Lance Armstrong announced that he would retire from professional cycling at the close of the 2005 Tour de France.
He made his announcement on Monday at the Tour de Georgia press conference in Augusta, Ga.
“This Tour de France will be my last race as a professional cyclist,” he said, choking on the words.
This brings to an end his 14 years of professional cycling in which he survived cancer, won a record six Tour de France championships, and became a household word around much of the world.
Armstrong, 33, says he's fully committed to winning a seventh Tour as a member of his new team, the Discovery Channel Pro Racing team. “I do have to do another Tour de France and I would love to be able to go out on top.”
While it has been reported that Armstrong had a two-year contract with the Discovery team, he disclosed that it actually was longer than that, but the contract didn't stipulate he has to do fulfill the contract on the bicycle. “There are many ways to be involved, and I would love to be able to develop the next American Tour de France winner.”
Armstrong said one of the main reasons for ending his career was the issue of travel and how it kept him away for so long from his three children. A transcript of Armstrong's press conference is available at The Paceline.
While I was hoping the announcement would be something not having to do with his racing career, like about him and Sheryl Crow getting married, I'm not surprised by his decision to get out. Going out on top is a good strategy. It's much better than hanging on too long, announcing a comeback every year, but sliding further and further back into the peloton.
Armstrong has been a big part of American cycling since the early '90s. I remember wondering what would happen after Greg LeMond stopped racing, then I read something about a guy from Texas who tested out with great VO2.
While Greg LeMond may have paved the way for Americans to be taken seriously in European road races, the peloton has filled with US cyclists during Armstrong tour as the boss.
Tyler Hamilton (whose doping allegations should be decided soon{actually they were decided within a couple of hours, going against Tyler}), Bobby Julich, and George Hincapie are more or less contemporaries of Armstrong, but now they are joined by likes of Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis and other young Americans who will want to take up where Armstrong left off.
What can Armstrong do after retirement? The blogger at http://www.ktoddstorch.com/business/ suggests it's a huge opportunity for his foundation, which has raised more than $40 million through the sale of LIVESTRONG bracelets.
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