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It’s not the Tour de France or even international pro racing, but Lance Armstrong can’t lose. He’s now three-for-three in regional competition since announcing his comeback in September.

Armstrong, 37 claimed the 27-mile the Rocky Hill Roundup in Smithville, the finals of the Texas Cup Series mountain bike race Sunday by 48 seconds.

Armstrong rode early in 10th position, but then was part of a three-rider break in the reace in moderately steep single-track fire trails. When a slight gap opened, Armstrong took advantage and rode to an easy win.

Last weekend, Armstrong won the individual time trial was also victorious in the two-man team time trial and the Tour de Gruene, near his home is Austin, Texas.

Armstrong is scheduled to return to the pro road peloton, Jan. 20-25 in the Tour Down Under beginning in Adelaide, Australia.

Alberto Contador

Alberto Contador of Spain, winner of the 2008 Tour of Italy, will not defend his title in 2009, opting instead to focus on winning a second Tour de France title. Contador, who rides for Astana, won the Tour de France in 2007, but his squad wasn’t invited to cycling’s prestige event this year because of past doping offenses. The team hasn’t officially been invited to the 2009 event, either, But it’s expected to receive a position in the race.

Contador’s announcement seems like a savvy move by Astana. Since Lance Armstrong, the newest Astana team member, will competed in the Tour of Italy as his first grand tour since coming out of retirement, he will avoid racing against his own teammate.

Likewise, Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France, recently said he’s unsure he would vie for his eighth title. Of course, that would again allow Armstrong and Contador to avoid direct competition.

Contador also won this year’s Tour of Spain, the final grand tour of the season, in September.

Every year, lots of folks try to speculate what route Tour de France organizers will select for the following year’s event. The starting city of the cycling’s most prestigious event is usually known a year in advance. But the rest is kept secret until the annual fall unveiling.

This year, the presentation will occur Wednesday, Oct. 22 in its usual lavish presentation at the Palais des Congres in Paris.
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It’s official: Lance Armstrong’s return to competitive road cycling will now also include the centennial of the Tour of Italy next May.

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong, 37, who last month announced his return to competitive road racing, said Monday in a video on the web site of the Italian daily sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, he will race in the 100th anniversary of the event called the “la corsa rosa” beginning May 9.

If Armstrong keeps to his previously announced pending schedule, he would also have another career first – a Grand Tour double – by competing in the Tour of Italy and Tour de France, which begins July 4 in Monaco.

Armstrong previously rode in the Tour of Spain, the final of three yearly Grand Tours (three-week races), in 1998. He finished fourth.

Details of the 2009 Tour of Italy route will be revealed in December.

Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, retired after winning his seventh consecutive title in July 2005. He will make his return to road cycling Jan. 20, 2009 at the Tour Down Under beginning in Adelaide, Australia. He’s also commited to race in the Tour of California, beginning Feb. 14 in Sacramento.

Lance Armstrong has endured a lot in 37 years, but he’s never done what’s called a Grand Tour double. But he might do it in 2009.

A Tour of Italy stage.

Armstrong has been officially invited to the 2009 Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) by race director Angelo Zomegnan, according to the Italian daily sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport. Zomegnan is the former sports editor of the newspaper.

The Tour of Italy will celebrate its centenary next May; Amstrong has never ridden in the Tour of Italy. The seven-time Tour de France winner is set to begin comeback next January in the Tour Down Under, beginning January 20 in Adelaide. He’s also confirmed his participation in the 2009 Tour de France beginning July 4.

Last month, Armstrong hinted he’d like to race in the Giro, adding that not competing in the event was one of the regrets of his career.

“Not participating in the Giro was a regret of mine,” said Armstrong. “I would love to try that, with their 100th year anniversary,” Armstrong said. “I’ve never done it before. There’s no precedent, it’s definitely a departure. It depends on how you race a Giro. If you went to win and raced to win, I would be concerned that you couldn’t recover in time (for the Tour de France). Considering that I haven’t raced the past three and a half years, part of this is needing some race days, more that I normally got in other years.”

The 2009 Tour of Italy will be held May 9-31.

Be prepared, Adelaide. The Lance Armstrong machine is coming to your city in the not-so-distant future.

Armstrong receive permission Wednesday to compete in the Tour Down Under after cycling’s international governing body announced it has decided not to adhere to a strict rule that would prevent the rider’s hopeful return next January.

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, recently announced his intention to return after more than a three-year absence. The weeklong race begins Jan. 18 in Adelaide.

Under the guidelines of the Union Cycliste International (UCI), a retired rider may only return to competition by informing UCI six months in advance, in order to be available for out-of-competition dope testing.

Despite the race coming four months after the American’s decision to return, the UCI has dropped the requirement.

“The aim of Article 77 … can be better achieved through careful application of the current methods of the anti-doping programme than by the strict application of a time period,” UCI said in a statement.

“The UCI can confirm Lance Armstrong has and will be the subject of very strict monitoring throughout the period running up to his return to the peloton.”

Armstrong, 37, will ride in the event with Astana, the Kazakhstan-backed team directed by Johan Bruyneel. The former pro also directed Armstrong during his Tour de France titles.

All of a sudden, old pros are getting on their bikes again.

Alexander Vinokourov

First, it was Lance Armstrong. And now, welcome back to the peloton Raul Alcala. and if he has his way, Alexandre Vinokorouv will join Armstrong in the pro ranks in 2009.

To the surprise of almost everyone in the sport (with the exception of close friends), Raul Alcala, 44, is racing competitively for the first time in 14 years this week in the Vuelta Chichuahua in Mexico. continue reading…

Jan Ullrich

The cyclist who shadowed Lance Armstrong as his most competitive rival during his first career believes the seven-time Tour de France winner is capable of winning an eighth title next July.

Jan Ullrich of Germany, who won the Tour de France in 1997 and finished second to Armstrong three times in cycling’s most prestigious event, was surprised by the 37-year-old cyclist’s announcement of his pending return.

“But I find it good,” Ullrich said. “Lance is drawing the attention of the world to cycling. “I think it’s possible for him to win once again in France. If he is prepared mentally, the body will be capable of doing it.”

Ullrich, 34, retired in February 2007 amid doping allegations he has denied.

With regard to Armstrong’s refusal to have his frozen urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France retested for performance-enhancing drugs, Ullrich said he would respond the same way Armstrong has to the French anti-doping organization.

“Why should he (Armstrong) do something he doesn’t have to do?” said Ullrich, who added he’s not interested in a comeback. “I wouldn’t do it either, as a matter of principle.”

Lance Armstrong

The latest round of egos in the Lance Armstrong versus French anti-doping authorities has unfolded. The country’s national agency (AFLD) has offered to test controversial samples taken from Lance Armstrong from the Tour de France eight years ago.

According to a report on VeloNews.com, the AFLD said it woud re-test the sample reported suspect in a 2005 article in L’Equipe, the daily sports newspaper owned by the company that owns the Tour de France. continue reading…