ADELAIDE, Australia, Jan 8, 2009 (AFP) – The first of the European teams
have arrived in Australia for this month’s Tour Down Under, but the travel
details of cycling superstar Lance Armstrong were still under wraps Thursday.

Race organisers, mindful of the extraordinary interest that the seven-time
Tour de France champion’s comeback has generated, have not released his
arrival plans for fears of an unwieldy media scrum at Adelaide Airport.

Armstrong’s Astana team is scheduled to arrive early on Sunday, but reports
said the American great is not expected until next week, just ahead of the
January 18 start of the tour.

Armstrong, 37, is in Hawaii, where he is reportedly taking a brief holiday
break with his children before heading to Australia.

Race director Mike Turtur said he expected pandemonium to break out every
morning at the cyclists’ village and at the finish lines of the stage race
with the appearance of Armstrong.

“We’re expecting that Lance Armstrong will have more trouble getting to and
from the start and finish line than the actual race itself,” Turtur told the
Adelaide Advertiser newspaper Thursday.

“Once he’s on that bike, he’ll be protected, but off the bike, who knows?

“He’s created a groundswell of interest.”

Turtur said Armstrong’s appearance in the January 18-25 Australian event
has attracted widespread interest from major European sports publications.

“The heavies are coming,” Turtur said. “It just shows the amount of
interest Armstrong has created for Australia.”

Former Australian Olympic cyclist Patrick Jonker said the length of the
tour was well suited to the Texan.

“His (Astana) team has raced here before and they know the roads,” Jonker
told the newspaper.

“It’s important for Lance that it’s a safe race and the safety record here
is very good.

“He’ll be nervous. He’s won the Tour de France seven times but he’ll be
nervous on the start line.”

Belgian team Silence-Lotto arrived here on Thursday, but the team’s star
Australian rider Cadel Evans, runner-up in the Tour de France on the last two
occasions, will not be racing in the Tour Down Under, preferring to focus on
his preparations for July’s Tour.