By Bonnie DeSimone
Chicago Tribune

Lance Armstrong, of Austin, Texas, holds the winner's trophy on the podium after winning his 5th consecutive Tour de France. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

PARIS - There was something raw and revealing about Lance Armstrong's face this year, a look that came over him when he knew he didn't have the legs to respond the way he wanted.

Armstrong campaigned for his record-tying fifth Tour de France with the clenched jaw of a man stacking sandbags before the floodwaters. Although he led the three-week race from its eighth day on, the 31-year-old Texan had to tread water in situations where he used to ride the waves.

Depleted by illness, crashes and dehydration and plagued by mechanical problems, Armstrong plugged the leaks, conserved his energy and won his most difficult Tour with a single, lethal cobra-strike in the Pyrenees a week ago.

He finished the 2,129-mile race Sunday a mere 61 seconds ahead of resuscitated rival Jan Ullrich of Germany.

The last time life deviated from game plan so sharply for the meticulous, driven Armstrong was seven years ago, when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer and given only meager odds of survival.

He has often said his illness made him a better person.

His fifth Tour victory may make him a better athlete.

"I don't plan on being this vulnerable next year," Armstrong said, reaffirming his commitment to return for an unprecedented sixth Tour de France title in 2004. "It was good for me to have a rough year. To be honest, to win by five or six minutes gets old. You start to take certain things for granted.

"I won't make the same mistakes again."

Armstrong finally relaxed Sunday, beaming as he rolled into Paris. He briefly steered with one hand as he used the other for a champagne toast with U.S. Postal Service team director Johan Bruyneel, driving alongside.

By prevailing in the 100th anniversary year of the race, Armstrong joined four other men with five victories in one of sports' most elite fraternities.

The three living members of the "Club of Five"-Belgium's Eddy Merckx, Spain's Miguel Indurain and France's Bernard Hinault-all mounted the podium during the closing ceremonies and shook Armstrong's hand.

Jacques Anquetil of France is the other member of the club.

But the familiar scene of Armstrong holding a yellow baseball cap to his heart, listening to "The Star-Spangled Banner" with the sweep of the Champs Elysees rising to the Arc de Triomphe behind him, belied the tribulations he endured to get there.

Armstrong's early season, in which he raced more sparingly than usual, was turbulent, and included a brief separation from his wife, Kristin.

He came into the race still recovering from a high-speed crash on a mountain descent in a race in June, and two bouts with digestive troubles.

Armstrong, who had few physical or mechanical difficulties during his first four Tour wins, had plenty of them this July, including a case of tendinitis in his hip caused by changing bike shoes.

He backed into the yellow jersey after a particularly grueling stage that began at the base of Alpe d'Huez, and the next day, he would have what he termed his "luckiest day ever" as he ad-libbed his way out of Spanish rider Joseba Beloki's crash.

To avoid colliding with Beloki, Armstrong instinctively swerved off the road, cut through a hayfield to the other side of the switchback, lifted his bike and hopped over a ditch.

He then remounted and rejoined the race as if he were competing in one of the cross-country races he enters for fun in Texas in the winter.

Meanwhile, Ullrich, the last of Armstrong's major rivals left standing, lived up to his billing. He soundly defeated Armstrong in the first individual time trial and pulled to within a half-minute of the defending champion.

The two spent the final days and stages of the race battling for the right to cross the Paris finish line first.

But in the end, Armstrong had enough to hold off Ullrich. "This year, I had to rely more on strategy than I did on physical gifts or fitness," Armstrong said. "In the past, I've never had to play those games. Being that I was off a few points physically, I had to look for other ways."

Other title streaks

How Lance Armstrong's five straight Tour de France victories, which tied Miguel Indurain's event record, match up with championship streaks in various sports:

Sport	Titles-team	Years
NBA	8 - Boston Celtics	1959-66
MLB	5 - NY Yankees	1949-53
NHL	5 - Montreal Canadiens	1956-60
Men's Basketball	7 - UCLA	1967-73
Women's Basketball	3 - Tennessee	1996-98
Wimbledon Men	6 - Willie Renshaw	1881-86
Wimbledon Women	6 - Martina Navratilova	1982-87

Note: The NFL record for consecutive Super Bowl titles is two - set seven times, most recently by the Broncos.