Tour de France
by Lance Armstrong
After an amazing time at RAGBRAI I needed to get to France for the final 2 stages of the Tour. I’d been following the race all week from the TV in the LIVESTRONG school bus that my good friend / aerodynamic guru Steve Hed put together.
As many of you know, the race was so dramatic for so many reasons this year – some good and some not so good – but at the end of the day the Discovery Channel riders had two men in the top three; Alberto Contador in the lead and Levi Leipheimer less than a minute back.
It all came down to the individual time trial. Levi was trying to move up to second over Cadel Evans, while Alberto had to hold Cadel off from gaining too much time, knowing he’s a faster time trialer. When all was said and done, Levi had won the day, his first stage win at the Tour, and Alberto was still in front with a “comfortable” 23 second lead.
Knowing that the final day was mostly a parade into Paris, we all did some celebrating that night and then I got the honor of riding in the team car with our Director Johan Bruyneel onto the Champs Elysees for the fast paced finale. After winning this race seven times, I think I am even more proud of the team for winning it without me. I also love their choice of hats on the podium.
After a little more celebrating it is back to Austin and time to start preparing for the LIVESTRONG Presidential Cancer Forum August 27-28 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and for the LIVESTRONG Challenge in Philly, Portland and Austin.
What a week.
LIVESTRONG,
Lance
