‘Tour de France begins with Lance Armstrong’s last and final ride’

‘Tour de France begins with Lance Armstrong’s last and final ride.’ The 2010 Tour de France will be the 97th Tour de France. It will start with an 8 km prologue in Rotterdam on 3 July, the first start in the Netherlands since 1996, and end on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 25 July.

Lance Armstrong’s legacy: In his final Tour de France, Armstrong, 38, is seeking his eighth championship and first in 5 years. After successfully battling testicular cancer that metastasized to his brain and lungs, he won seven straight Tours from 1999 to 2005; he finished third in 2009.

Where: The 5.5-mile prologue begins in Rotterdam, Netherlands; tomorrow’s 138.9-mile first stage goes from Rotterdam to Brussels, Belgium; the 20-stage tour ends in Paris. TV: Live coverage daily on Versus; prologue coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. today; see www.versus.com for complete TV information, plus live webcasts.

Armstrong’s team: Team Radio Shack; teammates include Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer.

“On June 28, Lance Armstrong announced via Twitter that the 2010 edition would be his final Tour de France.”