Lance Armstrong isn’t just a professional athlete; he is a hero to millions of people. When he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer that spread to his brain, he pulled through even though his chances of survival were less than forty percent. Not only did he survive this tragedy, but he also got back on his bike and pedaled his way to seven consecutive Tour de France wins, smashing the record of five. As you can see, Lance Armstrong is the best of the best and proved to millions that if he could survive, they could survive too.

Lance Armstrong was born in 1971 in Plano, Texas. He was raised by his mother in Dallas. Lance was an athlete from the start. He began running and swimming at age ten, competitive biking at age thirteen, and became a pro tri-athlete at age 16. Then Lance made up his mind and decided to focus on his best and favorite sport, biking. He trained for three years and ended up taking eleventh place in the Champion World race in 1990, beating out all American times since 1976. This really kicked off his career.

In 1991 Lance Armstrong completed his first Tour de Pont, a long difficult 1,085 mile race that takes eleven days to complete. The following year, he took second in the U.S. Open, and was favored to win the next race in Barcelona, Spain. Unfortunately, he had a bad race and took fourteenth. The year after that was a good year and Lance took first in The Triple Crown, The K-Mart West Virginia Classic, and The Core States Race. He also took second in the Tour de Pont. In 1993, he won his most important race yet. He had won the World Race Championship in Oslo, Norway. In 1994 he had again took second in the Tour de Pont. The following two years he trained as hard as he could and finally won the Tour de Pont in 1995 and 1996.

Lance was doing great until one day he felt an excruciating pain while riding his bike. He knew something was wrong. It turned out to be that Lance was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer. It had spread to his abdomen, lungs, and lymph nodes. After having a testicle removed, dramatically modifying his eating habits, and beginning aggressive chemotherapy, Lance had a 65-85% chance of survival. Unfortunately, the tumors spread to his brain and he had a 50% chance of survival. His chances again decreases and were down to less then 40% chance of survival. He has a successful surgery that removed the tumors. Lance was cancer free in 1997. Now he was determined to get back on his bike and prove that he was still alive.

Lance got back on his bike and was back in shape in 1998. He said he would come back and win the Tour de France but nobody believed him. This made Lance train harder. He ended up winning the Tour de France in 1999 and beat out his competitors by 3 minutes. This made him a hero to millions of cancer patients. He went on winning the Tour de France from 2000-2004 beating the record of five consecutive Tour de France wins. After the 2005 Tour de France Lance announced that he would retire. He smashed the 2005 competition, giving him seven consecutive wins. He retired after the race with a very successful career. On September 18, 2008, Lance Armstrong announced that he would return to the 2009 Tour de France.

As you can see, Lance Armstrong deserves his title as one of the best athletes in history. He is arguably one of the best bikers in the world. On top of that, he is an inspiration to millions. Some say that Lance surviving cancer was a miracle others say in was pure will-power. No matter what the case, Lance Armstrong pushed himself past that limit, and on to seven consecutive Tour de France wins.