ASPEN — As a familiar figure in black and gold cycling garb negotiated the final switchback on Aspen Mountain’s Summer Road, the roars from a teeming Gondola Plaza intensified.

Public scrutiny and questions about his legacy abound, but on this sun-splashed Saturday in the Colorado high country, Lance Armstrong received a hero’s welcome.

After pedaling to a second-place finish in the grueling Power of Four mountain bike race — his first public appearance since the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency handed down a lifetime professional cycling ban and stripped him of seven Tour de France titles — Armstrong was gracious and optimistic.

“I’m more at ease now than I have been in 10 years,” proclaimed the 40-year-old, who finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, 2 seconds — about five minutes behind 16-year-old Aspen High student Keegan Swirbul. “I don’t have anything to worry about. I’m focused on the future.

“Nobody needs to cry for me. I’m going to be great.”

On Friday, USADA effectively erased 14 years of Armstrong’s storied career. Based on evidence obtained from multiple witnesses, the agency concluded that the celebrated athlete and cancer survivor had used the blood-booster EPO and testosterone from before 1998 through 2005.

“It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and athletes,” USADA’s chief executive, Travis Tygart, said in a statement. “It’s a heartbreaking example of win at all costs overtaking the fair and safe option. There’s no success in cheating to win.”

The International Cycling Union, the sport’s governing body, has yet to weigh in on the matter.

Armstrong has consistently and vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He has opted not to challenge the ban, one he deemed an “ unconstitutional witch hunt.”

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he has to say, ‘Enough is enough.’ For me, that time is now,” Armstrong said in a statement Thursday night. “The toll this has taken on my family and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today — finished with this nonsense.”

After jockeying for the lead on Snowmass, Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands, Swirbul decided to make his move on the grueling climb of Midnight Mine Road on the backside of Ajax.

“I knew I had to go there if I had any chance (to win),” Swirbul said. “It’s such a brutal race, but I felt really strong on the climb.”Read what Armstrong had to say about his talented teenage rival on Saturday’s course and his future.

Photo by

Lance Armstrong answers questions Saturday after his second-place finish in the Power of Four mountain bike race, which started in Snowmass and finished at the base of Aspen Mountain. Photo by Jon Maletz, The Aspen Times