Armstrong to return, ride in '09 Tour

penexpers

I like bikesnobnyc's reaction to it

http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/09/this-just-in-big-news-in-pro-cycling.html

E@gle.

Funkyzeit wrote: »

I think the chances of him coming back are pretty slim - In fact I'm so confident he won't come back if he does I'll do the Wicklow 200 in this outfit....shoes and all...

By any chance did you email this into Eurosport just there?

Chips Lovell

Looks like it might be confirmed now. Armstrong's spokesman told AP he's coming back and says he wants to win the Tour again. No team yet.

Funkyzeit

E@gle. wrote: »

By any chance did you email this into Eurosport just there?

Great spotting Eagle ! I did indeed. Was funny as Kelly was in the middle of talking about the World Championship team when Harmon prob opened it up - you could hear Kelly trying to keep in the laugh! They must be getting feck all emails as 3 I've sent in have been read out...

Funkyzeit

el tonto wrote: »

Looks like it might be confirmed now. Armstrong's spokesman told AP he's coming back and says he wants to win the Tour again. No team yet.

Front page on BBC aswell :eek:

In terms of Teams surely Garmin-Chip wouldn't be an option with their stance and Lance's 'questionable' history?

E@gle.

Funkyzeit wrote: »

Great spotting Eagle ! I did indeed. Was funny as Kelly was in the middle of talking about the World Championship team when Harmon prob opened it up - you could hear Kelly trying to keep in the laugh! They must be getting feck all emails as 3 I've sent in have been read out...

hehe but David Harmon quoted that you would were the mankini in the Sean kelly tour, so looks like your screwed cos hes coming back

rash

He's 12/1 on paddypower for TDF

only 4/1 on sportingbet.com

worth an each way bet?

Funkyzeit

E@gle. wrote: »

hehe but David Harmon quoted that you would were the mankini in the Sean kelly tour, so looks like your screwed cos hes coming back

I think Lance is trying to call my bluff...

E@gle.

rash wrote: »

He's 12/1 on paddypower for TDF

only 4/1 on sportingbet.com

worth an each way bet?

i wonder what those odds will be like tomorrow now thats its confirmed

Chips Lovell

Funkyzeit wrote: »

In terms of Teams surely Garmin-Chip wouldn't be an option with their stance and Lance's 'questionable' history?

Nor Columbia either, even if he does pine for Big George. Can't see him getting along with Riis, so CSC is out too.

Rock Racing is an obvious choice, given that it's American and Michael Ball loves stunts like this. But with a roster that includes Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Santi Botero, I doubt they'd get a Tour de France invite.

Katusha want to sign a GC contender and didn't get Sastre. You'd have to wonder who else. Barloworld? Quickstep?

Chips Lovell

Funkyzeit wrote: »

I think Lance is trying to call my bluff...

You know we are going to hold you to your word, right?

E@gle.

el tonto wrote: »

Rock Racing is an obvious choice, given that it's American and Michael Ball loves stunts like this. But with a roster that includes Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Santi Botero, I doubt they'd get a Tour de France invite.

I doubt he will go anywhere near Rock racing given some of their riders history


Everyone is saying Asanta but will they get a tour invite next year and what will Contador think of this.

Maybe not columbia due to fact that its basically T-mobile.

One think is for certain he will defiently be riding a Trek bike and its looking like Asanta

Funkyzeit

el tonto wrote: »

You know we are going to hold you to your word, right?

Of course - I just need the shoes...

Can't see it being Katyusha - the high profile of Armstrong might be what THEY need but could you see the Great American hero riding for 'Ruskies'?

TinyExplosions

E@gle. wrote: »

One think is for certain he will defiently be riding a Trek bike and its looking like Asanta

Pretty sure I read somewhere that Astana were dropping/being dropped by Trek...

niceonetom

i thought this was total bullshít when i first read it... i'm amazed it's true. lance didn't strike me as the punch-drunk-boxer type who always thinks he has one more victory in him. he went out on a high, and frankly, what has he got left to prove (even if he were to win the next tour those rumours will never go away)? i doubt he's short of a bob or two so it really does just sem that he can't hack retirement - even with leadville and marathons etc.

any team would be mad to turn him down in my opinion, but it surely has to be astana, doesn't it? no offence to berto but no one outside of cycling has ever heard of him so, from a purely mercenary perspective, armstrong will attract a lot of media, and sell a lot of merchandise.

