Mende, France – At one point during Thursday’s 18th stage of the Tour de France from Albi to Mende, George Hincapie turned to Discovery Channel teammate Lance Armstrong and said, “You know, there’s only 350k (kilometers) left.”
Hincapie meant to Paris, not Mende.
Armstrong turned to him and said, “Why not we just don’t talk. Let’s just keep riding and get it over with. The sooner it’s done the better.”
Yes, it’s safe to say Armstrong can already smell the café latte. The cobblestones along the Champs-Elysees will never feel better, the Arc de Triomphe will never have more meaning than when he cruises through Paris Sunday afternoon for his record seventh straight – and last – Tour victory.
The inevitable remained unscathed Thursday. Armstrong finished 12th on the 117-mile stage through the south-central French region of Lozere, alongside his chief rivals, and maintained his two minute, 46 second lead over Italian Ivan Basso. Only two stages remain before Sunday’s procession.
He is approaching retirement like a guy who suddenly becomes the life of the party. He’s joking more in the peloton. He’s talking more to the media. During Thursday’s race, when a cameraman asked how he felt, Armstrong smiled.
“Not bad for an old man,” he said.
“You enjoy yourself more when you know it’s almost over,” Armstrong said afterward. “In the first week, for me, it’s tough to have a big smile. But now that the Tour’s almost finished and that my career’s almost finished, I have to say it’s a nice feeling.”
So is winning, which no one else has experienced here since 1998. Armstrong was asked how he manages to stay so composed through such a grueling event.
“A love for the event and a hatred for losing the event, I suppose,” he said. “I learned in 1999 that this race is bigger than any and greater than any and I also learned what it’s like to win it and what it feels like and how much happiness and joy it brings to myself and to an entire program and to an entire country of, really, non-cycling fans. At that point in 1999, I figured out – quickly – that this would be the race I’ll focus the rest of my career on.”
The only problem with Armstrong’s domination is it has turned the last week of six of the past seven Tours into a coronation parade. His domination has squeezed out the drama. This Tour is no different. He took the yellow jersey after Stage 4, lost it for one stage and has held it ever since.
He’s held a 2:46 lead on Basso for four days.
Has Armstrong even once felt threatened?
“I don’t want to say no because then you sound like you have a big head,” he said. “I have felt pretty good this Tour. The tactics have been very aggressive at times but also very predictable. So I wouldn’t say we’ve ever been caught by surprise.
“You don’t go into the high mountains without going into the red a little bit but there’s never really been a true panic with the team or with myself. But I guess that’s what happens when you prepare 100 percent, when you have great experience and what I think is a great team around me and a great team director. That’s supposed to make things easier.”
Armstrong wasn’t all smiles, however. He was still shaken by Tuesday’s tragedy in Germany, where an 18-year-old motorist who had just received her license plowed into an Australian women’s cycling team in training. One team member died and five riders were injured.
“Once again we’re reminded that cycling is, while a great sport, it’s also an incredibly dangerous sport,” he said. “If it’s in training, if it’s on the road, if it’s professional, if it’s recreational, it’s just a tough sport. Every time you suit up and head out on the road, you take your life into your own hands.”
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@denverpost.com or 303-820-1299.
