2009 Lance Armstrong Racing Calendar:
- Jan. 20-25: Tour Down Under (29th overall)
- Feb. 14-22: Amgen Tour of California (7th overall)
- Mar. 29-30: Critérium International (Likely)
- March: Paris-Nice Classic (Rumored)
- May 9-31: Giro d’Italia (Confirmed)
- July 4-26: Tour de France (CONFIRMED!)
- Aug 19-23: Tour of Ireland (Confirmed)
Race: Tour Down Under
Date: January 20-25 2009
Location: Australia
Bio: The first race on the 2009 UCI Pro Tour Calendar. A six day stage race through Oz. Organizers expect over 500k fans to attend this years staging. In 2008 the Tour Down Under became the first race outside of Europe to gain UCI Pro Tour status.
Previous Champions:
- 2008: Andre Greipel (Germany), High Road
- 2007: Martin Elmiger (Switzerland), Ag2r
- 2006: Simon Gerrans (Australia), Ag2r
Lance Status: Confirmed.
Results: 29th Overall. Lance Finished 29th overall in the Tour Down Under, solid start!
Official Race Website: http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/2009/
Race: Amgen Tour of California
Date: February 14-22 2009
Location: California, USA
Bio: Started in 2006 the Tour of California one of the two major races in the USA (Along with Tour of Georgia). Previously it was a seven stage race that started in San Francisco and finished in Los Angeles. The 2009 event has been expanded to nine stages and includes a new finish in San Diego.
Previous Champions:
- 2009: Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana Team
- 2008: Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana Team
- 2007: Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
- 2006: Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak Hearing Systems
Results: Overall: 7th – 31.30′07″ + 00.01′46″. Lance looked to be in good racing form throughout the Tour of California protecting his man Levi Leipheimer and leading out for him on many of the tougher climbs. Lance didn’t come away with any stage wins but winning stages or the overall title clearly weren’t his goal for this race, his goal was to provide support for Levi Leipheimer. With Levi winning the yellow jersey for his third straight year and Astana taking the team overall win in front of record crowds it has to be considered a very successful tour for Lance and his mates.
- Prologue (TT): 10th – 00.04′37″ + 00.00′05″
- Stage 1: 10th 04.12′14″ + 00.01′07″
- Stage 2: 13th 05.06′41″ + 00.00′21″
- Stage 3: 64th 04.28′12″ + 00.00′00
- Stage 4: 82nd 04.42′38″ + 00.00′00″
- Stage 5: 19th 05.07′28″ + 00.00′00″
- Stage 6 (TT): 14th 00.31′56″+ 00.01′16″
- Stage 7: 44th 03.27′02″ + 00.02′19″
- Stage 8: 31st 03.49′19″ + 00.00′40″
Official Race Website: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/
Race: Criterium International
Date: March 29-30 2009
Location: France
Bio: The Critérium International is a two day bicycle stage race held in France every spring. It was formerly known as the Critérium National de la Route, first run in 1932.
For many years it was considered a sort of French national championship and was only opened to non-French cyclists in 1979.1
Previous Champions:
- 2008: Jens Voigt (Germany), Team CSC
- 2007: Jens Voigt (Germany), Team CSC
- 2006: Ivan Basso (Italy), Team CSC
Lance Status: Likely. Lance has mentioned the Criterium in several interviews2 and with no mountain stages it would seem more of a possibility, although criterium’s are notorious for spectacular crashes.
Official Race Website: http://www.letour.fr/2008/CRI/COURSE/us/index.html
Race: Paris-Nice Classic
Date: March ? 2009
Location: France
Bio: One of the most famous stage races among the ‘Spring Classics’ in Europe.
Previous Champions:
- 2008: Davide Rebellin (Italy), Gerolsteiner
- 2007: Alberto Contador (Spain), Discovery Channel
- 2006: Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak
Lance Status: Rumored. It’s been brought up by several sources as a possible stop on the lance comeback tour. Making a stop at arguably the most famous European classic on the Pro Tour would be a good fit for his comeback and Lance has specifically mentioned the importance of France as one of Europe’s largest countries in his campaign against Cancer.
Official Race Website: http://www.letour.fr/2008/PNC/COURSE/us/index.html/
Race: Giro d’Italia
Date: May 9-31 2009
Location: Italy
Bio:
Previous Champions:
- 2008: Alberto Contaro (Spain), Astana
- 2007: Danilo Di Luca (Italy), Liquigas
- 2006: Ivan Basso (Italy), Team CSC
Lance Status: Confirmed. Lance accepted an invitation to the 100th anniversary Giro on October 13th.
Official Race Website: ?
Race: Tour de France
Date: July 4-26 2009
Location: France
Bio:
Previous Champions:
- 2008: Carlos Sastre (Spain), CSC
- 2007: Alberto Contaro (Spain), Discovery Channel
- 2006: Óscar Pereiro (Spain), Caisse d’Epargne
- 1999-2005:Lance Armstrong (USA), US Postal Service/Discovery Channel
Lance Status: CONFIRMED. Lance ended a long period of speculation by officially announcing on December 1st 2008 that he will start the 2009 Tour de France. The quest for 8 yellow jerseys is on!
Official Race Website:http://www.letour.fr/
Date: Aug 19-23 2009
Location: Ireland
Bio:
Previous Champions:
- 2008: Marco Pinotti (Italy), Team Columbia
- 2007: Stijn Vandenbergh (Belgium), Unibet.com Cycling Team
- 1992: Phil Anderson (Australia), Motorola
- 1991:Seán Kelly (Ireland), PDM-Cidona
Lance Status: Confirmed. Lance announced his participation on his Twitter account on Feb 22nd.
Official Race Website:http://www.tourofireland.ie
Citations:
- Wikipedia.org, Criterium International [↩]
- Cycling News, Armstrong looking for balance [↩]
2 Responses
My mother died of cancer at age 73, my friend Mike died at age 50. My girlfriend who is a Doctor has been treated for cancer. Go Lance!
Cycling and moutaineering is my game. hikerJohn
Posted on January 8th, 2009 at 12:34 am
[...] Cycling up L’Alpe d’Huez This is the only list of confirmed races from Lance I can find. I doubt very much that he will do [...]
Posted on February 11th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Add A Comment