9780306818240

Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion

By perseus
  • Lance is born in Plano, TX.

  • Lance buys his first bicycle at the Richardson Bike Mart across the street from his house

  • Lance starts competetive BMX racing

  • Lance finishes second at the IronKids national triathlon and lands his first sponsorship, from the Richardson Bike Mart where he bought his first bike

  • Lance places sixth at the President's Triathlon in Dallas, just behind world-renowned triathlete Mark Allen, earning national interest at age 15

  • Lance competes in the world cycling championships in Moscow in preparation for the 1992 Olympics

  • Lance signs with team Motorola and is slated to begin cycling professionally following the '92 Olymics

  • Lance takes fourteenth place in the Olympic Road Race at Barcelona and officially becomes a professional cycler

  • Lance wins $1 million for winning the three races of the Thrift Drug Triple Crown.

  • Lance wins the eighth stage of the Tour de France in his first appearance at that competition.

  • At age twenty-one, the youngest rider in the race, Lance wins the UCI Road World Championship in Oslo.

  • Lance is diagnosed with testicular cancer. Over the following months he takes several surgeries and four rounds of an alternative chemotherapy program, and one year later is completely cancer-free.

  • The Lance Armstrong Foundation for the support of those affected by cancer is conceived and initiated with the first annual Ride for the Roses.

  • Lance officially announces that he's signed with the US Postal Service team at a press conference in New York City.

  • Lance marries Kristin Richard following a six month engagement.

  • Thirty months after completeing chemotherapy, Lance takes four stages of the Tour de France and wins it overall in the face of doping allegations that will surround him for the rest of his career.

  • Lance's first son, Luke, is born.

  • Lance wins the Tour again.

  • Lance wins the Tour again.

  • Lance's twin daughters, Isabelle and Grace, are born.

  • Lance wins the Tour again.

  • Lance wins the Tour again.

  • Lance and Kristin divorce, and later that year begins dating Sheryl Crowe.

  • The LiveStrong bracelet campaign launches, raising $70 million in only six months.

  • Lance wins the Tour for the sixth time, the most times in the history of the race.

  • The Discovery Channel takes over team sponsorship from the USPS, and Lance wins his seventh Tour de France, after which he retires from professional cycling.

  • Lance and Sheryl split up.

  • Remaining active both physically and for his cause, Lance runs the NYC marathon in just under three hours, raising $600K for LiveStrong.

  • Lance announces his return to cycling with the intention of winning the Tour de France again in 2009 in order to continue to raise awareness of cancer and to definitively clear his name of doping suspicions.

  • Lance's girlfriend Anna Hansen gives birth to Lance's fourth child, Max

  • Lance: The Making of the World's Greatest Champion is released.