"WASHINGTON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Seven-times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, who is considering a return to racing, will take part in the Discovery Channel team's training camp in Texas in December.
A team official said Armstrong had been expected to ride at the team's annual week-long training camp in Austin, but would likely do so with more "vigour" in light of recent accusations that he has taken performance-enhancing drugs.
"Lance has obviously been there every year. Whether this occurred or not, he was most likely going to ride with our team anyway at that camp," Dan Osipow, one of the managers of the Discovery Team, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"Perhaps now he may ride with a bit more vigour and take it a little differently than perhaps a retired athlete would."
The 33-year-old American retired from competitive cycling after winning the Tour de France for a record seventh consecutive time in July.
But on Tuesday he said the recent "smear campaign out of France" has awoken his competitive side and he was considering a return to racing.
"I'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances but I will no longer rule it out," the American said in a statement on Tuesday.
Osipow said Armstrong, who lives in Austin, would have likely attended the camp to meet the new team members and catch up with old team mates.
The question now is how seriously Armstrong takes the training.
"Does he take the camp the way he has the last handful of years or is he there just to stay fit and healthy?" Osipow asked. "Obviously it depends on where we are in December...how he takes the camp."
The French sports newspaper L'Equipe reported last month that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed traces of the banned substance EPO (erythropoietin).
In 1999 there were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases a cyclist's endurance. But samples from the 1999 Tour were kept and frozen and were recently retested by a laboratory near Paris.
Armstrong, who recovered from testicular cancer to become the most successful rider in the Tour's history, has repeatedly denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs."
A team official said Armstrong had been expected to ride at the team's annual week-long training camp in Austin, but would likely do so with more "vigour" in light of recent accusations that he has taken performance-enhancing drugs.
"Lance has obviously been there every year. Whether this occurred or not, he was most likely going to ride with our team anyway at that camp," Dan Osipow, one of the managers of the Discovery Team, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
"Perhaps now he may ride with a bit more vigour and take it a little differently than perhaps a retired athlete would."
The 33-year-old American retired from competitive cycling after winning the Tour de France for a record seventh consecutive time in July.
But on Tuesday he said the recent "smear campaign out of France" has awoken his competitive side and he was considering a return to racing.
"I'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances but I will no longer rule it out," the American said in a statement on Tuesday.
Osipow said Armstrong, who lives in Austin, would have likely attended the camp to meet the new team members and catch up with old team mates.
The question now is how seriously Armstrong takes the training.
"Does he take the camp the way he has the last handful of years or is he there just to stay fit and healthy?" Osipow asked. "Obviously it depends on where we are in December...how he takes the camp."
The French sports newspaper L'Equipe reported last month that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed traces of the banned substance EPO (erythropoietin).
In 1999 there were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases a cyclist's endurance. But samples from the 1999 Tour were kept and frozen and were recently retested by a laboratory near Paris.
Armstrong, who recovered from testicular cancer to become the most successful rider in the Tour's history, has repeatedly denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs."