Lance Armstrong by Bill Gutman

Author:Bill Gutman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2003-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

The 1999 Tour de France

Before the first stage of the Tour there is a short time trial called the Prologue. In 1999 it was held on July 3. It is used to determine where the riders begin in stage one, a kind of seeding system. It is also the first opportunity for the riders to establish themselves to some degree. Because the Prologue is only about eight kilometers long, the riders have to sprint all-out from beginning to end. Even if they let up for just a few seconds, it can cost them dearly at the end. Before the 1999 Prologue, the record for the sprint was 8:12, set by the great Indurain.

The riders started one at a time, as they do in all time trials. The starts were staggered, three minutes apart. That way, there were no head-to-head strategies involved, just a maddash sprint with the rider and his bike. On this July day, conditions were good and so were the times. First Olano broke the course record with a time of 8:11. Then, minutes later, Alexander Zulle did even better, crossing the finish line in 8:07. One of Lance’s U.S. Postal teammates rode before him and experimented with the gears going up the one hill on the course. That is one way teammates can help each other. The experiment cost him time, but he was able to give Lance some solid advice just before he began.

Finally, Lance took off, riding hard and concentrating on one thing—getting to the finish line as fast as he possibly could. His form was perfect as he sped through the streets, then charged up the hill. He still felt good when he crossed the finish line. He looked up at the clock. When he saw 8:02, he could barely believe it. Then it was confirmed. He had set a new record, beating the record Zulle had set just minutes before by five full seconds and smashing Indurain’s old mark by an amazing ten seconds. What was more important was that he would get to wear the fabled yellow jersey, emblematic of being in the lead of the Tour de France. He said the feeling of putting on that jersey was utterly amazing.

Of course, the real race hadn’t yet begun. Lance knew it was much more important to be wearing that yellow jersey at the end of the final stage. After the time trial there was one more sweet moment. Lance found himself walking past members of the Cofidis team and their organization. They were the ones who had turned their backs on him when he was so ill and even when he had recovered, didn’t think he would ride at a world-class level again. Wearing the yellow jersey after his victory in the time trial, Lance walked by them and couldn’t resist.

“That was for you,” he told them, with a smile.

But there was still a very long way to go. The race in modern times is a little bit more than rider and bike against the elements.

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