Tour de Force: In the Wake of Lance’s Final Ride
24 July 2005
I think it is dangerous to say what Lance Armstrong did Sunday in capturing his seventh Tour de France crown makes him the greatest athlete of all time. An ongoing ESPN.com poll suggests that Michael Jordan retains the "best athlete" ever among ESPN’s readership, for example, Lance second. And what of Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arthur Ashe, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Jim Thorpe, Babe Didrickson, etc., etc. The list of contenders for the crown is endless. And just as Lance himself acknowledged Woods, Gretzky, and others in a post-race interview on OLN Sunday, there is always potential for discussion, even among the greats themselves.
What can be safely said about Lance, whatever allegiances one has to other athletes, is that he has won hearts and minds in his efforts, in his well-documented comeback, in his charity, in his poise and Texan’s tenacity, in his joie de vivre. Cycling has never had such a following in America as it has now. The mobs that lined the Champs Elysees Sunday seemed to be more swollen than they were five or six years ago. Lance Armstrong is a household name, and four Americans finished Sunday in the top 20 of the sport’s greatest event. Certainly, this gives the Americans who have flocked to the sport something to look forward to next year, after Lance has left the game. Levi Leipheimer and Bobby Julich resurged, Chris Horner appeared out of domestique-dom, George Hincapie won one ride, and Floyd Landis, always a nipper at Lance’s heels, remained a nipper.
The concern, now, is will the audience stay? Today, Lance Armstrong might be the second best athlete ever. What will he be a year from now, when Tour 2006 is over with someone else in the yellow jersey – Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich (my money’s on Alexandre Vinokourov, fresh with a new team)? Will he still be as revered? Can most Americans name the other American to win the Tour de France?
After all, ESPN’s poll was lacking in people I would be willing to rank high in the best athlete category: Walter Payton, Babe Didrickson (yes, I used her twice), Kareem Abdul Jabbar. In a sport such as cycling, which is not guaranteed the press, how long can Lance stand?
This is something the cycling and sporting worlds will have to wait for. My personal hope is that he stands forever. I ranked him above Jordan despite my growing up in Chicago in the Bulls dynasty era, but again, this is a dangerous thing to say. Everyone has their personal favorites. Mine, for seven years, has been Lance Armstrong.
In the end, let us stick to the facts. Lance came back to do the unthinkable, in a sport that is more physically demanding, more gut-wrenching, more manic than most. He did it seven times, he did it seven different ways, and he has established his legacy. He is second all-time for most yellow jerseys won. He has more overall wins than anyone. He has retired, like Gretzky and Jordan, at the top.
Well done, Mr. Armstrong, and thank you for the ride.