Lance Armstrong (Astana) joined 13 riders in a 90-kilometre long break away throughout the Tour Down Under’s Stage 3 today, as the American gets back into the swing of racing. Armstrong joined a powerful break away early in the race – which included Stuart O’Grady (Saxo Bank) and Michael Rogers (Columbia) – and stayed away through to kilometre 101.
“I felt okay; high end intensity, I don’t have that yet, I haven’t worked that part of my training,” he said. “Like I said you had to be strong to be in that group, if you looked around there was some horsepower in there, I’ve got to be happy with that.”
The seven-time Tour de France winner believes the racing will help his comeback. The rider believes the only way to get competitive again after three and a half years off the bike is by racing.
“I think it’s the kind of stuff I need to do, I need to get in the race and work that top end,” he said. "Like I’ve said 100 times here, I can’t get that in training so the more I can be out there… I mean, I looked down at my power metre and the average after two hours was 340 watts, you can’t do that in training. You’re just constantly going and going and going."