Months of speculation preceded the Tour de France about who would lead the Astana team when Armstrong announced that he would be coming out of retirement and joining Astana. Alberto Contador, the team's leader for the past two years, and the winner of three Grand Tours, has a strong claim to the leadership role. But as Armstrong said in a recent interview, "the race will sort [who the team leader is] out."

In the Stage 1 time trial, Armstrong set a respectable time, 50 seconds behind stage winner Fabian Cancellara, to finish in 10th place for the day. However, Contador led all GC contenders to finish in 2nd place, only 18 seconds behind Cancellara, the best time trialer in the Tour. However, Armstrong refused to declare Contador the team's leader.

Stage 2 ended in a bunch sprint, with sprint specialist Mark Cavendish leading the pack for his first victory of the 2009 Tour. The rest of the peleton (including Armstrong and Contador) ended up with the same time, with no changes in the standings.

Stage 3 blew up the peleton, with a crosswind breaking the riders into two groups. Lance made it into the first group, which ended up taking a little over 30 seconds from some of his top rivals. The only other major contender in the breakaway group was yellow jersey holder Fabian Cancellara. Lance moved up in the standings from 10th to 3rd, still 40 seconds back on Cancellara.

Stage 4 was a clash of the titans. Armstrong's Astana squad beat out the rest of the 20 teams by a solid 22 seconds, and most importantly, they beat Saxobank by exactly 40 seconds, exactly the time gap between Armstrong and Cancellara for yellow. Unfortunately for Lance, Cancellara beat him out in the standings by mere hundredths of a second (.22 seconds), so Cancellara maintains the jersey.

Stage 5 was fairly uneventful for Armstrong and the other GC leaders. Although there was a slight problem with a crosswind, most of the leaders learned their lesson from stage 3 and were able to hold onto the lead group of riders. The GC situation did not change at the top, with Armstrong still behind Cancellara by 22 hundredths of a second.

Stage 6 was expected to be much of the same. There were a few rolling hills, but it was still expected to be a sprint at the end. The only sticking point is the last 2km of the stage. The road up to the finish like was a slight uphill, so the pure sprinters were expected to have trouble with that. Additionally, there was speculation that Armstrong may try to make a dash up towards the finish line to get that .22 seconds back from Cancellara and take over the yellow jersey. However, none of this happened, and the GC standings still remained the same.

Stage 7 had the potential to be a defining stage for Armstrong. This was the first real mountain stage of the Tour, with many more to go. He has not been as strong of a climber this year as other riders, so if he had trouble in this stage it would portend very badly for him the rest of the way. On the other hand, if he did well in the mountains without much difficulty, it would show the world that he is really back. And his performance showed much more of the latter than the former. He answered attacks going up the mountain, and he was among the last people left in a group tearing up the mountain. Although he lost a few seconds to Alberto Contador he remains solidly in third place at only 8 seconds back.

Stage 8 was quite a hilly one, but at the same time, there was a lot of distance between the final mountaintop summit and the finish line. What usually happens in stages such as this one is that the top leaders are reluctant to put in an attack on the climb, because they will usually get reeled in by their competitors on the descent and the flats. And this is in fact what we saw. Lance and his main GC competitors stayed together up the final climb and to the finish line, and because the pace was not very fast, a breakaway succeeded. Lance stayed in third place, two seconds down on Alberto Contador and eight seconds on the yellow jersey.

Stage 9 was very similar to stage 8. There were two historic climbs on the stage, the Col d'Aspin and the Col de Tourmalet. Tour fanatics will often go to one of these mountains to watch the Tour, simply because the mountains are so famous in the race. Unfortunately, the Tour organizers completely negated any effect the mountains would have on the race, because the final mountain (the Tourmalet) finished about 70 km before the finish. This much descent and flats would dissuade any GC contender from attacking up either of the mountains. And in fact, that's exactly what happened. Top GC men did not attack, a breakaway succeeded, and nobody lost any time. Lance stayed in third, only eight seconds out of yellow.

Stage 10 followed a rest day, and it was a pretty calm stage itself. There were three category 4 climbs, but they happened very close to the beginning of the race, so they would not have an effect on the finish. A breakaway left very shortly into the stage, and remained away until the last 2 km or so before the finish. This created a bunch sprint situation, and Mark Cavendish succeeded once again, earning his third stage victory of the 2009 Tour.

Stage 11 was another transitional stage between the Pyrenees and the Alps. It was a generally flat stage, with the whole peloton staying together until the end. The stage ended in a bunch sprint, with Armstrong staying safe behind the sprint. No GC standings changed.

Stage 12 was mostly flat, with just a few fourth category climbs spread out over the stage, and a very flat finish. Prior to the stage, Armstrong said that he believed that a breakaway could succeed. And in fact, Nicki Sorenson of the Saxo Bank team won the stage out of the break. All the GC men kept the same time as they had before the stage.

Stage 13 started badly for Armstrong and the Astana team. Levi Leipheimer, one of the top riders on the team had to abandon the tour due to a broken wrist he sustained in what looked like a minor crash at the end of stage 12. So Armstrong was on his own for this stage, with five climbs between first and third category. A breakaway spoiled the fun for the leaders though, as Heinrich Haussler from the Cervelo Test Team won the stage. None of the GC standings changed.

Stage 14 was yet another mostly flat stage. There were two category 3 climbs in the middle of the stage, but the rest of the stage was nearly all flat. A breakaway took off early, with George Hincapie the best placed rider in the group. At the end of the stage, Hincapie was able to get into second place, which pushed all the other GC men, including Armstrong, down one place. None of the main GC riders' times changed.

