2004 TdF

In 2004, I had the opportunity to go and see the final stage of the Tour de France. This was the year that if Lance Armstrong won the race, he would step out of the group of cycling legends who had won the overall classification Tour five times each in their careers to become the first to win six. In 2005, Armstrong would claim his seventh overall win in Paris.

The thing that amazed me on that day was the speed at which the riders passed by. With this being my first professional cycling race, I was in awe of the speed, fury and beauty of the passing peleton. Although I didn't get to see it with my eyes, I can only imagine what Tom Boonen's final sprint was like just meters down the road from where I stood.

The peleton, led by United States Postal Service Professional Cycling team and Lance Armstron in the yellow jersey, on the first of eight laps of the Champs-Elysees.

This picture pretty well sums up Armstrong's accomplishments in 2004, besting those like Eddy Merckx for the record of Tour de France wins.

Tyler Hamilton stopped by to greet American fans along the Champs-Elysees after crashing in stage 6 and subsequently dropping out of the tour during stage 16. Hamilton would go on to win the gold medal in the Olympic Time Trial in Athens and stage 8 at the Vuelta a Espana. In the coming months however, Hamilton's two positive doping results would more or less bring an end to his professional cycling career.

California's golden boy, Levi Leipheimer, palced 9th overall riding for Rabobank. He stopped by to give some love to the American fans in Paris.