Lance Armstrong was born on 18th September 1971. He is an incredible athlete and has had 7 consecutive wins of the Tour de France, the worlds most gruelling and prestigious cycling road race. It’s even more amazing when you take into account that Lance also beat cancer and came back to win the event.

Lance was born in Plato Texas, and his father left the family when Lance was 2 years old. His mother re-married and his step father Terry Armstrong adopted him. When Lance was growing up he went into athletics and eventually found triathlons in his teen years.

Soon it became apparent that cycling was his forte and in 1989 after graduating from high school he was offered a spot in the US National cycling team. In 1992 he competed in the Barcelona Olympics and after coming 14th in the road race, he turned professional immediately after the Games.

In 1993 he competed in his first Tour, and in 1996 he had signed a $2 million dollar contract with a French cycling team. He had to pull out of the competition after been diagnosed with bronchitis, and while he also competed in the Atlanta Georgia Olympic Games, he came a disappointing 12th. Then in October he had the shock diagnoses of advanced testicular cancer. It had spread to his abdomen, lungs, lymph nodes and his brain. He underwent surgery to remove the tumours and had chemotherapy. Before his treatment he stored sperm due to the fact that chemo can destroy the chances of fertility.

After his chemo he met his soon to be wife Kristin Richard, and they married on 8th May 1998. In 1999 they had their first child Luke in October, then twin girls Isabelle Rose and Grace Elizabeth were born on November 20th 2001. The marriage ended in September 2003.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France in 1999 and a further consecutive 6 times – in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. He retired at the finish of his 2005 victory.

Around the same time of his divorce he met Sheryl Crow a Grammy winning musician, and in September 2005 they announced their engagement, but the pair broke up in February 2006. The break up was linked to Sheryl Crow’s breast cancer diagnoses in the same month.

After his cycling retirement he has remained active with running and cycling training, he competed in the 2006 New York marathon and there has been some talk of political future. He is also still involved with The Lance Armstrong Foundation, which he set up in 1997. The foundation provides support and information for people diagnosed with cancer and in 2004 launched the campaign called ‘Livestrong’ and released yellow rubber wrist bands that became a fashion accessory of sorts. The campaign raised millions of dollars for the foundation.