Kristin Armstrong -- no relation, but cycling world champion herself

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Kristin Armstrong will never have the same fame, or income, or impact on the sports world as has had another Armstrong cyclist -- Lance.

But Kristin has finished off her career in style. She won a gold medal at the world championships in the time trial Wednesday. She had won an Olympic gold medal last summer in Beijing.

Kristin has spent most of her cycling career being mixed up with Lance’s former

wife, another Kristin Armstrong. The cycling Kristin has always handled the confusion with grace. She met Lance once, and that was fine, but Kristin said her riding has never been about gaining fame or fortune. (Well, a little fortune would have been nice, she said last summer). ‘I just love riding the bike,’ she had said before the Olympics. On the men’s side, Fabian Cancellara won the men’s time trial for the third year in a row at the world championships in his home country of Switzerland. He was the winner of the opening prologue at the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.

The surprise fourth-place finisher was little-known American Tom Zirbel, who, at 6-feet-5, is an extremely tall cyclist.

-- Diane Pucin