Lance Armstrong was a natural athlete at a young age, winning the Iron Kids Triathlon at age 13 and turning into a professional triathlete at age 16. Deciding he was born to race bikes, Lance qualified to train with the U.S. Olympic team in Colorado Springs, CO, during his senior year of high school, and after graduation, resolved to concentrate on cycling full-time.

Lance was exposed to cycling opportunities around the world after qualifying for the Junior World Championships in Moscow in 1989 and by 1991, became the U.S. National Amateur Champion. The following year he finished 14th in the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, Spain and made the move from amateur to professional cyclist.

Although he got off to a slow start, Lance’s competitive spirit and resolve kicked in, helping him win 10 titles in 1993, including the World Championships, U.S. PRO Champion, and a stage victory at the Tour de France. He won the Thrift Drug Triple Crown in 1994 and in 1995, won the Tour Du Pont, was named the 1995 Velo New American Male Cyclist of the Year, and took Stage 18 of the 1995 Tour de France. With these accomplishments, he came to be known as the “The Golden Boy of American Cycling.”

By age 25, Lance had become one of the world’s best cyclists, but in 1996, he hit a hurdle that nearly ended his career. Lance was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer that had spread and produced a dozen golf ball-sized tumors in his lungs and lesions on his brain. One year later, against all odds, Lance Armstrong beat his cancer.

Lance decided to return to racing in 1998 – just two years after his cancer diagnosis. It was a slow, tough battle to regain his stamina and technique, and more than once he questioned his decision. But his determination and persistence prevailed as he amazed everyone by winning the Tour de Luxembourg, the Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfarht in Germany, the Cascade Classic in Oregon, and taking fourth place in both the World Championships in Holland and the Tour de Spain.

Lance then set his sights on the Tour de France, training in the mountains of North Carolina and then on location in the Alps. In July 1999, he crossed the finish line in Paris with a strong lead, winning the grueling month-long race. Since 1999, Lance has won seven consecutive tours – the only American ever to accomplish this feat.

Lance says this year’s Tour de France was his last as a professional cyclist.