Lance Armstrong – great cyclist

Lance Armstrong is an American road racing cyclist. Lance was one of the greatest professional cyclists. He is the only person to have won the Tour de France—the world’s most difficult bicycle race—seven times in a row (1999-2005). He was only the second person from the United States ever to win the Tour de France. In 2012, he was disqualified for doping.
Lance is the founder of the charity fund to help people affected by cancer – Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Lance Edward Armstrong was born on September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas. His surname at birth was Gunderson. His father left the family when he was a little boy and Lance was brought up by mother. When he was three-years-old, his mother was remarried to a man named Terry Armstrong, who formally adopted Lance.
In his childhood Lance was engaged in swimming.
In 1989 and 1990 he became US champion in triathlon. In those years, the triathlon was not an Olympic sport, and Lance decided to be engaged in cycling, to participate in the Olympics.

In 1991 Armstrong won the US Amateur Championship.
In 1992 Armstrong began to earn money as a professional cyclist.
At the XXV Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, he was ranked 14th in the road race. He became one of the youngest World Champion in road cycling, winning in 1993 at the age of 22 years.
In 1994, he won the Thrift Drug Triple Crown. In 1996 Armstrong was ranked the top male cyclist in the world. But later that year he fell seriously ill with cancer. Surgery and chemical treatments saved his life.
In 2000 Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins published a book It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life about his battle against cancer and his return to the sport.
In 2005, Armstrong announced his retirement.
In 2009, he returned to cycling, but failed to achieve high results. In February 2011 he re-retired.

Personal life
Lance Armstrong’s first wife was Kristin Richard, who helped him to cope with the disease. The two were married on May 8, 1998. They have three children: a boy – Luc-Louis David (born in 1999), and two girls, twins – Grace and Isabelle. They lived together for 5 years and divorced in 2003.
For 2 years Armstrong had a love affair with famous American singer Sheryl Crow and almost married her, announcing the engagement in 2005. But the wedding did not take place.
Now he lives with Anna Hansen. Their son Max was born in 2009 and daughter Olivia Marie was born in October 2010.