Category: Lance Armstrong

Tom Watson and Lance Armstrong

Thomas Sturges Watson is a winner of eight Major championships in golf. Lance Edward Armstrong has won the Tour de France a record seven times. Mr. Watson and Mr. Armstrong, in the vast universe called Sports, are two of the most venerated and hallowed names. Together, they are also two of the oldest competitors in their fields of golf and cycling.

Tom Watson, barely a month shy of his 60th birthday, was one of the golfing greats in the 1970s and 1980s. Lance Armstrong, born on September 18, 1971—which makes him 38 years old in six weeks’ time—dominated cycling from 1999 to 2005.

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Will Armstrong win an 8th Tour de Lance?

Tracing back history, we will find that the oldest man to have won the most famous pedaling race on earth is Firmin Lambot. In 1922, the Belgian was 36 years old. Studying today’s 96th staging of “Le Tour,” we see 180 cyclists joining. The oldest competitor is a 40-year-old Spaniard named Inigo Cuesta. The second oldest?

Lance Armstrong, who turns 38 this September. In a sport where youthfulness and freshness of legs are necessary to climb the Pyrenees and brave Mt. Ventoux and sprint through Individual Time Trials, Mr. Armstrong is a grandfather. He’s an elderly, a senior, an age-old veteran.

Consider Alberto Contador, the man tipped by pollsters to win this season. Contador is only 26. That makes him 11 Julys younger—and fresher and, yes, possibly stronger and more vigorous—than the elderly. But Lance Armstrong is Mr. Strong Arm.

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