Lance Makes It Seven Strong, Bids Adieu To Racing

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Magnificent Seventh
Armstrong rides into retirement in final yellow jersey

PARIS (AP) -- Lance Armstrong closed out his amazing career with a seventh consecutive Tour de France victory Sunday -- and did it a little earlier than expected.

Because of wet conditions, race organizers stopped the clock as Armstrong and the main pack entered Paris. Although riders were still racing, with eight laps of the Champs-Elysees to complete, organizers said that Armstrong had officially won.

The stage started as it has done for the past six years -- with Armstrong celebrating and wearing the race leader's yellow jersey.

One hand on his handlebars, the other holding a flute of champagne, Armstrong toasted his teammates as he pedaled into Paris to collect his crown. He held up seven fingers -- one for each win -- and a piece of paper with the number 7 on it.

His sixth win last year already set a record, putting Armstrong ahead of four other riders -- Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spaniard Miguel Indurain -- who all won five Tours.

Armstrong's new record of seven wins confirmed him as one of the greatest cyclists ever, and capped a career where he came back from cancer to dominate cycling's most prestigious and taxing race.

Rooted on by rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow, Armstrong's last ride as a professional -- the closing 89.8-mile 21st stage into Paris from Corbeil-Essonnes south of the capital -- was not without incident.

Three of his teammates slipped and crashed on the rain-slicked pavement coming around a bend just before they crossed the River Seine. Armstrong, right behind them, braked and skidded into the fallen riders.

Armstrong used his right foot to steady himself, and was able to stay on the bike.

His teammates, wearing special shirts with a band of yellow on right shoulder, recovered and led him up the Champs-Elysees at the front of the pack.

Organizers then announced that they had stopped the clock because of the slippery conditions with more than 10 miles to go.

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan took to the honor of winning the stage on the Champs-Elysees, surging ahead of the main pack. He had been touted as one of Armstrong's main rivals at the start of the Tour on July 2, but like others was overwhelmed by the 33-year-old Texan.

In retiring after he stands on the winner's podium, against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, Armstrong will manage a rare feat in sports -- going out on the top of his game. He has said that his decision was final and that he was walking away with "absolutely no regrets."

His departure begins a new era for the 102-year-old Tour, with no clear successor. Armstrong's riding and his inspiring defeat of cancer attracted new fans -- especially in the United States -- to the race, as much a part of French summers as sun cream, forest fires and traffic jams down to the Cote d'Azur.

Millions turned out each year, cheering, picnicking and sipping wine by the side of the road, to watch him flash past in the race leader's yellow jersey, the famed "maillot jaune."

Cancer survivors, autograph hunters and enamored admirers pushed, shove, and yelled "Lance! Lance!" outside his bus in the mornings for a smile, a signature, or a word from the champion.

He had bodyguards to keep the crowds at bay -- ruffling feathers of cycling purists who sniffed at his "American" ways.

Some spectators would shout obscenities or "dope!" -- doper. To some, his comeback from cancer and his uphill bursts of speed that left rivals gasping in the Alps and Pyrenees were too good to be true.

Armstrong insisted that he simply trained, worked and prepared harder than anyone. He was drug-tested hundreds of times, in and out of competition, but never found to have committed any infractions.

Armstrong came into this Tour saying he had a dual objective -- winning the race and the hearts of French fans. He was more relaxed, forthcoming and talkative than last year, when the pressure to be the first six-time winner was on.

Some fans hung the Stars and Stripes on barriers that lined the Champs-Elysees on Sunday. Around France, some also urged Armstrong to go for an eighth win next year-- holding up placards and daubing their appeals in paint on the road.

Armstrong, however, wanted to go out on top -- and not let advancing age get the better of him.

"At some point you turn 34, or you turn 35, the others make a big step up, and when your age catches up, you take a big step down," he said Saturday after he won the final time trial. "So next could be the year if I continued that I lose that five minutes. We are never going to know."