High five!(Lance Armstrong )

Lance Armstrong might just be the closest thing there is to a real-life superhero.

Unlike Superman, Armstrong can't leap tall buildings or outrun a locomotive. He's no Spider-man either. He can't swing upside down and snare crooks in a web. Still, Armstrong has shown an almost superhuman ability to overcome obstacles and perform amazing feats.

In July, the talented Texan won the world's most grueling cycling race, the Tour de France, for the fifth year in a row. The 20-stage event covered 2,125 miles--about the distance from Chicago to San Francisco--and included treacherous mountain climbs into the Alps and the Pyrenees. (See the map on page 8.)

Only four other cyclists in the race's 100-year history have won five Tours. Spain's Miguel Indurain was the only other rider to win five in a row, from 1991 to 1995.

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