Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is regaining the form he showed before breaking his collarbone last month in a crash in Spain, Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel
said on Thursday.

Bruyneel, in the United States to watch Armstrong and Astana teammates Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner compete as independents in the five-day Tour of the Gila, said the Texan legend won’t be a contender when the Giro d’Italia starts on May 9, “but he can improve.”

“No more crashes and just time,” Bruyneel said of what Armstrong needs. “This week will be very good training to get the intensity that he’s lacking. He needs to get some speed in the legs for the start of the Giro.”

Armstrong, 37, required surgery after breaking his right collarbone in a fall in the Tour of Castilla y Leon in Spain on March 23.

The Texan had a stainless steel plate and 12 screws inserted to stabilize the bone.

He has since put in a couple of weeks of training in Aspen, Colorado, before tackling the Tour of the Gila.

“It’s a good continuation because we’ll have a whole month at elevation before the Tour of Italy,” Armstrong said of the Gila route. “It works well.”

Along with tackling another challenging day’s racing, Armstrong was pulled into doping control after Thursday’s second stage.

“Been awhile. Thought they forgot about me,” the oft-tested cyclist reported on his Twitter feed.

Thursday’s stage ended in a mass sprint, won by Colavita’s Lucas Sebastien
Haedo of Argentina.

Friday’s stage ended with Armstrong taking 3rd in the time trial, making it his first podium since his return to cycling, and putting him in 4th place overall, 3 minutes back of his teammate Levi Leipheimer.

Bruyneel said it was hard to judge Armstrong’s form based on the
competition here.

“It’s difficult to evaluate among a peleton which isn’t up to the level of European races, but he did a lot of work yesterday,” Bruyneel said.

Armstrong himself hedged his bets when asked about his own expectations for the Giro, tipping Italian Ivan Basso – who won the recent Tour of Trentino after serving a two year doping ban – as the favourite with Leipheimer in with a chance.

“He’s had a great year,” Armstrong said of Leipheimer. “He’s riding well and he’s motivated. He doesn’t race like the Italians do, but he’s close. My responsibility will be to ride strong and to help him.”