Robert Chung said:David Off said:There is a long interview with Lance in Le Figaro today
lefigaro.frgenimprimeOpen ↗
5.FIG0011
My rough translation, i.e., errors are almost
certainly mine.
On his current life:
"The main outlines of my life haven't changed at all. I
still ride with the same team, with the same guys. I still
do the same job. It's true that I have a new partner (Sheryl
Crow), which can give the appearance of a big change in my
life, but it's not safe to trust appearances. When I went to
see the Lakers play, for example, the game started at 7pm.
That still left me time to train for 6 hours, to get a
massage, to eat, and then go to the game. I go there in a
comfortable car, I walk no more than 200 yards, I sit down,
and I watch. At 11pm, I'm back home and in bed. It's
possible to do all this and still be a serious bike racer. A
racer isn't someone who trains and then spends the rest of
the day in bed, only getting up to eat before heading back
to bed. I still take my job seriously and all these
questions will be answered in July.
"I no longer feel like I'm only a Texan. I'm now pretty
international. I feel good in Europe. I like the culture,
the lifestyle. Much more so than was the case 10 or 15 years
ago. I'm not very nationalistic. Currently, I feel like a
mix of many countries, even though I'll return to the U.S.
at the end of my career mostly to take care of Lance
Armstrong Foundation business. It's doing better than ever
and I still want to dedicate myself to this cause. There
will come a time when I'm no longer able to participate in
the TdF or the Dauphine--but the Foundation, that I can
always do. That's still an important part of my life.
"Today I feel like a normal healthy person, like someone
who had never had a life-threatening health problem. Every
once in a while certain memories surface, but little by
little the fear of cancer recedes even if it never totally
goes away."
On his life as a racer:
"I'm progressing normally. I think that last year, I showed
up for the Tour a little too light. This year, I'm going to
try to show up strong without being too 'cut.' In the Tour,
you lose a little weight during the first week-and-a-half.
How am I mentally? Excellent! You never know if it's
perfect, but I feel really good. Loose. Calm and confident.
The last few years we had goals for races like the Midi
Libre and the Dauphine. We don't have those goals this year.
I'm trying to save everything for July.
"If I've done fewer races in Europe, I'm still as dedicated
to cycling, still just as passionate about it. When I'm back
home my only link to European cycling is the internet and I
check it three or four times a day. I look at the results,
the photos. I read rec.bicycles.racing, religiously. Never
miss it. Sometimes I post there under a pseudonym, 'Heather
Halvorson.' Because of my family situation my April schedule
changed. And, maybe it's for the better. April in the U.S.
is different than April in Europe. In Europe, at that time
of year, it's still cold; it's not always easy to train, to
find big hills to climb. In California it was incredibly
warm. It was perfect!"
On his letter to the World Doping Agency:
"There are lots of professional riders. More than a
thousand. Maybe too many. During the year, I run across
hardly more than 300. I feel closest to them. In fact, the
open letter to [censored] Pound wasn't just from Lance Armstrong
or my team. It was in their name--in our name. It was for
our sport. For everyone who makes it live. Did that make me
closer to them? For those I run across, absolutely. Will the
letter have an effect? I don't know. I recently read that
[censored] Pound was still attacking cycling. That might mean that
my letter wasn't very good. Frankly, I'm not holding my
breath that someone like Pound will listen to me. The real
reason for that letter is that I thought that someone like
him doesn't have the right to run a PR campaign for himself.
He has one of the most important jobs in the sports world.
His job is to do some walking, not just talking. That's all
I wanted to tell him."
On a record-setting sixth TdF win:
"The Tour is the only race in the world that really matters.
I'm always motivated by the fear of losing, by the idea of
winning, by the desire not to let my teammates down. I know
what it means to reach the Champs-Elysees five times with
the maillot jaune. To see someone else climb onto the podium
wearing the yellow jersey, that'd be a nightmare (he
grimaces). It's a challenge, and I like it. The fact that
all the great riders have tried it and no one has been able
to do it. That's the motivation. I think the public likes
this kind of challenge, that the folks on the side of the
road at the Alpe d'Huez like to say: 'that guy did it and I
was there.' If I'd been standing on the side of the road
when Merckx won the Tour, I'd've been proud to be there. I
sense, in France, pretty good support from the spectators.
They say, 'Good luck for a sixth.'
"Six victories, is that out of reach? We said that about
Indurain. In 1996, when he set out for the sixth, everyone
said that the record would stand for years, that no one
would beat it. Less than 10 years later, I find myself in
his situation. Anything is possible. Maybe there's a young
rider out there, the greatest rider in history, who'll win
10 Tours. I understand the significance of winning a sixth
Tour, but I also understand the significance of a single win
in the Tour de France. That's why I'm focusing everything on
this Tour. The only thing that counts now is to win.
Everything that I've done up to now is a hole card. That
gives me experience. If I run into trouble, if I have a
crisis, I know how to handle it. But to have won five Tours
doesn't give me any other advantage than that."