Stage 15 ended the transitional stages. With four category 3 climbs, a category 2 and most importantly, the finish line atop a category 1 climb, it was clear this stage would decide some placings. Alberto Contador attacked at the end of the race in controversial fashion, creating a gap between Andy Schleck and Armstrong. Contador ended up winning the stage, and hurt his teammate's chances of getting second place in the race.

Stage 16 was a big welcome to the mountains for the riders. The stage began with a monstrous beyond category climb and continued on another massive first category climb. At first the Scheck brothers' attacks dropped Armstrong, but he eventually clawed his way back into the lead pack. Even with attack after attack, Armstrong was able to hold on, and none of the main GC standings changed.

Stage 17 was called the Queen Stage of the Tour, considered to be the most difficult of the year. The stage had four category 1 climbs and a category 2. Armstrong and the GC leaders stayed together for most of the day, until the final category 1 mountain, where the Schlecks were attacking repeatedly. But the decisive attack happened from the unlikeliest of men: Contador. He attacked on the final slope, dropping his own teammates and allowing Frank and Andy Schleck to kick Armstrong out of second place and into fourth, off the podium. Contador remained in the lead.

Stage 18 was an individual time trial, which had the potential to be decisive. Armstrong has always been a strong time trialist, so if he put in the ride of his life he could potentially displace one or both Schlecks, who are historically poor at the time trials. Andy put in an amazing time trial though, and Lance could only go above Frank. However, this was enough to put him into third place, and back onto the podium.

Stage 19 was not expected to be explosive for the top GC men. And in fact just about everybody, including the sprinters were able to stay together over the biggest mountain, just a category 2. At the end of the day, it was a bunch sprint and none of the GC standings changed.

Stage 20 was the last chance for anybody to change the top of the standings. This stage contained the historic Mont Ventoux, which is considered by many to be the most difficult mountain that the Tour organizers can include in the Tour. Andy Schleck essentially conceded first place overall to Contador, knowing that it would be extremely difficult to pull back well over four minutes. In fact, he announced that his main goal was to move his brother Frank into third place, displacing Lance. However, with attack after attack, he was not able to do it. Lance remained in third place, with Andy in second and Contador in first.

Stage 21 is mainly a ceremonial stage for the GC contenders. Nobody was going to attack any of the top 10 for placement. The final stage into Paris is always a huge ride for the sprinters, but not the GC contenders. So Lance, Andy Schleck and Contador remained in their place.

• • Height: 5'10"
  • Weight: 174

1992 - Motorola
Settimana Bergamasca (stage 6)
Vuelta a Galicia (Stage 4a)
Trittico Premondiale (Stage 2) (or GP Sanson)
First Union Grand Prix (Atlanta)
Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic (overall, 1 stage win)
2nd, Züri-Metzgete


1993 - Motorola
World Cycling Champion - UCI Road World Championships
US National Cycling Champion — CoreStates USPRO National Road Championships
Tour de France (Stage 8)
Tour of America (overall)
Trofeo Laigueglia
Tour du Pont (2nd overall, 1 stage win)
Tour of Sweden (3rd overall, 1 stage win)
Thrift Drug Classic
Kmart West Virginia Classic (overall, 2 stage wins)


1994 - Motorola
Thrift Drug Classic
Tour du Pont (1 stage win)
2nd, Liège-Bastogne-Liège
2nd, Clasica San Sebastian


1995 - Motorola
Tour de France (Stage 18)
Clásica de San Sebastián
Paris-Nice (Stage 5)
Tour du Pont (overall, mountains, 3 stage wins)
Kmart West Virginia Classic (overall, 2 stage wins)
Tour of America (overall)


1996 - Motorola
Tour du Pont (overall, 4 stage wins)
La Flèche Wallonne
2nd, Liège-Bastogne-Liège
2nd, Paris-Nice


1997 - Cofidis
Sprint 56K Criterium (Austin, TX)


1998 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt (overall)
Tour de Luxembourg (overall, 1 stage win)
Cascade Cycling Classic
4th, Vuelta a España


1999 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage wins)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT) (Prologue)
Route du Sud (Stage 4)
Circuit de la Sarthe (ITT) (Stage 4)
2nd, Amstel Gold Race


2000 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage win)
GP des Nations
Grand Prix Eddy Merckx (with Viatcheslav Ekimov)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (ITT) (Stage 3)
Bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics Individual Time Trial, Men


2001 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage wins)
Tour de Suisse (overall, 2 stage wins)
2nd, Amstel Gold Race


2002 - U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 4 stage wins)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (overall, Stage 6)
GP du Midi Libre (overall)
Profronde van Stiphout (post-Tour criterium)


2003 - US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage win, Team Time Trial)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (overall, Stage 3 ITT)


2004 - US Postal Service pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 5 stage wins, Team Time Trial)
Tour de Georgia (overall, 2 stage wins)
Tour du Languedoc-Roussillon (Stage 5)
Volta ao Algarve (ITT) (Stage 4)
Profronde van Stiphout (post-Tour criterium)


2005 - Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Tour de France (overall, 1 stage win, Team Time Trial)
Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (points classification)


2008 - Lance Armstrong Foundation / Team Livestrong
Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race (2nd place)
12 Hours of Snowmass (1st place with Len Zanni and Max Taam)
Tour de Gruene (1st place Individual Time Trial & Team Time Trial)


2009 - Astana Team
Tour Down Under (29th overall)
Tour of California (7th overall)
Giro D'Italia : Stage 1 - TTT - 3rd
Mellow Johnny's Cycling Team
Tour of the Gila (2nd overall)