VIDEO: "I was actually looking for my teammate" - Lance Armstrong explains famous 'The Look' from Tour de France 2001
Cycling
One of the most iconic moments of early 2000's cycling, if not ever, has to be 'The Look' from Lance Armstrong. Back in 2001, the Tour de France was still completely open after nine days of racing with two main pre-race favourites, Armstrong and Jan Ullrich, sitting within 30 seconds of each other.
A fierce battle was awaited on the 21 hairpins of Alpe d'Huez. Armstrong, who so far wasn't look very well suddenly pops up to the front of the group. He looks behind as if to say: 'Here I am. I bluffed.' Before he takes off and destroys his competition by two minutes, effectively deciding the 2001 Tour de France on the spot.
"The story may not go the way you think," Armstrong revisited the moment in TheMove podcast where Ullrich was his guest. "It's funny, because it does indeed seem like 'a look', as if I'm looking at you. At least that is what the photo that went around the world suggests. But I was actually looking for teammate Jose Luis 'Chechu' Rubiera."
"With great acceleration he had brought me to the front earlier. But before I would attack myself, I first wanted to be sure where Rubiera was. If I got into trouble and was blown back, I knew there was at least someone still in the group - Rubiera - to save me. So basically I looked at my teammate. But because of the angle at which the images were taken, it seemed as if I was looking straight into Jan's eyes. It is important to clarify this."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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