Lance to Return to Tour de France

[TexasTerror]

And race for Astana, a team that was not allowed to compete last year. Astana is going to be stacked!

Alberto Contador
Andreas Klöden
and Lance Armstrong

[UNHWildCats]

WOW WOW WOW

[Grizzaholic]

I cannot believe this. Well...I guess I will root for him but I will probably not watch a single minute of it due to the daily DQ's for doping in the last one.

[whitey]

Awesome.

[appfan2008]

Well that is sweet because I enjoyed watching the tour this year and if lance is in it... that will make it so much better

[OhioHen]

And race for Astana, a team that was not allowed to compete last year. Astana is going to be stacked!

Alberto Contador
Andreas Klöden
and Lance Armstrong

And Levi Leipheimer - currently leading the Vuelta.

[OhioHen]

Armstrong's return is just a rumor. Astana has no plans for him.

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_ylt=ApdP0qYFKdWrPTxPS15dl4U5nYcB?slug=ap-armstrong-comeback&prov=ap&type=lgns

[TexasTerror]

More and more reports today that he's coming back...

Still not sure whether Astana is in the plans...

[TexasTerror]

Tomorrow, we will know a lot more...

And now we have Contador interested in jetting if L.A comes to Astana...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6017710.html

MADRID, Spain — If Lance Armstrong joins the Astana cycling team for his comeback, then Alberto Contador is ready to leave.

"I think I've earned the right to be the leader of a team without having to fight for my place," the Spanish rider said Tuesday in AS newspaper. "And with Armstrong some difficult situations could arise in which the team would put him first and that would hurt me."

Contador, the 2007 Tour de France champion, won the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday.

"My intention is to stay (at Astana) because I have a contract until 2010, but I have already received a good number of offers from other teams," he said.

[TexasTerror]

Kazaks say Astana...


ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will join Team Astana for his return to competitive cycling, the Kazakh Cycling Federation said Wednesday.

Federation deputy chief Nikolai Proskurin told The Associated Press that Armstrong agreed to ride for the Kazakhstan-based team for free the first year and has signed up to take part in five races, including the Tour de France.

Armstrong was to make a formal announcement at a news conference in New York later Wednesday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=3605867

[appfan2008]

i look forward to watching him... what an incredible athlete

[citdog]

the french will not be happy with the advantage armstrong gets from having only one nut.

[TexasTerror]

the french will not be happy with the advantage armstrong gets from having only one nut.

The happiest folks in all of this with be Versus. Their ratings just doubled, if not tripled from last year...easily, for this upcoming year's Tour de France.

[tribe_pride]

Tomorrow, we will know a lot more...

And now we have Contador interested in jetting if L.A comes to Astana...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6017710.html

MADRID, Spain — If Lance Armstrong joins the Astana cycling team for his comeback, then Alberto Contador is ready to leave.

"I think I've earned the right to be the leader of a team without having to fight for my place," the Spanish rider said Tuesday in AS newspaper. "And with Armstrong some difficult situations could arise in which the team would put him first and that would hurt me."

Contador, the 2007 Tour de France champion, won the Spanish Vuelta on Sunday.

"My intention is to stay (at Astana) because I have a contract until 2010, but I have already received a good number of offers from other teams," he said.

Don't know a ton about cycling but it seems like each team focuses on only 1 guy so I can't say I'd blame him if he wanted to go somewhere else. Armstrong wouldn't come back if he wasn't the man on the team.

[TexasTerror]

Don't know a ton about cycling but it seems like each team focuses on only 1 guy so I can't say I'd blame him if he wanted to go somewhere else. Armstrong wouldn't come back if he wasn't the man on the team.

Each team has goals within the team. For Lance's Discovery team, the goal was to place him on top of the stand and get Poppy to win the white jersey...just numerous goals, but typically, you are right -- just one guy for the overall general classification...a strong team may be able to push a few guys that way...