PARIS -- Two years ago, Lance Armstrong breathed new life
into the drug-stained Tour de France, inspiring millions with a win
that marked his triumph over cancer.
|  | | Lance Armstrong, of the U.S. Postal Service team, will again try to be the one wearing the famed yellow jersey at the end of the Tour de France. |
A second consecutive victory in the grueling cycling race last
year silenced doubters and transformed an event that had become
synonymous with doping into the "Tour de Lance," a story of hope
against the odds.
Now, Armstrong is trying to become only the second American
after Greg LeMond to win the Tour three times, and the first to do
it three years straight.
"Mentally, I'm as motivated as I've ever been," the
29-year-old Texan said. "Physically, I think I'm as good or better
than I've ever been."
If proof were needed, Armstrong provided it with his win in the
Tour de Suisse last week, which gave him the world No. 1 ranking
for the first time.
But there's a dark cloud on the horizon. A seven-month French
investigation into the possibility that Armstrong's U.S. Postal
Service team may have used banned substances last year -- which
hasn't led to any legal action against the squad -- is expected to
end only after this year's race. The team has repeatedly denied any
wrongdoing.
Armstrong begins the Tour on July 7 with few serious challengers
in sight.
His victory in the Tour de Suisse was just another stage in his
preparation for cycling's crown jewel and Armstrong's only real
target of the year.
"The Tour de France is special because it's the biggest bike
race in the world, and it's even the biggest in America,"
Armstrong told a group of reporters at the Tour de Suisse.
"The only bike race the people on the streets of New York City,
of Minnesota or Los Angeles know is the Tour de France, so it's
natural and normal that would be our focus."
"We've been lucky enough to win two times and had a taste of
that. It keeps us coming back."
This year's race, which ends July 29 on the Champs-Elysees, is
the third-shortest Tour ever, covering 2,146.4 miles in 20 stages.
But it still promises to be grueling, with five mountain stages,
including one uphill individual time trial.
"I learned a lot about the uphill time trial (in the Tour de
Suisse)," said Armstrong. "I think it will be one of the most
critical stages of the Tour. It's a rare and difficult
discipline."
Armstrong's biggest threat is likely to be Jan Ullrich, who won
in 1997 and came in second in 1998 and 2000. The German took gold
in the Sydney Olympics road race but placed 52nd in the Giro
d'Italia in June.
"With (Ullrich), you can never be sure," said Armstrong. "I
analyzed what he did at the Giro but there are still a lot of
questions where he is concerned.
"One thing is certain -- he is always dangerous. You mustn't
underestimate his mental strength."
Armstrong is a specialist on the subject.
In 1996, he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer. Given
less than a 40 percent chance of survival, he underwent brain
surgery and chemotherapy and had a testicle removed.
He resumed professional competition in 1998 but skipped that
year's Tour, which nearly fell apart over revelations that many top
cyclists were using banned performance-enhancing drugs.
Drugs overshadowed cycling once again in June when police raids
of team hotel rooms and cars during the Giro d'Italia yielded
stimulants, anabolic steroids and used syringes. More than 80
people -- most of them cyclists -- were placed under investigation.
Armstrong doesn't rule out the possibility of a similar raid
during this year's Tour de France.
"Anything can happen," he said. "Nobody's given us a
guarantee, nobody's given the organization a guarantee that this
won't happen at the Tour de France.
"We all hope for ourselves and for the image of our sport that
we won't have to go through that," Armstrong added. "But if the
justice system feels it needs to raid the teams, raid the riders
and raid hotels, they probably have the right to do that."
Armstrong and his team are still the subject of the French
judicial investigation.
On Thursday the Paris prosecutor's office handling the inquiry
said tests on the contents of team garbage bags from last year's
Tour had revealed no evidence of drug use.
But it said that results of separate tests on urine and blood
samples taken from U.S. Postal riders during the 2000 Tour are not
yet known, and won't be for a month. The tests are part of an
investigation opened Nov. 22 based on an anonymous tip suggesting
that U.S. Postal may have used doping products during the 2000
Tour.
In April, Armstrong and his lawyers said they'd received
information that the urine samples had tested negative.
"I welcome the continued testing so that there will be no doubt
that either I or any member of my team did anything illegal,"
Armstrong said.
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