July 25, 2005

"Vive le Tour. ... Forever."

It's the first day of a new era in the sport of pro cycling as Lance Armstrong is now officially retired after celebrating his record seventh straight victory in the Tour de France yesterday on the Champs-Elysee in Paris.

AP sports columnist Jim Litke says Lance chose the right moment to retire.

PARIS - He stood stock still, right hand covering his heart, and listened to his national anthem being played along the wide boulevard of the Champs-Elysees for a seventh and final time. And just like that, it was over.

The moment Lance Armstrong had alternately dreaded and dreamed about in the deepest reaches of his competitive soul hit him full force. He stared straight ahead and drew his lips tight, the only way he knew to keep the tears from being loosed.

"For you people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics, I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big and I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.

You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. There are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.

"So, vive le Tour," he paused and added, "Forever."

Having seven times won a three-week 21-stage race that is generally acknowledged to be the world's toughest sporting event, what is Lance's legacy - beyond surging bike sales, of course?

"All he's done since is defeat an insidious disease, repair his ravaged body, become arguably the greatest cycling champion ever, and inspire millions of cancer patients to continue their daily fight," writes John Smallwood, himself a cancer survivor.

Six years ago I was discussing Lance's first Tour de France win with a friend who happens to be in the bicycle business. I'd just read Lance's inspring biography, It's Not About the Bike, and was - and still am - a very big fan of Lance Armstrong. He noted that nowhere in the book did Lance give recognition to God for having survived cancer. It wasn't just good doctors and good drugs and hard human effort that got him through cancer - though all of those played a crucial role. As my friend put it, Lance seemed unaware that "God saved his life, for a reason."

I've thought about that a lot over the past six years as Armstrong continued to win, and realized that you don't have to believe in or acknowledge God for God to be able to use you, powerfully, for good. I don't know if Lance prayed for healing when he was stricken with cancer, but I know I did and I'm sure many others did.

Even though Lance may not realize it, God has been using him powerfully over the last seven years, and not just to win bike races. Lance's legacy is far larger than seven Tour de France victories, though those are enough to rank him as one of the greatest athletes of all time. His amazing achievements in his sport inspire millions of cancer patients and his foundation, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, has raised tens of millions of dollars for cancer research, chiefly through the sale of the those simple $1 yellow "LiveStrong" bracelets. And, as he is only 33, it is a legacy he is still writing, as USA Today's Sal Ruibal reports.

Sports Illustrated's Mike McAllister sums it up pretty well:

Perhaps Armstrong would not have won even one yellow jersey, much less seven, without having to first deal with his life-or-death crisis. Beating cancer certainly gave him a perspective his main competitors could not share. No doubt it made him work a little harder, dig a little deeper those three weeks every summer in France. While others felt pain during a climb up the Pyrenees, did Armstrong consider it a reward for living?

... Tragedy - or rather, overcoming tragic circumstances - may well be the greatest motivational tool of all time. Armstrong, staring at his own mortality, survived. Then thrived. He learned something about the importance of life, of making the most out of each day.

No wonder Armstrong says that his cancer was "the best thing that ever happened to me."

He has made the most out of his seven years in France. For those 21 weeks, 142 stages and 15,205 miles since 1999, he's been at the top of his - and everyone else's - game. But for all of Armstrong's historic achievements, the kicker part is this: It's nowhere near as important as what he might accomplish in the future.

He is, after all, only 33. And God isn't finished with him yet.