Armstrong ready for Tour de France

Slides
Photos

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-02 10:26

PARIS: Lance Armstrong knows his aging legs are not as strong as they used to be. But he still feels capable of clinching an eighth Tour de France even though - if necessary - he would put his own ambitions on hold if it means helping his teammate Alberto Contador win.

Contador, the 2007 winner, and Armstrong will ride for the Astana team in the three-week race that starts with a timetrial in Monaco on Saturday - sparking speculation as to whether the two Tour champions can ride together, or whether they will be divided by their own fierce ambitions.

The 37-year-old Armstrong won the last of his record seven straight Tours in 2005, and his surprise comeback has cycling fans across the world eager to see whether he can add an eighth win to his already gleaming cycling legend.

"Now it's 2009, not 2004, 2005 or 2001, that's different," Armstrong said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "I would love to be eternally young, but I'm not. That's just the reality."

"It's not gonna be easy to win (the Tour)," Armstrong added. "In December and January, I thought it would be easier. It ends up being more difficult than I thought. Perhaps because of the crash, of the complicated season or simply because I'm older now."

Armstrong ready for Tour de France

Looking ahead, Armstrong said he would be willing to support Contador if the Spaniard proves likelier to win the grueling three-week race.

"Out of respect for him (Contador), out of respect for the team and out of respect for the rules of cycling, I would do it with pleasure," Armstrong said by telephone after previewing the 18th stage of the Tour, a timetrial in Annecy.

When riders take the start line in Monaco, just one rider - the 40-year-old Spaniard Inigo Cuesta - is likely to be older than Armstrong. The Tour's oldest winner is Belgium's Firmin Lambot, who was 36 when he won in 1922.

Although Armstrong knows the odds are against him, he would just love to prove his doubters wrong.

"They would say that my time has come and gone and that I'm too old, that it's very complicated, that there are other riders now," Armstrong said.

"I know those things and you could use those for motivation. I know where I am. I've studied my performances in training very closely, and I'm excited to race. I'm not sure that I can win, but I can tell you that the person who thinks that I get tenth (in the general classification) ... he is dead wrong."

Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer to win his first Tour in 1999, finished in a credible 12th place recently in the Giro d'Italia. Still, most pundits and bookmakers have Contador as favorite for the world's biggest multistage race.

Prior to the Giro, Armstrong broke his collarbone in a crash during the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in March.

Now he has recovered fully, he argues that he has plenty left to give.

"The indication I have in training and the tests that I did tell me that my condition is good," he said. "Maybe not the best of my life, but not too bad."

Still as meticulous as ever, Armstrong spent the last four days scoping out the big difficulties he will face during the third and final week of the race - a sure sign his ambition still burns bright.

However, Contador's legs are 11 years fresher than Armstrong's - and Spain's supreme climber is just as hungry to win.

Armstrong gives assurances that there are no conflict of interests inside his team.

"We really have a clear cut favorite (Contador) that we can say he is better than the other contenders. Nobody wants to lose, I'm not gonna act irresponsibly," he said. "Neither will Levi (Leipheimer), neither will (Andreas) Kloeden. And at the end of the day, we will have to follow the orders of the team's director."

Astana manager Johan Bruyneel, who oversaw Armstrong's seven Tour wins, recently said that Contador would be team leader.

Armstrong told the AP that Contador would wear the team's No 1 jersey on Saturday for the 15.5-km time trial.

According to Armstrong, the major threats to the Astana team will come from Australian rider Cadel Evans, the runner-up in 2007 and 2008, from the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, and from defending champion Carlos Sastre of Spain.