Record Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong announced it was 'time to go home' after retiring for the second time on Sunday.
The 38-year-old won seven successive Tours between 1999 and 2005, before returning in 2009 to place third.
His 13th and final Tour was an ill-fated one as the Texan finished almost 40 minutes behind winner Alberto Contador in 23rd place as the race finished in Paris.
Asked about his emotions, Armstrong said: "It was not different to all the other ones.
"I was just glad that three weeks of suffering is over and I get to go home. I don't have to stress about racing every day.
"I have a lot of happiness, a lot of good memories, just a lot of good times here.
"This race has been good to me. I hope that I've been good to the race.
"[But] I can't lie - I'm ready to retire part two."
Armstrong's final day as a Tour rider began in surreal fashion as he was told to change his race jersey.
The 102.5-kilometre 20th stage from Longjumeau to Paris is traditionally a ceremonial stage which finishes in a sprint finish on the Champs Elysees.
Cancer survivor Armstrong and his Team RadioShack squad wore black jerseys featuring the number 28, to signify the number of millions of people worldwide dealing with the disease.
But the processional start through the neutralised zone was even slower than usual and the peloton were forced to stop at the official start line as Armstrong's Team RadioShack squad had to change their jerseys.
The squad signed in wearing their usual red and grey colours.
And, having changed to the black jerseys without permission, race organisers ordered them to revert to their original attire.
Armstrong flashed a wry smirk to the camera but was clearly annoyed.
However, while the Texan and his team-mates changed and re-attached their race numbers, photographers and television cameras hovered, giving the jersey perhaps more publicity than was originally intended.
Armstrong, who will be 39 in September, said: "We got a message on the radio that if we didn't take off the jerseys, we'd get kicked out of the race.
"My first instinct was 'okay, kick us out'.
"But then I thought 'they won't let us win team GC [general classification], so we can't get kicked out'.
"There's rules in cycling, the commissaries decided that that was a violation of the rules and they were strong about it.
"I suppose in the end the debacle - although it was stressful and slightly funny at the time - probably brought more attention to the issue than if we had just ridden the stage.
"It was a blessing in disguise."
Team RadioShack, who won the Tour's team title, were fined a total of 6300 Swiss francs for the incident.
The nine riders in the squad were each fined 200 Swiss francs, while the team received a 4500 Swiss francs fine - 500 Swiss francs per rider.
Armstrong received a further financial penalty for not signing on at the beginning of the stage - something all riders are required to do.
He was ordered to pay an additional 100 Swiss francs.
The International Cycling Union, which implements the rules at the Tour, later announced it will hand the money accrued from the Team RadioShack fine to cancer charities.