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Lance Armstrong Biography
 Lance Armstrong was born on September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas. He was athletic at a young age, swimming and running before entering competitive cycling races at age 13. At 16, Armstrong became a professional triathlete winning competitions at 17 & 18.
As it turned out, cycling was what Armstrong was best at. He placed 11th in the World Championship Road Race and won the First Union Grand Prix as well as the Thrift Drug Classic in 1990.
In 1991, Armstrong competed in his first Tour DuPont, a long and difficult 12-stage race covering 1,085 miles over 11 days. Though he finished in the middle of the pack, he would place second in 1993 and 1994 and finally winning in 1995, beating out Russian rival Viatcheslav Ekimov.
Well into his cycling career Armstrong had the opportunity to participate in the 1992 Olympics after placing second in the Olympic Trials. Armstrong finished in 14th place. A disappointing finish for the young champion.
 In October 1996 came the shocking announcement that Armstrong had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Well advanced, the tumors had spread to his abdomen, lungs and lymph nodes. After having a testicle removed, drastically modifying his eating habits, and beginning aggressive chemotherapy, Armstrong was given a 65 to 85 percent chance of survival. However, when doctors found tumors on his brain, his odds of survival dropped dramatically. Fortunately, a subsequent surgery to remove his brain tumors was declared successful, and after more rounds of chemotherapy, Armstrong was declared cancer-free in February 1997.
Armstrong returned to competitive cycling in 1998 with a new team, The United States Postal Service, and proceeded to win several events, including the Cascade Classic, the Spring 56K Criterium, and the Tour of Luxembourg.
In the summer of 1999, Armstrong returned to the Tour de France. With all eyes on him, he proceeded to win his first Tour. He then followed by winning the next six Tour de France races -- beating out such rivals Jan Ullrich and Thomas Voeckler in the process -- to become the first rider to win the Tour seven times.
Armstrong retired in 2005, only to announce on September 9, 2008 that he would return to competition and the 2009 Tour. Armstrong also said he plans to address suspicions of doping that have dogged him for years by placing Don Catlin - the doping scientist who was largely responsible for exposing the BALCO drugs scandal in California - in charge of his own anti-doping testing program.
This year Versus will have extensive coverage of Lance Armstrong’s return to cycling. For more information visit www.versus.com/lancearmstrong.
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