AUSTIN // Professional cycling is set for a much-needed injection of star power with the announcement that Lance Armstrong is breaking out of his three-year retirement and aiming to win yet another Tour de France. In a formal statement, Armstrong, 36, described his comeback as an attempt to raise global awareness in his fight against cancer. Just as likely, it's also about his relentless desire to compete and win, especially at the Tour de France, the race he won a record seven times from 1999-2005. Citing the slow pace of last year's Tour and the rush he got from competing in last month's domestic Leadville 100 mountain bile race, Armstrong decided it was time to return to the Tour in 2009.
"This kind of obscure bike race, totally kick-started my engine," he told Vanity Fair in an exclusive interview, referring to the lung-searing 100-mile race through the Colorado Rockies. "I'm going to try and win an eighth Tour de France." Armstrong's victories over cancer and opponents on the bike, his work for cancer awareness and his gossip-page romances have made him a modern-day American icon.
Professional cycling, and particularly the Tour, has missed Armstrong, even though sceptics refused to believe he could win without the help of illegal performance-enhancing substances. This time, Armstrong is determined to silence the doubters and try to prove he really is clean. He's even hired a video crew to chronicle his training for 2009, as well as his drug tests, for a possible documentary.
"There's this perception in cycling that this generation is now the cleanest generation we've had in decades, if not forever," said Armstrong, who has never tested positive. "And the generation that I raced with was the dirty generation. ... So there is a nice element here where I can come with really a completely comprehensive programme and there will be no way to cheat."
The 2009 Tour "is the intention," Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins said, "but we've got some homework to do over there". Armstrong, who turns 37 next week, plans to train in Aspen, Colorado in rigorous conditions similar to what he would face in Europe. Only one rider older than 34 has ever won the Tour - 36-year-old Firmin Lambot in 1922. And Armstrong wasn't impressed by the crop of younger riders in the 2008 Tour.
"It's not a secret. I mean, the pace was slow," he said. *AP