IT'S THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE; AFTER CANCER, ARMSTRONG LEADS TOUR.

Byline: Jocelyn Noveck Associated Press 

Lance Armstrong can't explain it. He's not holding back. He just doesn't have an answer to the question everyone's asking: How can someone recover so swiftly from an aggressive case of testicular cancer that spread, first to his lungs, making him cough up ``buckets'' of blood, and then to his brain?

But here he is. The 27-year-old from Austin, Texas, is riding better than ever. And at the moment, he's winning the Tour de France, the most prestigious cycling race in the world.

``There are no secrets,'' Armstrong said, sitting on the edge of a bed in a team official's hotel room. The day before, he crushed the field in a grueling time trial to recapture the yellow jersey and become a decisive favorite.

``I was sick as a kid could be. It was one of the worst cases my doctors had ever seen - and they were the best.''

Now, Armstrong said, he feels better than he ever has.

Asked if he really means it, he leans forward for emphasis. ``I can prove it,'' he says, ``With my results. With my training.'' He can measure it on machines.

For one thing, Armstrong is smaller and lighter than before, perhaps one benefit of his ordeal. But there's something that's changed him mentally, too - some call it a calmness, a more thoughtful attitude. Armstrong will only say this: ``The mind is an amazing thing.''

He won the 1993 World Championship, competed for the U.S. Olympic team in 1992 and 1996 and had signed a two-year contract with the French team Cofidis when he started feeling sick in October 1996. He felt some soreness and started coughing up blood. ``This wasn't drops - this was buckets,'' he said. And then came the headaches, the blurry vision, the flu-like symptoms, the dizziness.

He thought he was going to die. ``I was scared when they first told me. Of course, they told me it was 95 percent curable, but that's when they catch it early. I knew I had a more advanced case.''

Armstrong had surgery to remove his right testicle and brain lesions, then underwent three months of chemotherapy. He was out for the 1997 season and began his comeback last May. It wasn't easy. People had forgotten him - fans and, more painfully, the European teams.

``I understood the thing with the fans,'' Armstrong said. ``Frankly, I don't really like the spotlight, the constant autographs. I prefer a quieter life. So that was OK. But the thing with the teams - that was a surprise. A total shock.

``I have a list of teams that didn't give me chance and I have not forgotten,'' he said.

Especially his own team, Cofidis. ``At the time of my announcement, while the world was listening, they pledged their support, the PR way.

``But then they came over to see how sick I was. They saw me as sick as a dog, not able to get up from my bed, vomiting. I thought, oh, that's nice, they've come to see me. And then an hour later my agent comes in and tells me, `Well . . .' ''

They paid him 25 percent of his contract, Armstrong said. And he wasn't even at his lowest point when Cofidis saw him.

``The third and fourth rounds were worse,'' he said, referring to the chemotherapy.

When Armstrong began the Tour this year, wearing the red, white and blue of the U.S. Postal Service team, there were doubts about his fitness. But everything changed when he won the race prologue, also a time trial, and donned the yellow jersey for two days.

Suddenly, Armstrong was a favorite.

For the first week of flat stages, he stayed toward the front of the pack and out of trouble, letting the sprinters have their moment. He knew his would come during Sunday's time trial, when racing is at its purest: just the rider and the clock.

Positive thinking aside, he had no doubt he would win that day.

``It was logical,'' he said. ``Nothing had changed since the prologue.''

Today the race hits the Alps, where Armstrong will have to prove he can climb with the rest of them. He'll need to depend more on strategy, and on the help of his teammates.

Needless to say, he is confident.

``Before coming in, we all thought I would climb better than I would time trial,'' he said.

If that's true, Armstrong could be wearing yellow all the way to the Champs-Elysees. And an American team could claim the most European of races. Greg LeMond did it three times but not with an American team.

``This would be like a French team winning the Super Bowl,'' said Mark Gorski, general manager of U.S. Postal. ``It's that big.''

TOUR DE FRANCE

STANDINGS

After eight stages:

1. Lance Armstrong, United States, 33 hours, 34:16 seconds.

2. Christoph Moreau, France, 2:20 behind.

3. Abraham Olano, Spain, 2:33 behind.

4. Stuart O'Grady, Australia, 3:25 behind.

5. Alvarez Gonzalez Galdeano, Spain, 4:10 behind.

6. Jens Voigt, Germany, 4:10 behind.

7. Laurent Dufaux, Switzerland, 4:19 behind.

8. Andrea Peron, Italy, 4:22 behind.

9. Santo Gonzalez, Spain, 4:37 behind.

10. Danille Nardello, Italy, 4:46 behind.

SCHEDULE

Here's a look at the Tour de France's 20 stages, which cover 2,292 miles, with stage winner and overall leader in parentheses:

July 3 - Prologue: Puy-du-Fou, France (Lance Armstrong, United States)

July 4 - 1st stage: Montaigu to Challans (Jaan Kirsipuu, Estonia; Armstrong)

July 5 - 2nd stage: Challans to Saint-Nazaire (Tom Steels, Belgium; Kirsipuu)

July 6 - 3rd stage: Nantes to Laval (Steels; Kirsipuu)

July 7 - 4th stage: Laval to Blois (Mario Cipollini, Italy; Kirsipuu)

July 8 - 5th stage: Bonneval to Amiens (Cipollini; Kirsipuu)

July 9 - 6th stage: Amiens to Maubeuge (Cipollini; Kirsipuu)

July 10 - 7th stage: Avesnes-sur-Helpe to Thionville (Cipollini; Kirsipuu)

July 11 - 8th stage: Metz (Armstrong; Armstrong)

July 12 - Rest day

July 13 - 9th stage: Le Grand Bornand to Sestrieres (132.5)

July 14 - 10th stage: Sestrieres to L'Alpe de Huez (137)

July 15 - 11th stage: Bourg d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne (123)

July 16 - 12th stage: Saint-Galmier to Saint-Flour (125)

July 17 - 13th stage: Saint-Flour to Albi (147)

July 18 - 14th stage: Castres to Saint-Gaudens (123.5)

July 19 - Rest day

July 20 - 15th stage: Saint-Gaudens to Piau-Engaly (107.5)

July 21 - 16th stage: Lannemezan to Pau (119)

July 22 - 17th stage: Mourenx to Bordeaux (124)

July 23 - 18th stage: Jonzac to Futuroscope (116)

July 24 - 19th stage: Futuroscope (35.5)

July 25 - 20th stage: Arpajon to Paris (89)

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1--Color) Lance Armstrong is the leader in the Tour de France after being treated for testicular cancer.

Laurent Rebours/Associated Press

(2) ``I was scared when they first told me. Of course, they told me it was 95 percent curable, but that's when they catch it early. I knew I had a more advanced case.''

- Lance Armstrong

American cyclist who recovered from testicular cancer to take the lead in the Tour de France

BOX: TOUR DE FRANCE (see text)