The cobblestone-paved Avenue des Champs-Elysees became a yellow brick road Sunday, awash in the color of Lance Armstrong’s astonishing accomplishment.
Eight years ago this fall, the brash, stubborn Texan was battling for his life, undergoing surgery and chemotherapy for testicular cancer that had invaded other parts of his body like a hostile army.
As he celebrated his record-setting sixth Tour de France victory on the famous street where real armies once fought a literal war, Armstrong looked secure and relaxed, the new gold standard in his sport.
Sunday’s primary color was reflected everywhere–in the sunshine that bathed the enormous crowds packed behind the course barriers, in the bouquet of roses held by Armstrong’s mother, Linda, after the podium ceremonies, in the helmet Armstrong wore during Stage 20 and the baseball cap he donned afterward.
The cap said LiveSTRONG, a slogan created by his cancer foundation that plays off Armstrong’s name and is emblematic of the way he has ruled the roads of France over more than 12,000 miles in the last half-dozen years.
“I wouldn’t be so bold as to say I dominated,” Armstrong said modestly of the 2004 race. He was restrained in Sunday’s formal ceremonies, doffing his cap to the masses and staying in steely control as “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played in his honor to respectful silence.
Under clear skies on a warm day, the atmosphere was part carnival.
Four young women stood side-by-side to form a mosaic American flag. They wore body paint and not much else.
A man in a yellow “Lance” shirt wore a gigantic big-bad-wolf head, complete with a grandmother’s nightcap.
Eager fans clamored up the sycamores along the fabled Paris boulevard and hung precariously from newspaper kiosks and telephone booths.
But when people stopped to talk, enthusiasm was tinged with reverence.
“He’s the greatest rider ever, full stop,” said Jake Hobbs, 32, a London math teacher. The message on his
T-shirt completed his thought: “It depends on if you to want to win. I do. Lance Armstrong.”
Rachel Couch, 22, and Tiffany Odell, 21, students from Tacoma, Wash., were so carried away they broke into “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
At 32, Lance Armstrong was at an age when many riders begin to slip, and his rivals seemed more numerous and better prepared:
Iban Mayo, Spain
He beat
Armstrong in a time trial. Later, Mayo dropped out after an inopportune crash and a poor showing in front of his Pyrenees partisans
Tyler Hamilton, U.S.
Armstrong’s former teammate injured his back in a mass pileup in Stage 6 and withdrew a week later.
Jan Ullrich, Germany
He blew up on the first major climb and never recovered, finishing 8 minutes 50 seconds behind Armstrong.
Roberto Heras, Spain
Former U.S. Postal Service team rider, Heras left the race quietly in the Alps.
