1993 was Armstrong's first full season as a professional and to help adjust he moved in with fellow American and team-mate, Frankie Andreu, in an apartment in Como, Italy. "He is definitely a lion out there. And not everyone likes playing with a lion" was how his Director Sportif at Motorola, Jim Ochowicz, summed up the young Texan. In addition to his raw aggression and lack of respect for Europe's star's Armstrong was quickly becoming labeled as cocky and brash, not helping his corner with comments such as “I like to win races,” “If I can win now that's super,” “If I am not winning races when I'm thirty I won't be doing the sport,” and “I'm not going to keep doing it if I am not winning, I will quit.” In addition to his comments, he wasn't doing himself too many favors on the bike either with very public spats with both Moreno Argentin at the early season Lagueglia Trophy and Mario Cipollini at Milan-San Remo.
Success in Paris-Nice and other early season races continued to mount the pressure on Armstrong but said the 21 year old, "I don't want to be the big star. I don't want to be noted up. I don't want to be bothered. I want to be left alone really and allowed to race." And as for the comparisons with America's first great cyclist, Greg Lemond, "I try not to give that too much thought. In any case, they say that about anyone who wins a race in America. I am my own person. I am on my own schedule."
Back in early February of that year whilst at home with Andreu, Armstrong came across the headline "Un Million Di Dolare" in Italy's daily sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport. It turned out that one million dollars had been offered to any rider who could win the Pittsburgh Thrift Drug Classic, Kmart West Virginia Mountain Classic and the CoreStates US Pro Championship. Backed by a super strong Motorola squad Armstrong defied all the opposition and was successful in claiming the first ever Million Dollar 'Triple Crown' and as a bonus the National Championships.
Armstrong returned to Europe and a decision was made to defy every traditional belief in cycling and to throw the 21-year-old neo-pro into the Tour de France. "We figured it to be a great experience and investment in the future, especially since I was only intending to ride 10 days to two weeks." Proudly sporting his new stars and stripes Armstrong rode strongly early on in the race before team-mate Andreu declared one night, "Yo, man, I found your stage." And there it was before them in the rider's handbook: 184km eighth stage into Verdun.
With little over 10km left of the stage before the finish a small group escaped over a short hill including Stephen Roche and Dominic Arnould. It was now or never. Armstrong jumped down the side of the road taking with him Raul Alcala and Ronan Pensac for company. As the leading group sped into Verdun, Roche attacked with 400m to go, Armstrong sitting tight in sixth place. Dropping it in to his 12 sprocket the American accelerated to the right. Pensac slowly began to drift in the same direction at which point "I let out the loudest, ugliest, gnarliest yell I could to startle him, and sure enough, there it was - a gap, with the finish line clear as a day with 100 meters to go." Armstrong crossed the line to become one of the youngest ever riders to win a stage of the Tour de France. And yet more was to come following a summer of recuperation.
Having taken 5th place in the Leeds Classic two weeks before the World Championships in Oslo, Norway, Armstrong let slip "I'll be disappointed if I'm not World Champion". Arrogance? Confidence? Although he later admitted that the World's had indeed been a primary goal for the season, his success that day in Northern Europe certainly surprised a lot of people in the sport. Held on a day of non-stop rain, the roads became as slick as ice. Armstrong was himself involved in two minor crashes before moving his way to the head of affairs aided by his American team mates, whom he later described as "truly awesome." With one lap to go the field was down to a select handful of riders including Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain. "Taking it into the final climb I knew this was the time to go, and I mean go like I'd never gone before! Turning the 53x12 back into town I thought it was too good to be true, but a quick check of my computer confirmed 250 kms. I had done it!" wrote Armstrong in his column in Winning magazine. Asked later what it felt like to attack at the end of the world championships and be on your own heading into the finish at the age of 21, the Texan replied, "When I went, I knew I had to go with everything I had. It was all or nothing at that point - if I'd been caught, I wouldn't have had anything left for a sprint."
People now knew Lance could do it in a big one-day race but did he think he could also win the big stage races now? "First, I'm never going to proclaim that I will win the Tour de France. It would be foolish to say that. I feel I could win the yellow jersey, but I don't think I'll have it on when it counts - in Paris." And so came to an end 1993 - it was one hell of a debut season.
Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for part III of the Armstrong story.