@funkyzeit - in a recent european court ruling everything said on teh internetz is considered legally binding. look on the bright side though, at least you won't have people trying to hang onto your rear wheel at the next w200. *shudder

littleknown

so lance is back. dont know about you guys but the tour has certainly been a lot duller since he was out of it. just dont know if its a good decision really though. seems like a bit of a michael jordon moment. leave a great, come back and leave an alright.
says hes doing it to raise awareness for cancer. I reckon a lot of people are aware of it already but its a good gesture for sure.
win it again? i hope so, would be an unbelievable story as if it wasnt already.

Orizio

The TdF has been plenty entertaining over the last three years, for good and bad reasons.

I defintely don't want to see him comeback and dominate the sport like he did, although I think it more likely he will flat on his face. There isn't a hope in hell Astana will take him imo.

Chips Lovell

E@gle. wrote: »

Everyone is saying Asanta but will they get a tour invite next year and what will Contador think of this.

Maybe not columbia due to fact that its basically T-mobile.

One think is for certain he will defiently be riding a Trek bike and its looking like Asanta

Astana have already said he won't be riding for them.

Actually, they denied it first, but Cyclingnews now has Brunyeel saying that if he comes back it will more than likely be with them.

As for their invite, it was dependent on them keeping their nose clean. Not sure if the Gusev thing will go against them.

littleknown wrote: »

so lance is back. dont know about you guys but the tour has certainly been a lot duller since he was out of it.

I don't know about you, but I always find the Tour more interesting when I don't know who's going to win it beforehand.

Funkyzeit wrote: »

Can't see it being Katyusha - the high profile of Armstrong might be what THEY need but could you see the Great American hero riding for 'Ruskies'?

It was really a process of elimination, trying to figure who would have him. Kind of redundant now that Astana have said they may take him on.

Raam

I admire Lance's tenacity and grit, and I would love to see him back in the tour. I only started following cycle racing after he quit, so I never really got to see him in action.
I don't neccessarily like the man, having read his own books and a biography, but his drive sure as hell impresses me.
I don't think his winning the tour will be as much of a fore-gone conclusion as it may have been in the past and it certainly adds a very intriguing dimension to next years tour.

TinyExplosions

Raam wrote: »

I admire Lance's tenacity and grit, and I would love to see him back in the tour. I only started following cycle racing after he quit, so I never really got to see him in action.
I don't neccessarily like the man, having read his own books and a biography, but his drive sure as hell impresses me.
I don't think his winning the tour will be as much of a fore-gone conclusion as it may have been in the past and it certainly adds a very intriguing dimension to next years tour.

+1 -pretty much all you said applies to me too!

Chips Lovell

If he does join Astana, then it will be very interesting to see how the deal with having so many chiefs and so few Indians on the team. Contador must, rightly, feel that he should be top dog and I can't see him being too impressed having to share that billing with Armstrong at the Tour, if they're invited that is. Jean-Marie Leblanc said Armstrong had a lot of questions to answer, after the EPO was found in his samples from the 1999 Tour.

I'm sure Levi Leipheimer must be thinking he can't catch a break. He leaves Gerolsteiner to become the number one rider at Discovery only for them to hire Basso. He's then eclipsed by Contador. Andreas Kloeden mustn't be terribly optimistic about getting a run at the Tour next year either.

crashoveroid

Pat McQuaids response

McQuaid assesses Armstrong return

By Shane Stokes


Lance Armstrong's return to competitive cycling will guarantee many varied responses within the sport. Few would have predicted the Texan to come back over three years after he retired, and the big question is how successful he can be at 37 years of age?

"There's nothing to stop him coming back – there is no administrative, legal or sporting issue to stop him," Pat McQuaid told Cyclingnews on Tuesday. "From the UCI's point of view, he's free to race. He can come back but the question is if he can return to the same level; maybe he doesn't know that himself, maybe he just wants to see what he can do.

