For one last time, Lance Armstrong stood atop the winner's podium in Paris as the Star Spangled Banner rang out over the Champs-Elysees -- the perfect send-off for the cancer survivor who finished his amazing career with a seventh consecutive Tour de France victory.
Against the backdrop of the Arc de Triomphe, the Tour's record-setting champion held his yellow cap over his heart Sunday as the American anthem played. His three children joined him. His twin daughters, Grace and Isabelle, age 3, wore yellow dresses -- the color of the race leader's jersey that Armstrong slipped into one last time before retirement.
"Vive le Tour, forever," he said.
PHOTO: AP
"I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live," Armstrong said. "And there are no secrets -- this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.''
Armstrong, looking gaunt, hollow-cheeked and tanned after riding 3,593km across France and its mountains over the past three weeks, said US President George W. Bush telephoned him to say: "Congratulations, you're a great American."
In retiring a winner, Armstrong achieved a rare feat in sports -- going out on top. He said his decision was final and he's walking away with no regrets.
PHOTO: AP
"I'm finished," Armstrong told a motorcycle-borne TV reporter as he rode a victory lap of the Champs-Elysees, waving to the crowds and accompanied by a rider waving the Stars and Stripes.
On Monday, he'll be on a beach in the south of France, "with a beer, having a blast," he said. He says his children will be his first priority in retirement.
"Daddy, can we go home and play?" his five-year-old son, Luke, whispered to him as he stepped off the podium.
Sheryl Crow, Armstrong's rockstar girlfriend, cried behind her dark sunglasses.
"This is the way he wanted to finish his career, so it's very emotional," she said.
Armstrong mentioned Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan and Andre Agassi as personal inspirations.
"Those are guys that you look up to you, guys that have been at the top of their game for a long time," he said.
As for his legacy, he said, "I can't be in charge of dictating what it says or how you remember it."
"In five, 10, 15, 20 years, we'll see what the legacy is. But I think we did come along and revolutionize the cycling part, the training part, the equipment part. We're fanatics."
One hand on his handlebars, the other holding a flute of champagne, Armstrong toasted his teammates as he pedaled into Paris. He held up seven fingers -- one for each win -- and a piece of paper with the number 7 on it.
His sixth win last year already set a record, putting Armstrong ahead of four five-time Tour winners -- Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Belgian Eddy Merckx and Spaniard Miguel Indurain.
Armstrong donned his 83rd and last yellow jersey in Paris. Only Merckx -- with 111 -- won more.
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