After Lance won his first Tour, he was invited to attend an awards banquet that was selecting a top athlete (I will spare you all the details) and as a sponsor was invited to attend a post banquet party with the honorees. Lance was there. What was funny is that there were ski boarders, hockey players, track athletes, many of which you have heard. And there was this bike racer who had overcome cancer to win the toughest sporting event on the planet. So he's standing almost by himself, and being a former low level pro bike racer, he's the guy with which I have the most in common so we started talking. Remember, this is fall, 1999, and his story, while interesting did not capture the attention that is does now.
In the 1999 Tour the ride to Sestriere was the biggie. So I asked him about that, about the effort that it took to pull that off. His response, "After multiple bouts of chemotherapy, climbing a mountain on a bike is not too hard."
As with much in life, it's all about perspective.