I don't believe in God, but I look round churches, mouth the Lord's Prayer and see more than my fair share of choral masses. Others have to believe in a physical God who will redeem them. Those in the 'cancer community' saw redemption in Lance's victories. I got annoyed with the connection of the Tour with illness and redemption. To me he was just another flawed character dominating the Tour, an interesting study in what it takes to win.
I'm more interested in the Tour as a process than in the 'winner'. There's nothing to seperate Lance from any of the other winners of the period, other than his fall from grace, the power of which depends on how much belief you had in him. To me he's as much the winner as those in the years surrounding him. But I don't need a winner in the same way that many others do, victory goes to the nastiest in most instances. Some seek to validate their selfishness through role models like Lance, others would prefer to promote a purer model of behaviour to first place.