999, 2001 and 2002. His U.S. Postal Service team also won a time trial together this year. Merckx won a record 34 stage wins. Winning Margins: Armstrong beat Switzerland's Alex Zulle by 7 minutes, 37 seconds in 1999, Germany's Jan Ullrich by 6:02 in 2000, Ullrich again by 6:44 in 2001 and Spain's Joseba Beloki by 7:17 in 2002. This year, he beat Ullrich by just 61 seconds. The Tour record: 2:59.21, set by France's Maurice Garin in 1903, the inaugural year. The smallest margin was in 1989, when American Greg Lemond beat France's Laurent Fignon by eight seconds. Age: Armstrong, 32 in September, first won aged 27. Since 1953, 6 riders age 31 or over have won. The oldest, Belgium's Firmin Lambot, was 36, in 1922. Participations: Armstrong was racing his 9th Tour. Joop Zoetemelk of the Netherlands holds the record: 16.
Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. |
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