Word just came in from Lance Armstrong’s twitter account that his TT bike has been recovered by the Sacramento Police! Good news since it is a one of a kind machine worth 20,000 and more importantly specifcally tuned for Lance.
Video with Sacramento Police: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpDeNz2Xcfg
photo by: Darcy McCarty
photo by: eugene
Breaking news: Lance has officially confirmed he will start the 2009 Tour de France! After months of doubt and rumors Lance today made official what many may have suspected from the seven time former champion. This post will be updated with more details as soon as possible.
Viva Lance!!
photo by: alex_lee2001
With their first Astana training camp together starting today in Spain’s Canary Islands Contador had some interesting words regarding the team leader position and his teammate Lance Armstrong.
“If we both stick to our schedules, there won’t be a problem1”
It’s a curiously worded statement since neither riders official schedules have been announced yet. Contador has stated many times though his main objective for this season is the Tour De France and as of now it’s the one race that’s noticeably missing from Armstrong’s rumored schedule. So in other words Alberto seems to be saying “If Lance decides to race the Tour there will be a problem”. Is Contador ruling out the possibility that Lance could even ride the Tour as a supporting man for team Astana without causing problems?
Alberto did sprinkle in some lines of praise throughout the interview saying “I’m convinced he (Lance) will strengthen the team” and “For me, it’s a pleasure to be in the same team as a man whom I have always admired.1”. “Be in the same team” though also strikes me as an odd way to phrase it (though this could be just a language translation issue), instead of something like “ride alongside”, “work together in mountains”, or “challenge myself against the best rider in Tour history”.
Astana training camp runs through December 8th in Spain and I’ll keep you posted with any news as hopefully reports of Armstrong’s racing condition will also to be reported.
photo by: richardmasoner
Recent news in Italy from the Gazzetta dello Sport and reported by the Associated Press1 are claiming that Lance and his manager Johan Bruyneel will meet with Tour de France organizers before he makes a decision on whether he will ride in 2009. It’s a question that’s been a mystery every since he announced his comeback. Apparently the two sides had tried to set up a meeting shortly after the event announcing the 2009 Tour route2, but that meeting never materialized. It’s still unclear when this reported meeting will take place but it seems the result could be a huge factor in determining his status for the 2009 Tour.
photo by: per0ni
With the Giro d’ Italia still seven months away, the anticiapation for the event continues to rise. This year promised to be a big one for the Giro if for nothing else than it will be the celebration of the Giro’s 100th anniversary.
While anniversary guaranteed some additional coverage and excitement it’s who’s riding (and who’s not) in this years edition of the Giro that has the cycling world buzzing. Last month Lance Armstrong joined reighning Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre and former Giro winners Ivan Basso and Damiano Cunego when he accepted his invitation to the 2009 Giro.
It’s a decision that’s added another layer of complexity to the some of the biggest remaining question marks surrounding Lance’s comeback… Will he ride the 2009 Tour de France? And, if he does race will it be as team leader?
A Basso vs. Armstrong battle (unlikely Sastre will vie for overall win) in the Italian mountains could make for a very dramatic event and a throwback to 2005 when Basso finished runner up to Lance in his final Tour. It’s still unclear whether either will be pushing to win the Giro or instead using it as training for the Tour de France. Part of the speculation stems from the fact that the last rider to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same year was Marco Pantani in 1999. Common wisdom since ‘99 seems to be that a team leader with serious hopes of winning the Tour either skips the Giro (as Lance did in his run of seven wins from ‘99-’05) or plays a supporting role attempting to propel a teamate onto the podium. Sastre for one has made it clear he’s using the event as his major preparation for the Tour and to test the legs of his new team.
As for who’s not racing? Namely one man, Alberto Contador. The 2007 Tour de France champ and Lance’s Astana teamate has decided to skip this years Giro to focus on the Tour. Contador, who is the defeding champion at the Giro d’Italia, says he’ll race the Vuelta d’Espana instead as preparation for his main focus on the Tour de France.
Contador’s decision and the class of the Giro field are giving more strength to a growing theory, and one even Armstrong has cited as a possiblity, where Lance would make the Giro the main focus of his 2009 racing comeback. Althought it’s not a surprising move by Contador to skip the Giro (he is named by almost all as the tour favorite) it does leave the door wide open for Lance. With such a strong Astana team behind him, and likely one much less prone to conflict around the team leader position (Lance would still be up against his strong teamates of Levi Leipheimer and Andres Kloden), it could be a great opportunity for Lance to pick up a grand tour win and major attention for his fight against cancer
If Lance could make the podium, or win in any of the major Grand Tours this year it would have to be considered by most to be a successful comeback after three years off. With his continued talk of a multi year comeback and insistence that he doesn’t need the Tour to define him in his return the Giro is looking more and more like Lance’s main event for 2009.
photo by: joshgray
Could Lance’s comeback be more than a one year deal? Returning to professional cycling after three years off at age 37 was surprising enough, so few people have discussed the possibility that his comeback would be anything more than a one year encore. But a recent quote from Lance suggests that he hasn’t ruled out racing in 2010!
