Lance Armstrong will be easy to spot in the Tour Down Under peloton beginning next weekend, regardless of whether he's wearing the leader's jersey.
The 37-year-old comeback cyclist has said he'll be wearing his own black-and-yellow kit during the week-long race and will be riding his own distinctively decorated Trek Madone 6.9 bike.
[Update: Jan. 11 — Armstrong said Saturday morning on Twitter that he'll wear Astana kit in races, but train in Livestrong gear. See the new Astana team jersey that features a yellow Livestrong band on the left sleeve.]
Armstrong is racing on Team Astana for no salary and no bonuses. He has said one of his main purposes in returning to cycling is to draw attention to the global epidemic of cancer. A good way to call attention is to fly the black and yellow colors of Livestrong.org.
Trek Madone
CyclingNews reports that a specially painted 58cm Trek Madone 6.9 is being prepared for delivery to Australia. James Huang writes:
“Armstrong will use the standard team build kit consisting of SRAM Red and Bontrager wheels and cockpit components. Almost assuredly, the bike will also be topped with Armstrong's signature Selle San Marco Concor Lite saddle.”
Paint job
The frame paint job is supposed to be a secret that will be unveiled in Australia. I saw a story and pictures on the Trek blog on Thursday, but that post had disappeared when I looked again on Friday. Luckily, the blogger, “Following the Return of Lance Armstrong,” found it in a cache and reported it on his Twitter account at BloggingLance.
The frame features lots of masking and detail work that racked up more than 40 hours in the shop. It's all paint, according to the Trek website; there's no decals.
Although it's the same bike as his teammates will ride, the other bikes sport Astana's blue and white paint job.
Meanwhile,
Picture above from bicykel.com at flickr.com
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