When Lance Armstrong announced last September that he was coming out of retirement to race once again at the Tour de France, I only hoped that he wouldn't embarrass himself.
He dropped out of pro cycing for 3 1/2 years and had turned 38 years old. He might have been a little beyond his prime.
But Armstrong has proven the past three weeks that he still has the stamina and guts to compete at the elite level. Remarkably, he never fell out of the Top 10 and spent most of the race in either 2nd or 3rd place.
A podium finish in Paris is damn good. We can only wonder at the result if he had a team working for him instead of sharing loyalties with the eventual champion, Alberto Contador.
Here's how he reached the podium:
Stage 1: 10th place, 40 seconds behind — Armstrong holds the best time in the individual time trial for much of the day in Monaco. Fabian Cancellara won the stage.
Stage 2: 10th place, 40 seconds — Mark Cavendish wins first of six stage victories; no change for Armstrong.
Stage 3: 3rd place, 40 seconds — Armstrong catches a Team Columbia attack that split the peloton on a windy stretch of highway between Marseille and La Grande Motte. Actually passes Alberto Contador in standings.
Stage 4: 2nd place, 00 seconds — On the team time trial, Team Astana delivers Armstrong to finish line in exact time gap to race leader Cancellara. Race judges go back to previous stages to compute a 00.22-second advantage to Cancellara.
Stage 5: 2nd place, 00 seconds — No change
Stage 6: 2nd place, 00 seconds — No change
Stage 7: 3rd place, 8 seconds — While Rinaldo Nocentini jumped 32 places to take over the yellow jersey as the race entered the Pyrenees, Contador scampers past Armstrong on climb to take his No. 2 spot.
Stage 8: 3rd place, 8 seconds — Armstrong remains 2 seconds behind Contador and 31 seconds ahead of Levi Leipheimer
Stage 9: 3rd place, 8 seconds — No change
Stage 10: 3rd place, 8 seconds — Another uneventful day for general classification; Armstrong admits to French TV that there's a little tension at Team Astana dinner table
Stage 11: 3rd place, 8 seconds — General classification competition waits for Alps
Stage 12: 3rd place, 8 seconds — No challenges to yellow jersey from Contador or Armstrong; 4th place Leipheimer crashes
Stage 13: 3rd place, 8 seconds — Astana teammate Leipheimer abandons
Stage 14: 4th place, 8 seconds — Armstrong drops one place to fourth and former teammate George Hincapie rides in winning breakaway. Hincapie upset that former teammates didn't do more to put him in yellow jersey; Armstrong blames Garmin. He writes, “No one, and I mean no one, wanted George in yellow more than me.”
Stage 15: 2nd place, 1:35 — Armstrong is 9th cyclist to cross the finish line at mountaintop finish at Verbier. Loses time to Contador, who wins the stage. Bradley Wiggins and Schleck brothers also move up in the standings and finish ahead of Armstrong.
Stage 16: 2nd place, 1:35 — An attack by Frank and Andy Schleck threatens Armstrong on Col du Petite Saint Bernard, but he digs deep to close 20-second gap to leader's group before the finish.
Stage 17: 4th place, 3:55 — Once again fending off attacks by the Schleck brothers, Armstrong has to bide his time on Col de la Colombière to prevent pulling Bradley Wiggins up to lead group. Meanwhile, Contador attacks, pulling Andy Schleck along and dropping teammate Andreas Kloden down the standings. Contador leads, followed by Andy and Frank Schleck.
Stage 18: 3rd place, 5:25 — Armstrong finishes 16th in the individual time trial, but that's good enough to pass Frank Schleck and gain 3rd place overall.
Stage 19: 3rd place, 5:21 — Armstrong gains a few seconds by staying with sprinting group at the finish.
Stage 20: 3rd place, 5:24 — Despite repeated attacks by Andy and Frank Schleck, Armstrong holds his own on Mont Ventoux. Docked three seconds for small gap that opened at the summit.
Stage 21: 3rd place, 5:24 — Traditionally no threat to overall leaders on the last stage. Armstrong goes to podium in third place.
Next on the schedule is a return to the Leadville 100 on August 15 and the Tour of Ireland on Aug. 21-23. See more at “Lance Armstrong to ride in Tour of Ireland bike race.”
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