Paris ? Many things motivate Lance Armstrong — and that’s why he’s the only six-time winner of the Tour de France.

The record-breaking victory that took three weeks to achieve was built on the foundations of conquering cancer, natural talent, a will to win and relentless training.

He called it “a simple pleasure.”

Those who claimed that drugs must be the secret of his success only motivated him more, through 2,000 miles of riding, mountain climbs, rain, cold, baking heat and crashes.

On Sunday, he was bathed in a golden light as he pedaled toward the podium on the crowd-lined Champs-Elysees. His golden helmet, the yellow winner’s jersey, the 24-carat gold-leaf bike all complemented the special yellow and blue jerseys of his remarkable U.S. Postal Service team.

Despite its cruelness, this almost inhuman marathon is Armstrong’s favorite race of all.

“The last laps there, I thought, ‘Ah, I want to get this over with,”‘ the 32-year-old Texan said. “But then I thought to myself, ‘You know, you might want to do a few more laps, because you may not ever do it again.’ And you can’t take it for granted.”

With the Arc de Triomphe in the background, Armstrong put his yellow bicycle cap over his heart during the raising of the American flag and playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

His winning margin over second-placed Andreas Kloden — 6 minutes and 19 seconds — was not his biggest.

Lance Armstrong rides down the Champs-Elysees in celebration of his sixth straight Tour de France title. Armstrong won the race Sunday in Paris.

But it was a vast improvement on last year, when he beat Jan Ullrich by just 61 seconds. Then, the complacent champion not in great shape came to the race thinking “I could win fairly easily.”

“A recipe for disaster,” he says now. “I paid the price and learned a valuable lesson, and I won’t ever make that mistake again.”

This year, he roared back with renewed fire. With five solo stage wins and a team time-trial victory with his Postal squad, this was Armstrong’s best Tour.

“It’s as if I was with my five friends and we were 13 years old and we all had new bikes and we said, ‘OK, we’re going to race from here to there,'” he said. “You want to beat your friends more than anything. You’re sprinting and you’re attacking. It was like that for me. A simple pleasure.”

Never in its 101-year-old history has the Tour had a winner like the Texan, who just eight years ago was given less than a 50 percent chance of overcoming testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain.

But that illness and the chemotherapy that beat it made his body better adapted to the Tour’s demands. Lighter and less muscular, he found it easier to climb the Alps and Pyrenees.

Those ascents became his allies. He trained on them relentlessly before this Tour — and then left his adversaries gasping as he again rode away into the distance.

And what’s the pain of burning legs and lungs when compared to the agonies of cancer-beating chemicals burning your veins?

His sixth crown elevated Armstrong above four great five-time champions: Jacques Anquetil, who loved his wine, food and winning; Eddy Merckx, the Belgian “Cannibal” who devoured rivals and glory; the testy Bernard Hinault, who bullied the pack; and Miguel Indurain, the Spanish professional.

“Winning six times does not make me a better rider than those champions,” Armstrong said. “Today’s cycling is just different.”

He brought American brashness, determination, know-how and fans to a race that needed a new champion after its worst doping scandal in 1998.

“He’s changed the Tour forever. He has set the blueprint for success,” American rider Bobby Julich said. “From here on out, it’s going to be done the way that he has done it, until the next era.”

And the Tour, as much a part of French summers as languid meals over chilled rose, molded Armstrong into a superstar and softened some of his rough edges.

He learned enough French to complain about those who boo and even spit on him.

No. 6. The record. The achievement was almost too much even for Armstrong to comprehend.

“It might take years. I don’t know. It hasn’t sunk in yet. But six, standing on the top step on the podium on the Champs-Elysees, is really special,” he said.

Sunday’s final ride into Paris and its famous tree-lined boulevard was savored with a glass of champagne in the saddle. Even Ullrich, his main adversary in previous years, gulped down a glass offered by Armstrong’s team manager through his car window.

President Bush called soon after his fellow Texan crossed the finish line. “You’re awesome,” Bush told him.

He was, building his lead from Day 1, placing second in the third-fastest debut time trial. That performance silenced doubts that Armstrong was past his prime.

“He’s been the strongest man for the last six years,” Kloden said. “It’s unbelievable.”