Armstrong wins 6th straight tour

PARIS -- All people saw, on first pass, was a yellow flash tucked within the blur of blue that led the pack down the Champs-Elysees.\nBut that was all it took. Paris yelled its heart out.\nLance Armstrong, the 32-year-old Texan who fought past cancer to get back on his bike, was the first six-time victor in the 101-year history of Tour de France, surely the world's most grueling athletic event.\nA swirl of red, white and blue flags -- le Tricolore of France, Old Glory and the Lone Star -- hailed Armstrong's azure-clad U.S. Postal Service team. But he wore the yellow jersey that says it all: winner.\nOne hand-lettered banner in the tumult declared: "It's Not About the Bike!" That is the title of Armstrong's biography and, his friends say, the hallmark of an amazing career.\nUnder clear skies on a warm day, the atmosphere was part carnival.\nFour young women stood side-by-side to form a mosaic American flag. They wore body paint and not much of anything else.\nA man in a yellow "Lance" shirt wore a gigantic big-bad-wolf head, complete with a grandmother's nightcap.\nEager fans clamored up the sycamores along the fabled Paris boulevard and hung precariously from newspaper kiosks and telephone booths.\nBut when people stopped to talk, enthusiasm was tinged with reverence.\n"He's the greatest rider ever, full stop," said Jake Hobbs, 32, a London math teacher. The message on his T-shirt completed his thought: "It depends on if you to want to win. I do. Lance Armstrong."\nMartin Maes, 39, from Antwerp, Belgium, wore a shirt urging, "Go for 7." He likes countryman Eddy Merckx, a five-time winner. But, like Armstrong, Maes survived testicular cancer and now rides hard again.\n"That's why I understand his greatness," he said. "Everybody who is jealous says he uses dope. I don't believe it because I know what drives him."\nMaes said he loved sports but was not one to collect memorabilia or hang up posters of his heroes. "My one dream is to ride a little way with Lance and get over Eddy Merckx."\nNo one estimated how many Americans were among the hundreds of thousands lining the Champs-Elysees and its approaches, but Tour veterans say their number seemed to be triple that of past years.\nMany were obvious from their waving flags, red and blue cowboy hats and star-spangled get-ups.\nRusty McCain, a lanky computer specialist with swept-back shades and a "Greater Nashville" biking jersey, watched in quiet wonder as the pack flashed past.\n"He is just an amazing athlete who dominates not only the physical part, but he also has an incredible mental toughness," he said. "He makes everyone better, those who ride with him and those against him."\nHe added, "Armstrong does what Tiger Woods has done. He has revised the limits of the game."\nMcCain and his wife, Mary Ann, on their first trip to France, declared themselves thrilled by the beauty and the kindness of strangers. "I didn't get into politics," he said. "I came for the bikes."\nRachel Couch, 22, and Tiffany Odell, 21, students from Tacoma, Wash., were so carried away they broke into "The Star-Spangled Banner."\n"It was a nice reason to feel proud to be an American," Couch said. "I haven't really felt that way lately."\nThe French hosts also got into the act. As the crowd slowly dispersed, speakers along the Champs-Elysees blared, "All I Wanna Do," a hit by Armstrong's girlfriend, rock star Sheryl Crow.\nNo French rider finished in the top 10, but a clear majority expressed admiration for Armstrong, even if sometimes grudgingly.\nGerman flags waved with less fervor. Armstrong's archrival Jan Ullrich was considered a likely contender before the race, but he finished fourth, off the podium. However, Germany did have the runner-up, Andreas Kloden, who was gracious toward the winner: "He's been the strongest man for the last six years. It's unbelievable."\nMainly, it was an American show.\nSteve McKay, a 46-year-old U.S. Air Force colonel based in Germany, stood on canvas chairs with his friends, empty champagne bottles at their feet.\n"It's incredible when you think that this guy was one heartbeat away from dying, that he came back to do something spectacular six consecutive years. It's amazing what he has done for biking."\nArmstrong himself was ebullient beyond description as he pedaled toward Paris, sipping from a champagne flute. Relaxed, he wore a golden victory helmet as he rolled into the city.\nHe evaded reporters' questions about whether he would try for a seventh victory, saying it was up to his team managers. But it seemed likely that this was not the last Tour de Lance.\n"Listen," the champion said in French as he stepped from the podium, "the Tour de France is the most beautiful race in the world"