Lance Armstrong Says Farewell to International Cycling as the TDU Winds Up

Lance Armstrong today ruled a line under his international cycling career—again—as the UCI Tour Down Under came to its conclusion around the streets of Adelaide in South Australia.

The TDU was the race that Armstrong chose to re-launch his career with Astana in 2009 and in October of 2010 he announced that he would finish his international racing days at the 2011 TDU. While he wasn’t able to go out in a blaze of glory—he finished 65th but the TDU is a race mainly for sprinters—his presence still casts a very large shadow over any race in which he competes.

The 2011 TDU, the inaugural race of the new World Tour, was again dominated by bunch sprints into the finish, with the exception of stage four which Garmin-Cervelo’s Cameron Meyer survived in a breakaway to set up a 10-second lead that was enough to deliver him the race victory.

The final stage through the Adelaide parklands could have seen any number of riders take out the race, with the most likely being early race leader, HTC-Highroad’s Matt Goss.

The pressure ratcheted up as Goss secured time bonuses in the first intermediate sprint, with the Manx Missile Mark Cavendish acting as an unlikely lead out man, but the team completely bungled the second intermediate sprint and Goss then needed to take first or second on the stage to win the race.

Fortunately for Meyer—and unfortunately for Goss—Team Sky had other ideas and took out the final stage with a one-two for Ben Swift and Greg Henderson leaving Goss to secure third place and falling an agonizing two-seconds short of the race victory.

The Jersey’s went to Cameron Meyer—Garmin Cervelo (Ochre – race winner), Matt Goss—HTC Highroad (Points), Luke Roberts (King of the Mountain) and Movistar took out the team victory.

This year, however, the race has to share the limelight with an individual.

Armstrong’s farewell has seemingly captured as many headlines as the race itself and there is no doubt that Adelaide (my home town) has a bit of a love affair with the cycling legend.

Indeed, on the final podium today Armstrong took centre stage, while stalwarts of Australian cycling such as Robbie McEwen and Stuart O’Grady—themselves saying farewell to the TDU and names of some significance in world cycling—get only a passing mention.

Armstrong’s presence at the TDU has provided a boost to what was an already a very successful event—becoming the first race outside of Europe to gain Pro Tour status in 2008 but Armstrong, as he does wherever he goes, brought media attention and global exposure that money can’t buy.

Quite apart from his cycling, Armstrong has gone out of his way to engage with the South Australian and broader Australian community. In the wake of the recent devastating Queensland floods, Armstrong made a personal donation of $50k to the Premier’s Flood Relief Fund and then organized what has become known as a Twitter ride, giving fans the opportunity to ride with him and other leading cyclists to raise even more money.

Now that the TDU has finished, he is flying to Queensland to organize yet another fund raising ride. The Livestrong Foundation is also supporting a new cancer research facility at the Flinders Medical Centre and the man himself spends the time to visit with cancer patients, providing the personal message of hope that only a survivor can bring.

Armstrong will finish his cycling career at the Tour of California in May this year, but his international career is now over, this time for good.

He has left an indelible mark on the sport of cycling and while not everyone agrees about the quality of that mark—questions about use of performance enhancing drugs simply will not go away—his World Championship and seven consecutive victories in the Tour de France mean that he has secured a chapter of his own in the records book.

He will be missed—in Adelaide at the very least.