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Cycling
American Lance Armstrong is vying to become the second cyclist after Spaniard Miguel Indurain to win five consecutive Tour de France victories and thereby establish himself among the pantheons of the sport.
Despite four straight Tour de France wins, Lance Armstrong will only enter cycling legend by winning No. 5 on Sunday. The Tour is perhaps the most gruelling event in sports, a three-week struggle over thousands of kilometres, ruthless mountains, punishing heat and slippery descents at dangerous speed. Since 1903, just one man has won the Tour five times straight, Spain's Miguel Indurain, from 1991 to 95. Three others have won the showcase event five times, but not consecutively: Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, and Belgium's Eddy Merckx, to some, the greatest ever. ``Merckx raced in everything, perhaps too many races in the end, but he used to win them all, so for me he is the best,'' Indurain said in a recent phone interview with The Associated Press. ``Armstrong is a great cyclist, but it is difficult to consider him a legend yet,'' he said. Anquetil was a rare breed, a phenomenally gifted performer who combined stunning riding with excesses in his personal life. Nicknamed `Master Jacques,' Anquetil won his first Tour in 1957, aged 23. A man of many passions, whisky and women, Anquetil dominated his rivals with pure, effortless technique. ``I have scrapped the word diet from my vocabulary,'' he famously once said. ``I live the lifestyle I want.'' The golden-haired Anquetil won his next four Tours from 1961 to 1964. He wore the coveted overall race leader's yellow jersey 51 times, the fifth-highest in Tour history. After maintaining his lead on Thursday, Armstrong kept the yellow jersey for the 53rd time, the fourth-highest, securing yet another milestone in an incredible career marked by overcoming cancer. After marking his Tour debut in 1993 with a win at Verdun, at 21, the youngest ever to clinch a stage, Armstrong abandoned the Tour, and again in 1994. Following a modest 36th place finish in 1995, the Texan pulled out in 1996. Then came cancer. Late in 1996, doctors diagnosed the disease had spread from his testicles to his lungs and brain. He was given less than a 50 per cent chance to live. Armstrong beat the cancer, and resumed racing in 1998. A year later he won the first of four-straight Tours. ``I have a lot of respect for Armstrong, he is a great person,'' Indurain, who had predicted Armstrong would win in 1999 when others had dismissed the Texan's chances. Like Armstrong, Indurain adjusted slowly to the Tour, dropping out in 1985 and 1986, before improving with 97th, 47th, 17th and 10th-place finishes. Armstrong, currently 67 seconds ahead of 1997 Tour winner Ullrich with three stages left, looks to equal Indurain's record of five straight this year. Saving themselves for Saturday's epic time trial duel, Ullrich and Armstrong finished together in 27th and 28th place on Thursday, both 8 minutes 6 seconds behind Dutch rider Servais Knaven, winner of the flat 181km route from Dax to Bordeaux. Indurain was unflappable under pressure, and matched Armstrong for thorough preparation. Indurain reputedly could gauge a rival's strength by looking at the fluidity of his leg movement on a bike. A splendid time-trialist, he destroyed rivals on the sprints to compensate moderate climbing ability. ``He was an incredible time-trialist, the best that ever lived,'' Armstrong said. In 12 Tours, the Spaniard clinched 12 stages. Armstrong, racing in his ninth Tour, has 16. While Frenchman Hinault may not have had Anquetil's flair, his competitive spirit shone. Hinault raced in an era of intense rivalry, where he and two other great cyclists, three-time U.S. winner Greg Lemond and French two-time champion Laurent Fignon, battled for supremacy. Even injured in 1985, Hinault fell during a stage in Saint-Etienne and broke his nose, he won. Other triumphs came in 1978 and 79 and 1981 and 82. Despite the grace of Anquetil, the drive of Hinault, the speed of Indurain and Armstrong's courage, one cyclist eclipses them all. Merckx, nicknamed `The Cannibal' for ferociously devouring rivals in mountains and time-trials, holds the record for the most stage wins, 34; most days in a yellow jersey, 96; and stages won in a single Tour, 8. In 1969, Merckx won the Tour on his first try, clinching additional titles of best sprinter and best mountain climber, a feat he repeated twice. Far removed from the Anquetil school of flamboyance, Merckx was a hard worker, and, like Armstrong, obsessed with training. Merckx won four straight titles between 1969 to 1972. He missed the following Tour with an injury, but won again in 1974, aged 29. ``I think he could have won more Tours,'' Indurain said. ``But he wore himself out.'' AP
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