Lance Armstrong Book | Outside Online

Outside Magazine, July 2005

Page:

Tour de France
Street Fighting Man (cont.)

THREE DAYS LATER, in the first stage in the Alps, Armstrong was preparing to take his next step toward the yellow jersey. Voeckler's lead was down to a mere 22 seconds, and Armstrong's other rivals were steadily falling back. Stage 15's 112 miles and seven climbs to Villard-de-Lans looked to be a more unpredictable, attack-filled race, a chance for the rivals to take big risks and, for Armstrong, a chance to demonstrate not only his strength but also his famously meticulous planning. Or so it would seem.

Three hours into the stage, Armstrong's longtime coach Chris Carmichael was standing in OLN's mobile studio, atop a trailer at Villard-de-Lans. Carmichael, who was working as a Tour commentator, was feeling reflective.

"You know what's funny?" Carmichael was saying. "Lance hardly talks at all about six Tours. Getting six isn't at the motivational core of the guy. It's more like, I'm just going to go to the Tour and kick the shit out of everybody."

Carmichael was preparing for his analyst role when a piece of surprising news came in: Ullrich had broken away from Armstrong. "Ullrich?" Carmichael turned. "How much time does he have?"

Thirty seconds, the answer came.

Carmichael located a monitor. He crossed his arms and bit his lip.

"Nervous, kid?" OLN commentator Bob Roll asked with a grin. Roll, an author and former pro cyclist, is a friend of Armstrong's and one of the sport's more subversive and entertaining characters.

"No," Carmichael said, leaning in to see the monitor. "It's under control."

On the little screen, a five-inch-high Ullrich surged away from Postal, opening up a minute-long gap with about 30 miles to go. He blazed past other riders, his face alight. Behind him, Armstrong was down to only two teammates, Landis and Azevedo. Around the trailer, the crowd buzzed.

"Nervous, kid?" Roll asked again.

"Lance has got, like, seven minutes on Ullrich," Carmichael said. "No way Ullrich can get even. No way."

Carmichael leaned in until his nose was inches from the screen. To this point the day had gone well for Armstrong. Mayo, who'd stayed in the Tour after Stage 13 but couldn't keep up with a team practice ride on an intervening rest day, had quit the race that morning. ("Iban's problem is mental, not physical," said his manager, Miguel Madariaga.) The stubborn Voeckler had been dropped by Ullrich's acceleration, which meant Armstrong would likely end the day in yellow. Now Carmichael watched Ullrich pull away, blowing past the day's early breakaway riders as if he were on a motorbike. It was a spectacular display of raw power, precisely the kind of surprise attack Ullrich's fans had been hoping for. The German had quietly endured a case of the flu in the early stages of the race and had been forced to take antibiotics. Now he looked to be healthy and back in fearsome form.

"Too far out," Carmichael said. "Too far to go."

Landis led a furious chase, assisted by Basso's teammate Jens Voigt, who dropped back from the breakaway to help. The sight of CSC helping Armstrong infuriated many of Ullrich's fans, who saw it as proof of their suspicion that CSC had given up Basso's chance of winning, and were now content to scrap with Ullrich over second place.

By the time the race entered its last climb to Villard-de-Lans, Carmichael had calmed considerably. Ullrich was caught with less than 20 miles to go. The culling began. With two and a half miles to go, Azevedo rode at the front of a group of ten. With about a mile to go, the group went to five, including Ullrich, then to four: Armstrong and Basso, Ullrich and his T-Mobile teammate Andreas Klöden. Klöden led for much of the final stretch, trying to set up Ullrich for the win.

"C'mon, Lance," Carmichael said quietly. Behind him, on camera, Al Trautwig and Roll commentated the finish.

Basso attacked. Armstrong reacted instantly, moving up on Basso. The final stretch was tricky, with a tight left corner just before the line. Armstrong picked his moment and dove. He accelerated into the corner, cut it sharply, and flew to the line for the victory. Another sprint, another fist in the air, another yellow jersey.

"Lance Armstrong!" Trautwig boomed. "Laaaaance Armstrong!"

They tallied Armstrong's gains: With five stages left, he was now in the lead. Basso was second, at 1:25, and Ullrich was down 6:54. The stage had been a perfect demonstration of team and individual strength. And something else, too.

"Did you see that?" Carmichael said to Trautwig during the commercial break.

"See what?" Trautwig didn't look up.

"Lance knew that turn," Carmichael said. "He knew that left-hand turn, and that let him cut inside Basso."

Trautwig looked up blankly. Carmichael tried again.

"He knew the turn," Carmichael repeated slowly. "He was here this spring. He reconned it."

The word reconned did it. Trautwig snapped to full alert. That Armstrong won was not news, not anymore. Exactly how he won, however, remained as mysterious to Trautwig as it did to anybody else—after all, the sport was basically a bunch of guys pedaling along. But reconning? That was right up Lance's alley. It was perfect!

"Get me a telestrator!" Trautwig boomed to his producers. "We're going to show that on the replay. He knew the turn! He reconned it!"

The studio buzzed with activity as the replay was being prepared. Trautwig scrawled some notes; producers scurried. Over in the corner, a Cheshire-cat grin was spreading slowly across Roll's blunt features.

"So let me get this straight." Roll's smile grew wider. "You are telling me that Lance Armstrong came here back in May, in the snow."

Carmichael nodded, his face blank.

"Before any of the trailers or barricades or anything was here," Roll continued, "and he found out exactly where the finish line was going to be, and he remembered that."

"Uh-huh." Carmichael's face stayed deadpan.

Roll smiled and shrugged.

Then Trautwig was bellowing to the producer, getting the telestrator online, preparing to deliver the story. It would not matter that later Armstrong would say that the corner's sharpness caught him by surprise. It would not matter that 12 and a half miles from the finish line, Armstrong had said to Bruyneel over the radio, "Just have Ace [Azevedo] keep it together. I'm going to win this stage." It would not matter that the real reason Armstrong won was closer to what Carmichael had said earlier—that Armstrong just plain liked to kick the shit out of everybody at the Tour. For now, the camera's red light blinked on, and millions of viewers were treated to a vivid, in-depth illustration of how Armstrong had won the stage, way back in May, when he had the icy-cool foresight to recon the finish.

Page:

•	Subscribe to Outside and get a FREE Gift!

•	Give the gift of Outside Magazine!

•	Subscribe to Outside Online's free weekly e-mail newsletter featuring gear reviews, fitness advice, galleries, podcasts, and more.