Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002

Lance Armstrong

He's the fourth cyclist to win the Tour de France four consecutive years, but the first to do it as a cancer survivor. He's yet to face a challenge he couldn't ride past, and that includes a race course altered to try to bring Armstrong back to the pack. All he did this year was win cycling's most prestigious race by seven minutes and 17 seconds, his second-biggest winning margin in the Tour.