By now you've probably heard this new, but yesterday Lance Armstrong confirmed that he'll be racing in the 2009 Tour de France. The announcement came via the Team Astana website.
Since he announced his return to the sport of cycling a few months back, there has been a lot of speculation as to which races Lance would participate in next year, with the Tour being an obvious choice given that he's won the event seven times. Armstrong is also focused on competing in the Giro d'Italia, an event that he has never competed in before.
The real question is what does this do for the dynamics of Astana. The team is led by 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador, who is widely considered the best young rider in the world. Will Lance be able to play second fiddle to Contador should he be given a push in the 2009 Tour? Will Contator even hang around to find out, or instead jump to another team? I guess at this point only time will tell, but the whole affair has to the potential to blow up in Astana's face.
Of course, the average American sports fan doesn't know about all that or even care. They're just happy to see Lance riding again. This time he's riding for a cause, which is to promote cancer research, something that is obviously very important to him. He'll also be subjecting himself to regular and extensive drug testing and posting result online for everyone to see. It seems Lance not only want to return to the sport of cycling, but he wants to also silence his doubters in the process.
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