The 2009 Tour de France is a sure thing for Lance Armstrong.
The 37-year-old returning professional cyclist confirmed his plans to the Associated Press from the Canary Islands where he's training with the Astana pro cycling team.
That's Armstrong, right, and teammate Levi Leipheimer taking a break from surfing during the team training in the islands. (More pictures by Elizabeth Kreutz at Twitpic.)
Armstrong initially announced in September that he'd come out of retirement to race at the Tour de France and other races in 2009. Lately, however, he said that didn't feel welcomed by the Tour organizers and was a little fearful of fan reaction on the road.
I couldn't find anything about him meeting with Tour owners ASO. The Australian quotes him regarding threats:
“It's not going to keep me from going and doing my job, and it's not going to keep me from spreading my message.”
One reason Armstrong gave for returning to cycling after a two-year retirement is to help call attention to the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the fight against cancer that must be waged around the world.
Armstrong will have a full plate going into 2009. His racing season starts with the Tour Down Under in January, followed by the Tour of California in February and a slew of Spring Classics. He's committed to riding in the Giro d'Italia for the first time and says he'd like to win it.
He's less optimistic about his Tour de France chances, however, partly because the Tour starts July 4, less than five weeks after the 3-week Giro ends on May 31. Also, teammate Alberto Contador will be sitting out the Giro, which he won last year, but plans to race and win the Tour de France.
Other high-profile members of Astana include Leipheimer, Andreas Kloden, and Yaroslav Popovych.
Cycling blogger James Raia asks, “Can Armstrong be a team player?” Good question, considering he hasn't ridden as a domestique since the very early days of his career, and never at the Tour de France. Armstrong is quoted on the AP:
“I’m committed to riding for the best guy. If you’ve been away for three or four years, it would be silly for anybody to think I could pick up where I left off.”
Much has been made about Armstrong's volunteer drug-testing program with American anti-doping expert Don Catlin. Although Armstrong announced initially that Catlin would do the tests and post them publically, nothing has appeared on Catlin's website. The AP reported Sunday that Catlin and Armstrong are still in negotiations with the plan.
The most recent story in The Australian reports that the Catlin-Armstrong doping program will be in place by the Tour Down Under.
Here's a photo of Armstrong surfing. It seems that when we finally get used to seeing him in something besides cycling gear — such as running marathons — he appears in another sport.
Recent Comments