Remember my mention the other day of Sam Abt? Read on.

These favorable comments recall the day back in 1993 when Armstrong, then 21 and in his first Tour de France, was relaxing out of uniform before a stage. Because of his youth and inexperience, his Motorola team had him withdraw about halfway through the race, and he had rejoined his teammates just before they reached the finale in Paris, at a party in a Tex-Mex restaurant in Montparnasse.

Armstrong mused about Miguel Indurain, the Spaniard who was winning the third of his five successive Tours. "Indurain," he said, "I admire him as much as a person as a bike rider.

"He's a lord - gracious, generous, cool, always in control. He's the kind of guy I'd like to grow up to be."

No doubt about it, in the judgment of the French and everyone else, he has.