Lance Armstrong Leaves the Tour as a Winner in More Ways Than One

As unlikely as it seems, Lance Armstrong will again take his place on the top step of the podium as the 2010 Tour de France comes to its conclusion in Paris this afternoon.

Okay, it won’t be the podium that Armstrong and his legion of fans had been hoping for, but instead it will still be the very creditable win for his RadioShack team in their first year at the Tour.

And perhaps that’s fitting.

For years, Armstrong collected the accolades for what really was a team effort—no one wins the Tour without a great team. It feels right that his final celebration should be as just one of the team’s riders.

Any thoughts that Armstrong would have another individual podium finish this year were a bit fanciful.

Most pundits would agree that he over-achieved last year at Astana and benefited tremendously from being Alberto Contador’s teammate, as Alexandre Vinokourov has done this year.

But Armstrong’s comeback to racing was never about winning.

Sure, he would approach every race looking to win, but it was not his primary motivation and this is not a sport that allows divided attention.

The Livestrong brand was out for everyone to see—it was no longer a subtle sideline. If you have any doubt as to how stage managed this race was for Livestrong, Stage 16 into Pau would put that doubt to rest.

The Livestrong chalkbot—a wonderful innovation that has been delivering the messages of support or remembrance for cancer sufferers—went into overdrive. The stage was covered in the messages and massive Livestrong banners, far in excess of what appeared on any of the other stages.

To no one’s surprise, Armstrong lead a breakaway that, unusually for this Tour, survived to the end of the stage.

The amount of effort that had gone into the printing of the messages and their sheer numbers suggested days of preparation and the fact that the escapees weren’t hunted down, showed a degree of complicity from the other teams.

The breakaway even had two riders from Caisse D’Epargne to match the two RadioShack riders ensuring that the American team gained no advantage over their team classification rivals.

It’s a good theory, anyway, but a cause as noble as the fight against cancer is one we can all buy into.

He didn’t win the stage, but it will forever be remembered as his breakaway.
Armstrong leaves the Tour a winner in every respect, his legacy not only intact, but  enhanced.

After 2005, he was the most successful Tour de France winner ever. His seven consecutive titles will take a lot of beating. After 2010 he comes away somehow more human, but also now a greater humanist.

The returning Armstrong was a changed man. He was more relaxed, more approachable and seemingly ready to take on a mentoring role. The competitive spirit is still alive and well, but the body can no longer deliver what the mind desires.

Armstrong leaves a large and indelible mark on the history of the Tour. He had many detractors, and a significant number of people who believe absolutely that his wins were tainted by drugs.

Indeed, Armstrong spent the entire Tour riding under the cloud of Floyd Landis' scurrilous allegations and the threat of a USADA investigation.

But there are also a great many people, fans really, who want to believe the fairy tale, who want to believe that the comeback from the near death experience was the result of self-belief and hard work. Either way, it is a remarkable career that should be celebrated.

At least for one day.