Is Lance Armstrong better than Firmin Lambot?
by OldSchool
Who, you may ask, is Firmin Labot? Lambot was a Belgian cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1922 at the age of 36 — still the oldest winner the event has ever had. Armstrong is 37.
Despite the distinction of being the oldest cyclist ever to win the Tour de France, and despite winning the event twice, Lambot’s victories were somewhat checkered.
When he won in 1919, reports indicated that he owed his success more to the bad luck of Eugene Christophe, who had led for almost the entire race before a broken bicycle part slowed him considerably. Christophe finished third.. Two years later, when Lambot won at 36, again it was the race leader’s bad luck — this time Hector Heusghem’s bicycle breaking down (he finished fourth) — that paved the way for Lambot.
Robert Rubino has been a daily copy editor for nearly 30 years and a weekly sports columnist for 15 years. 
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