"He's been a superb athlete, both in coming back from cancer and in winning seven Tours."

Armstrong has said that he will compete in a completely transparent manner, undergoing regular anti-doping tests and releasing the results for scrutiny. McQuaid thinks this is a good idea. "He'll probably never shut up the no-gooders but it might give him the opportunity to prove he can do it clean."

The news only became official on Tuesday but McQuaid said that the planning had been going on before that. "His management contacted the UCI three or four months ago to request that he be put into the [testing] system. He's already been on it a couple of months so if he starts racing in February, he'll be in the system for the required six months.

"We really believe that the biological passport system is the way forward and if he came into that system and did the same [winning the Tour], it would show he is an incredible athlete."

McQuaid added that there was no point in looking back at past seasons, and wondering if performances were clean or not. "We have to move forward," he said.

liamtinney

I got an email from the Lance Armstrong Foundation
We wanted you to be the first to know – it's true.

There are times in life when the game changes, when you look at the world differently and you know you must do what's right.

So, once again, Lance is changing the game. Today, it's still not about the bike. It's about people, their families and friends fighting the greatest fight of their lives – both in the U.S. and around the world. It's about straight and open talk about cancer, breaking the silence and eliminating the stigma and discrimination survivors experience. It's about a moral obligation to fight this disease no matter who or where it strikes with everything we've got.

I spoke to a lot of people Yesterday even high up in the UCI and they all agreed that armstrong had the beaten of all the contenders in this years Tour,
WRIGHT, I will be at Wicklow just to see someone riding a bike in that outfit:

Chips Lovell

liamtinney wrote: »

I spoke to a lot of people Yesterday even high up in the UCI and they all agreed that armstrong had the beaten of all the contenders in this years Tour...

I was just thinking that last night. Watching Sastre win the Tour this year must have spurred him on a bit. Sastre's one of the riders Armstrong used to have for breakfast in his prime. Ditto for Evans.

I'm sure the fact that Vaughters and Garmin are now the media darlings in cycling must stick in his craw a bit as well.

liamtinney

el tonto wrote: »

I was just thinking that last night. Watching Sastre win the Tour this year must have spurred him on a bit. Sastre's one of the riders Armstrong used to have for breakfast in his prime. Ditto for Evans.

I'm sure the fact that Vaughters and Garmin are now the media darlings in cycling must stick in his craw a bit as well.

I know one of the reasons that he is coming back is, that he see that there is less drugs in the sport and he want to try now on even terms (yes I do believe he is drug free ) It does not matter what he does in the Tour but his return will bring cycling in to the main stream sports at least for a few more years, and that has to be a good thing, even the local radio here in donegal has had it in the local sports show followed by the tour of spain results wich is never reported on.

dedon

Seems strange to return now with Blood passports and all. Although there is no test for HGH

cantalach

I wonder how he's going to shift all that upper body muscle mass he seems to have put on over the last few years. In recent photos his build is more like that of a triathlete than a cyclist. Will it atrophy sufficiently between now and next spring?

Signal_ rabbit

Raam wrote: »

I admire Lance's tenacity and grit, and I would love to see him back in the tour. I only started following cycle racing after he quit, so I never really got to see him in action.
I don't neccessarily like the man, having read his own books and a biography, but his drive sure as hell impresses me.
I don't think his winning the tour will be as much of a fore-gone conclusion as it may have been in the past and it certainly adds a very intriguing dimension to next years tour.

TinyExplosions wrote: »

+1 -pretty much all you said applies to me too!

And me, i read all the books and think he's very arrogant, but after what he's done i also think he's entitled to be. I respect him as a super athlete and he has done much for the sport.
Not sure why he is coming back, if we are to believe him and thats its to raise awareness for cancer, then i think thats very commendable.

Problem is that if he does win the TDF 2009 then the sceptics will be out in force and claiming that he did it with substance help.

Fredo

Signal_ rabbit wrote: »

Problem is that if he does win the TDF 2009 then the sceptics will be out in force and claiming that he did it with substance help.

The anti Lance Armstrong journalists from the French newpaper "l'equipe" will probably write pages and pages on the subject.

Morgan

From the horses mouth:

http://www.livestrong.com/lance2009/