Lance’s route

1971—Born Lance Edward Gunderson, September 18, 1971, in Plano, Texas, to Linda Mooneyham, age 17.

1974—Takes the name of Armstrong from adopted father he later denounces.

1983-86—After trying mainstream sports, starts cycling and swimming. Begins winning local competitions.

1987—Turns professional in triathlon at age 16.

1989—Wins national sprint triathlon championship; trains with U.S. Olympic developmental team in Colorado Springs, Colo.

1990—Competes in first international cycling event in Moscow and finishes 11th.

1991—Transitions into cycling full-time and wins U.S. amateur road championship.

1992—Finishes 14th in road race at the Summer Olympics; turns professional cyclist with Motorola and finishes last in field of 111 in first pro cycling event, the San Sebastian Classic, in Spain, trailing the winner by 27 minutes. Nearly quits the sport; finishes second in Championship of Zurich two weeks later.

1993—Wins Triple Crown of U.S. pro races; wins first Tour de France stage in Verdun, but doesn’t finish the race; wins world championship road race in Oslo, Norway.

1994—Wins Thrift Drug Classic; wins stage of Tour DuPont; withdraws from Tour de France.

1995—Wins eighth and 18th stages of Tour de France. Points toward the sky as he crosses the line in the second stage win and dedicates victory to Italian teammate Fabio Casartelli, who was killed in a mountain crash three stages earlier. Finishes Tour de France in 36th place overall; wins San Sebastian Classic.

1996—Wins La Flèche-Wallonne in Belgium; wins 12-day Tour DuPont; withdraws from Tour de France because of illness after seventh stage; finishes 12th in road race and sixth in individual time trial in Summer Olympics; diagnosed (October 2) with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain, has surgery the next day and soon begins aggressive chemotherapy. Survival rate stated at less than 50 percent.

1997—Returns to cycling by winning time trial in Austin, Texas; announces creation of Lance Armstrong Foundation; declared free of cancer and joins U.S. Postal Service team.

1998—Marries Kristin Richard on May 8; wins Tour de Luxembourg; finishes fourth in the Tour of Spain; finishes fourth in the time trial and road race at the world championships in the Netherlands.

1999—Returns to Tour de France, wins four stages and overall title; son Luke born.

2000—Autobiography, It’s Not About the Bike, published and becomes national best seller; wins second Tour de France title; earns individual time trial bronze medal in the Summer Olympics.

2001—Becomes the fifth rider to win the Tour de France three or more times in succession, joining Louison Bobet (1953-55), Jacques Anquetil (1961-64), Eddy Merckx (1969-72) and Miguel Indurain (1991-95); twin daughters Isabelle and Grace born.

2002—Wins four stages and claims fourth straight Tour de France title.

2003—Wins famed l’Alpe d’Huez stage en route to his record-tying fifth straight Tour de France title; divorces wife Kristin Richards; second book Every Second Counts is published.

2004—The Livestrong wristband and Wear Yellow Live Strong campaign begin; wins five stages and leads team to time-trial win en route to record-setting sixth straight Tour de France.

2005—Announces retirement; claims 20th stage time trial en route to seventh consecutive Tour de France title; announces engagement to singer Sheryl Crow.

2006—Announces engagement to Crow has been called off; cleared of doping by an independent investigation launched by the Union Cycliste Internationale after French newspaper L’Equipe published allegations that six of his urine samples from the 1999 Tour showed traces of the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin; completes first marathon, the New York City Marathon, in 2:59:36 and raises more than $600,000 during the run for his cancer foundation; Lance Armstrong Foundation announces it has raised more than $250 million.

2007—Completes the New York City Marathon in 2:46:43.

2008—Completes the Boston Marathon in 2:50:58; opens Mellow Johnny’s, a bike shop in Austin, Texas, bearing his nickname; Lance Armstrong Foundation announces sales of Livestrong wristband surpass 70 million; finishes second in the Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race in Colorado; announces he will come out of retirement to compete in 2009 Tour de France (and other races) to raise global cancer awareness; wins team event in 12 Hours of Snowmass; wins individual time trial and team time trial in regional Texas event, Tour de Gruene; opens account on Twitter (now has 60,000 followers); announces girlfriend, Anna Hansen, is pregnant with his child.

2009—Finishes 29th overall in the six-day Tour Down Under in Australia, his first UCI comeback event; will arrive in Sacramento Saturday for the prologue to the Amgen Tour of California.