“I don’t want to rule out a second year, but I don’t want to guarantee it either,” Armstrong told the newspaper. “My performance will determine a lot of it. 1”
Could Lance be leaving the door open should he not win the 2009 Tour so he can go out on top in 2010? Or could he be leaving it open in case he does win and wants to add onto his record number of titles? Maybe he would try to capture the other two grand tour titles (Giro d’Italia & Vuelta de Espana)?
Lance also shed some light on whether or not he would race in the 2009 Tour de France:
“I’m definitely coming back to racing, and I recognize the Tour is the marquee event,” Armstrong told the Austin American-Statesman. “Chances are more likely than not that I’ll [ride in the Tour de France]. 1”
“More likely than not” would imply that Johan Bruyneel’s recent statement2 about a start being 50-50 is at least one percentage point off!
photo from: Tour de France Official Website
Tour organizers unveiled the route for the 2009 Tour de France 1 on Wednesday. The course has lots of surprises including a 15k time trial intro stage in Monaco, the return of the team time trial, and a massive climb up Mount Ventoux in the penultimate stage.
The route seems well fitted for Lance and his initial reactions to the course confirm that he seems to very satisfied with the setup.
“From its start in Monte Carlo with a 15k time trial, to the reinstatement of the team time trial, to stages in my old hometown of Girona all the way to another visit to my old friend the Ventoux, I could not have hoped for a different Tour. 2”
Lance also spoke highly of the committee which have shown somewhat reserved enthusiasm for the return of such a dominant man in cycling history:
“While there has been a fair bit of tension and numerous disagreements with the Tour and its organizers, I am well aware that there is new leadership at ASO and I look forward to upcoming conversations and to a mutually beneficial future together,” Armstrong said.
“Whether it’s promoting the Livestrong global cancer campaign or making the biggest bike race in the world the gem that it deserves to be, I look forward to next year. 3”
The new attitude is part of a new Lance, a man who seems much less bothered by what reporters say about him and much more concerned with the bigger picture and his fight against cancer.
“I mean, these daily or weekly [phone conferences]? Everyone’s invited. From the bitterest of rivals I’ve ever had in the pressroom: Get on call. If you’ve got a question, ask it.… They’ll realize that I’m not messing around…The constituency that I represent is now cancer survivors. 4”
Lance has come to terms that there are some people who just don’t like him or won’t ever stop suspecting him for doping.
““the people like who they like and don’t like who they don’t like. They make up their own mind. The papers loved to write that I was the most hated athlete in France, but I’m the guy who rides through that kind of shit. They don’t sit on the bike with me and so, you know, out of 100 people, did you have 10 people throwin’ shit at you, yellin’, ‘Dopé, dopé’? Yeah. But you had 90 goin’, ‘Allez Lance! Allez Lance!’ I can do the math on that. My approval rating is 90 percent. Fuckin’ A. I like that. 4”
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photo by: Lanci Daniele
Lance Armstrong has accepted an invitation to ride in the 2009 Giro d’Italia. The Giro is one of the three “Grand” tours, along with the Vuelta a España and the Tour de France.
Lance has never competed in the long three week stage race considered the second most prestigious in professional cycling. This year will mark the 100th running of the Giro in what should be an incredible event.
As many hardcore Lance fans know, historically his racing schedule has always focused around the Tour de France, with minimal events during the season and especially around July. It was a routine that came at the expense of the Giro as well as some of the great “One day Classics” during the summer in Europe.
But Lance’s 2009 scheduling philosophy is proving to be very different, and he even mentions regretting not previously riding in the Giro:
“I will give my utmost, and not only to prepare for the Tour,” Armstrong said in a statement from race organiser RCS Sport. “Not having taken part in the Giro was one of my biggest regrets as a rider. Finally I will be able to do it. It will be the Centenary Giro and I know how much that means for Italians. Everyone says it will be only to prepare for the Tour [de France] but, instead, it could be a case that I go to Italy to win and that the Giro will be my true three-week stage race. 1”
The move does bring some some skepticism around his chances at winning an eighth Tour de France. The Giro is less than a month away from the Tour (2009 Giro ends May 31, 2009 Tour de France starts July 4th) and it’s a grueling three week race in it’s own right, a few of the reasons Lance has avoided it in the past. As Lance mentioned in the quote above many would consider it good training since he has been away from the sport for three years. However with the Contador situation and other factors in play there is a possibility he could make the Giro the focus of his comeback as Lance notes.
