American cyclist Lance Armstrong is getting some well-deserved R&R in the South of France after winning the Tour de France for a record seventh time in a row. The “Today” show’s Ann Curry caught up with Armstrong — which isn't easy — to see where he goes from here.
Lance Armstrong: It's been 12 hours, but I feel like a free man. Not as if I was a prisoner to my sport or a prisoner to cycling or a prisoner to the press. But at the same time, I was a prisoner. But that's OK.
Ann Curry: How does freedom feel?
Armstrong: Freedom, 12 hours in, feels ... feels pretty good. I'm done. I'm 33 years old, almost 34. I'm retired. I have three beautiful, healthy kids. I have an unbelievable girlfriend. I have a great life. I've got security in more ways than I ever thought I would.
Curry: What comes after the bike? What can replace the bike? Do you know yet?
Armstrong: Well, nothing will replace a tour, much less winning seven tours. There are things that I can do that can come close to that, [though] it might not put you on the front of every paper in the world. If it's in the cancer field, if it's in the lives of my kids, if it's work in the lives of another business or property, that's OK.
Curry: You do have political aspirations?
Armstrong: No, no ...
Curry: You're saying you have no political aspirations?
Armstrong: I'm not ...
Curry: You're not saying you have no political aspirations?
Armstrong: I don’t know what I'm saying. We're going to elect a new [Texas] governor next year — I'm not running next year.
Curry: What do you want to say to people about how much Sheryl Crow, your girlfriend the rock star, did in the last two tours? She's been hugely supportive.
Armstrong: Hugely. If you consider lives and how big and grand lives can get, she has a big life. She's just a great, great humble, honest, hard-working, real person, and those, I think, especially in that world, are hard to come by.
Curry: Are you going to come back and race another Tour de France?
Armstrong: Am I going to do that? Never.
Curry: People think you're not going to retire. They don't think you're the kind of guy who could retire.
Armstrong: They're absolutely wrong. They are 100 percent wrong. It's time to move on. I don't need more. I don't need more Tour victories. The blue cup they give you is an unbelievably beautiful cup, and standing up there on the Champs-Elysées hearing the National Anthem is an amazing feeling.