Despite having been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, to the best of our knowledge, Lance Armstrong still retains some of his wins from those Tours, namely the Prix Citron.
The Prix Citron is a brilliant award given by journalists to the least likable cyclist of that year’s race. Amongst the winners in the past have been Laurent Fignon, Bernard Hinault, Robert Millar and Mark Cavendish.
Fignon was a regular winner and when he won in 1989 after his narrow loss to Greg LeMond, he responded “At least I won something.” When the ITV journalist Ned Boulting was asked who he would award the prize to, he responded “Robbie Hunter. Malevolence in lycra.”
Armstrong won the title a number of times. In 2001, when asked about the prize, he responded “I don’t like small talk or posing for photos doing stupid pointless things. I give them intensity in the races and I’ll go on doing so. Isn’t that enough?”
Strangely enough, two years after winning that Prix Citron award, Armstrong won the Prix d’Orange in 2003, awarded by journalists to the most cooperative rider. He may not hold the records for the most Tour de France wins anymore, but he does hold the record for being the only rider to win the Prix Citron and the Prix d’Orange.