It’s going to be very interesting to watch as the season progresses! It’s clear Lance’s main motive behind this comeback is spreading his message on cancer around the world and he’s able to use international cycling races as perfect venues for that.
But nobody can doubt that Armstrong hates to loose. Lance is one of the most dedicated and fanatical trainers in the history of sport, or any sport. His name, especially for Americans, has become almost synonymous with the Tour de France, the only professional cycling race that exists in the minds of many US Sports fans.
Keep checking the site for more news about the Giro and Lance’s comeback! Subscribe to the rss feed and you’ll always be up to date with every new post!
photo by: cobber_cpd
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has officially cleared Lance to ride in the 2009 Tour Down Under. Lance had pinpointed the Tour Down Under as the first race in his comeback season. It’s the first official event of the 2009 Pro Tour.
There had been some questions whether he would be able to ride since the UCI policy had been that an athlete had to enroll with their national anti doping agency six months prior to racing in a Pro Tour event. Lance did enroll in the US Anti Doping program some months ago, but the strict sixth month period would have put his earliest date to race at Feb 1, 2009.
The UCI decided to allow an exception for Armstrong mainly because the six month rule was devised four years ago, and the their drug testing standards are much higher than they were when the rule was written.
“Riders are now subject to a much-reinforced system of monitoring compared to that of the past,” the governing body said in a statement. “Lance Armstrong has and will be the subject of very strict monitoring throughout the period running up to his return to the peloton.1”
Lance has taken extra measures in terms of drug testing for his comeback. He’s hired a film crew to document his comeback and his training and also hired a personal doping expert Don Catlin. Catlin, who started the orginal US anti doping effort in 1982, will make Lance samples available to the public online as hs blood to be analyzed later to be tested later if new doping tests are developed.
So It’s official, Lance will ride in the 2009 Tour Down Under in Australia on Jan. 20-25 in his first pro tour event since he retired three years ago.
Viva Lance!
photo by: NickBarlow
It’s been a constant part of the rumors surrounding Armstrong’s comeback, that should Lance return he would most likely ride for his longtime friend and manager Johan Bruyneel. But it was complicated, Astana had been suspended from last year’s tour as a penalty for doping charges in the previous tour (though almost none of that team remained on the 08 squad), but most importantly the team was already loaded with talent, and GC contenteders including ‘07 Champion Alberto Contador, Andres Kloden and fellow American Levi Leiepheimer.
But at a press conference in New York following his speech at the Clinton Global Initiative, Lance officially declared his intention to join Astana for the 09 season. Lance won’t receive any salary or bonuses as a member of Astana.
“Everybody in cycling has a team and takes a team salary,” he says. “I am essentially racing for free. No salary. No bonus. Nothing on the line.… This one’s on the house. And you know what? At the end of the day, I don’t need money.… Not only will I be fine, my kids will be fine, my grandkids will be fine.1”
Armstrong has made it clear that his main motivation for returning to cycling is to take his fight on cancer to the global stage and not neccesarily to win an eight Tour de France. Anyone who knows Lance though knows he’s not going to half ass his comeback. Since retiring he’s already run two marathons (which he called the ‘hardest physical thing he’s ever done’ and keeps in top physical shape, most recently competing in one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world.
As Lance says:
“I don’t like to lose in anything. Anything.1”
photo by: Bob AuBuchon
Early reports of a Lance comeback had Astana leader and fresh Tour of Spain victor Alberto Contador on the defensive about his role as team leader and the possibility of Lance joining his team. Contador even suggested that he might quit the team if Lance was added.
“It would be quite complicated. I think I’ve earned the right to be the leader of a team without having to fight for it,” Contador said.
“And with Armstrong, there could be difficult situations in which the team would put him first and that would harm me. 2”
Nonetheless early interviews with Contador following Lance’s formal announcement to join Astana have revealed he has no plans as of yet to quit the team and that his manager has assured him he’s still the top rider on the team. Bruyneel also added that Lance has clear motive for returning and that Contador was under contract with the team anyway for another two years.
“I have invested a lot of my time into Alberto’s development and he will remain with this team for the next two years,” said the Astana manager (Johna Bruyneel) in a team statement on Thursday.
“Actually, it’s pretty simple – there’s a contract and there are no options to leave. 3”
