Armstrong to ride Tour de France. Of course.
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Lance Armstrong announced officially Monday that he would ride in the 2009 Tour de France. But that’s not a surprise, even though Armstrong wouldn’t initially include the world’s most famous cycling race on his comeback schedule.
When Armstrong came to San Diego a couple of weeks ago to conduct wind tunnel testing, his longtime trainer, Chris Carmichael, said there was no way he could see Armstrong riding other races this year. Not the Tour, Carmichael said, even though Armstrong had committed only to a handful of races including the Amgen Tour of California and the Giro d’Italia.
Now, Armstrong, 37, hopes to do something he never attempted during his record-breaking run of seven straight Tour de France titles from 1999 until his retirement after the 2005 race: complete the Giro d’Italia/Tour de France double.
Armstrong might want to punish what he has seen as bias against him both by the Tour de France organizers (who have vehemently suggested over the last three years that they believe Armstrong did not win without the help of illegal doping products). Or maybe he’s responding to the French fans whom Armstrong said he felt threatened by during past races.
But he is too competitive to make his comeback and then sit home for three weeks in July and ignore the world-famous race.
The Tour de France owners probably wouldn’t have been happy either.
So this is win-win for them too.
If Armstrong races and doesn’t win, they can keep suggesting Armstrong had more than his clear cycling ability and superior competitive spirit to fuel his dominance. If Armstrong races and wins again (and doesn’t test positive for anything after undergoing new tests that the Tour de France organizers consider the best in the world), then they can celebrate the champion they have tried to ignore for three years.
Either way, the race will be attention-grabbing.
-- Diane Pucin