Walking down a theatre aisle to the sound of loud music and a standing ovation, under the glare of spotlights, Lance Armstrong looked more like a rock star than a cycle racer.
Outside a fleet of limousines waited, with motorcycle police escorts, to whisk Armstrong and his team mates to an event on Washington's Capitol Hill after their formal presentation to sponsors, fans and the media at the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre this week.
Eight years ago, as he struggled to find a team to hire him after winning a tough battle against cancer, Armstrong likely never imagined this sort of welcome for his team.
The glitzy reception marked the distance that Armstrong has travelled since first he won the Tour de France in 1999.
At the time, Armstrong was a fairly new member of the US Postal Service cycling team, which he joined in 1997 after being dropped by his former team, Cofidis, following his fight with testicular cancer that spread to his brain and lungs.
US Postal was a small, relatively unknown team eight years ago. This week the cyclists on the team, which has just changed sponsors and is now known as the Discovery Channel team, paraded in front of dozens of cameras and hundreds of people.
They waved to the crowd as they stood in the spotlight to be introduced, one by one. Though some looked uneasy and others bemused, most of the riders appeared to take the attention in their stride.
UPSTART TEAM
"The team has changed dramatically," said veteran George Hincapie, who joked about being introduced as the "elder statesman" of the team. "Thinking back, our first team presentation was at a restaurant with about 40 people total.
"Look at the room and look at all the team members," he said, gesturing to the packed theatre and the 28 riders standing on stage.
"We went from being an upstart team to being one of the best if not the best team in the world," said Hincapie, the only US Postal rider to compete in all six of Armstrong's Tour de France victories.
After Armstrong had made his grand entrance surrounded by photographers -- a spectacle he may have become more used to since he began dating singer Sheryl Crow -- he appeared relaxed as he joked about needing a bigger stage next time.
What a difference six Tour de France victories make.
Armstrong is not the only one to change. The focus of the team is also entering a "new era", team officials said.
Since 1999, the entire team had concentrated on a single goal: helping Armstrong to win the Tour de France.
But now that Armstrong has made history by becoming the first cyclist to win it six times, he is not sure if he will enter the Tour this year.
Instead he will start the season by racing in the classic events and will wait until late April to decide whether to compete in France in July.
NEW ENGINE
Team chief Johan Bruyneel has hired more riders who specialise in one-day races.
They will compete in many of the classics and, for the first time, the team will race in the Giro d'Italia this year. If Armstrong decides against riding the Tour de France he may race in the Giro in May or opt to take part in the Tour of Spain in August.
Bruyneel and Armstrong both spoke of searching for a good young cyclist to be the engine of the team in the future.
Bruyneel singled out 25-year-old team newcomer Yaroslav Popovych, from Ukraine, as a future contender in the Tour de France.
Armstrong said the team were sure they would find another strong cyclist to lead the team.
But he was quick to scotch any speculation that he was planning to retire imminently.
"This old boy doesn't feel bad himself," he said, to laughter.
