Lance Armstrong Coming Out Of Retirement - Tour de France 2009
LOS ANGELES, Sept 8, 2008 (AFP) - American cyclist Lance Armstrong will
come out of retirement and bid for an eighth Tour de France title, VeloNews
reported on its website on Monday.
Armstrong, who will turn 37 on September 18, is poised to join the Astana
team and compete in five road races, according to a report on VeloNews.com
that cited “sources familiar with the developing situation.”
According to VeloNews, Armstrong will compete in the Amgen Tour of
California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour
de France, racing for no salary or bonuses.
In August, Armstrong competed in his first major cycling event since 2005,
finishing second in the Leadville Trail 100 in Colorado.
“It’s the first time in three years that I’ve done seven hours of cycling,”
said Armstrong of the tough, single-day mountain bike race.
The Texan’s return to road racing is to be the centerpiece of a story in
the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair magazine, to be published later this month,
according to VeloNews.
A spokesman for Astana, however, told ESPN.com that the team had “no plans”
with Armstrong.
“Lance Armstrong is no part of our team. Team Astana has no plans with
him,” Astana press officer Philippe Maertens said in an e-mail from Spain.
Armstrong, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, rebounded from
the disease to win seven straight Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005.
Since his retirement, Armstrong has run in a pair of the New York City
Marathons along with the Boston Marathon.
Armstrong has also vigorously battled accusations of doping that have
swirled in the wake of his unprecedented run in the world’s most prestigious
cycling race.
Categories: Breaking News, Features, team astana
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So here’s what I think:
Lance comes back, but on a recreational basis. He rides only the seven day-ish tours, like Paris-Nice, Georgia, California, Missouri, etc., and especially does the domestic races, which is good for the sport (and esp. for US fans) and good for his fund-raising. This also allows him lots of free time to date underage women.
Contador then rides the big tours for Astana, but neither man is put in a position to have to fetch bottles for the other.
Lance doesn’t WANT to ride 3-week races (in my opinion), and go through all the training to be ready for them, and I don’t think he wants to risk LOSING a tour de France and screwing up his record.
If he comes back, I think it will be to play around as a semi-pro like he does running marathons, with the main goal of keeping himself, the sport, and Livestrong organization alive and kicking. Nothing wrong with that, if it turns out to be the case.
What do you think?
The real reason that Lance wants to come back is to prove that he can win dope free. Too
many of his old teammates have been busted or confessed (Haras, Landis, Andreau, Beltran, Hamilton) and a cloud hangs over Lance. Can Ulrich be far behind?