Lance Armstrong wins Tour de France tune-upUS cyclist Lance Armstrong Lance Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France—cycling's most prestigious race—seven consecutive times, from 1999 to 2005. has won the Nevada City Classic, a modest one-day race set in the hills of northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern , to continue his build-up to the Tour de France Tour de France World's most prestigious and difficult bicycle race. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of nine riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles) of flat and . More than 15,000 fans turned out for the race, run on a 1.7km loop in the historic gold mining town of Nevada City, and were treated to the sight of seven-time Tour de France champion Armstrong claiming his first race victory since coming out of retirement in January after an absence of three and a half years. Armstrong, Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer and Bissell's Ben Jacques-Maynes formed a three-man breakway that took a lead of more than two minutes and finally lapped the field. With six laps to go on the tough, seven-turn course Armstrong was on his own, and the American, wearing the jersey of his Livestrong foundation rather than Astana colors, crossed the line with his hands raised in triumph. Jacques-Maynes finished second and Leipheimer third. Armstrong only committed to the Nevada City Classic five days prior to the race. Armstrong, 37, launched his comeback in the Tour Down Under in Australia in January, finishing 29th. He broke his collarbone col·lar·bone n. See clavicle. in a spill in the Tour of Castilla and Leon in central Spain in March, returned to the States for surgery and then went back to Europe and finished 12th in the Giro d'Italia last month. On June 5 he welcomed the birth of his fourth child, son Max. "What a great Nevada City Classic," Armstrong enthused on the social networking site A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to post. Twitter A Web site and service that lets users send short text messages from their cellphones to a group of friends. Launched in 2006, Twitter (www.twitter.com) was designed for people to broadcast their current activities and thoughts. . "I managed to get the win, Levi Leipheimer was 3rd. HARD race. The crowds? Electric..." Armstrong's next race is the Tour de France, which starts July 4 in Monaco. 
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