For the seventh consecutive year, Lance Armstrong has  won the Tour de France. One day and 125 miles remain of the 2005 Tour, but Armstrong’s results in the time trials today have lent him an unbeatable 2 minute, 46 second advantage over the Tour’s next fastest rider, Ivan Basso. His victory in Paris tomorrow will mark the end of a cycling career which many believe will remain unsurpassed.

Linda Robertson reports in the The Miami Herald that the physical attributes Armstrong was born with and has worked to strengthen are exceptional.

”His oversized heart can pump nine gallons of blood per minute compared to five for the average person. His lungs can absorb twice as much oxygen. His muscles produce half as much lactic acid and can expel it faster, which enables him to ride harder up the steep slopes of the Alps and the Pyrenees and recover quickly.”

Physiologist Edward Coyle has worked with Armstrong for eight years, studying Armstrong’s body’s responses to a dedicated training regimen. Although Coyle’s findings show Armstrong belongs in the top 98th percentile of human beings, Coyle notes that the physical traits Armstrong possesses are not the only reason he has proven to be a world-class cyclist.

“There are about 1,000 people in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 20 with the same physiological potential as Lance, but none of them will achieve what he has without the training and daring of Lance,” Coyle explains.

Robertson points out that cyclist Jan Ullrich shares several and even surpasses one of Armstrong’s physical attributes (“[Jan’s] oxygen capacity is higher”), but he has not reached the victories Armstrong enjoys. What has given Armstrong the edge over athletes like Ullrich? Robertson believes that Armstrong’s will to win is stronger, his discipline unrivaled.

Tomorrow after the Tour ends in Paris, Lance Armstrong will leave the world stage and begin his retirement from his cycling career in order to begin another career he has stated he anticipates will bring him immense satisfaction: fatherhood. He will leave the world wondering how many Tours he might have continued to win, had he not opted to retire at 33; and whether any cyclist will match the remarkable dedication Armstrong has brought to cycling — the mental fortitude and stamina many suspect are responsible for his victory over cancer.