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Tour de France The 86th Tour de France (July 3-25) ran 20 stages plus a prologue, covering 2,287 miles starting in Puy-du-Fou, passing through the Alps and the Pyrenees and finishing on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. Against formidable odds, American Lance Armstrong, 27, rode to his first Tour de France victory in a time of 91 hours, 32 minutes and 16 seconds. His time was seven minutes, 37 seconds ahead of runner-up Alex Zuelle of Switzerland. Spain's Fernando Escartin
took third, completing the course 10 minutes, 26 seconds behind Armstrong. Less than three years before Armstrong rode down the Champs-Elysees for the victory, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. The cancer then spread to his lungs and his brain and doctors gave him only a 50 percent chance of survival. He underwent two
operations and extensive chemotherapy and began his comeback in early 1998. He is only the second American to win cycling's premier event. | | | Team | Behind |
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| 1 | Lance Armstrong, USA | U.S. Postal | — | | 2 | Alex Zuelle, SWI | Banesto | 7:37 | | 3 | Fernando Escartin, SPA | Kelme | 10:26 | | 4 | Laurent Dufaux, SWI | Saeco | 14:43 | | 5 | Angel Casero, SPA | Vitalicio Seguros | 15:11 | | 6 | Abraham Olano, SPA | Once | 16:47 | | 7 | Daniele Nardello, ITA | Mapei | 17:02 | | 8 | Richard Virenque, FRA | Polti | 17:28 | | 9 | Wladimir Belli, ITA | Festina | 17:37 | | 10 | Andrea Peron, ITA | Once | 23:10 |
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. More on Tour de France from Infoplease:
- Lance Armstrong - Teams, career wins, timeline, and biography
- Lance Armstrong Timeline - The life and times of cyclist Lance Armstrong
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