PARIS (Reuters) - The announcement by six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong that he would hold a media conference on the eve of the Tour of Georgia on April 18 has again fueled speculation about the American’s future.
Armstrong took his time confirming that he would race in this year’s Tour de France for his new team Discovery Channel and French sports daily l’Equipe, who disclosed that the news conference was going be held, hinted he might announce his retirement at the end of the season.
“I won’t be doing the Tour forever. But it’s still too early to talk about it. I will announce it to you, to the world, only later,” Armstrong told French daily Le Figaro in an interview also published Wednesday.
Armstrong, who will support his team mate George Hincapie in next weekend’s Tour of Flanders ProTour classic, added he found it harder and harder to stay away from is children.
“The hardest thing for me when I’m in Europe is to stay away from my kids who are in Texas,” he said. “The long and many absences, the long distances make me want to say stop it, to return home and be near them.”
Armstrong, 33, said his love for cycling as a sport was intact but he had lost his obsession with winning the Tour.
“To win a seventh Tour is now my objective. But seven would be just one more whereas six was magic,” he said.
“I’m not interested in leaving a deep imprint. For cycling, I will remain the stranger who came from a faraway land.”
Discovery Channel threatened to sue the hell out of everyone if Lance didn’t ride the tour. Lance will get to the first mountain stage and pull something or get sick and then retire.
Discovery Channel threatened to sue the hell out of everyone if Lance didn’t ride the tour. Lance will get to the first mountain stage and pull something or get sick and then retire.
Just speculatin.
Not a chance… Lance’s ego wouldn’t allow that. If he’s riding the Tour, he’s there to win!!
The Discovery sponsorship is for two years… with Lance being required to ride the Tour one of the two. I think he will call it a career before he’s 35, but he’s still got some racing in him before then!!
i think he’s playing possum, like when he looked like he was bonking, then went on to take the stage. let everyone think he’s not in shape and losing his drive.
PARIS (Reuters) - The announcement by sixteen-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong that he would hold a media conference has again fueled speculation about the American’s past.
Armstrong’s most recent brush with Anti-Doping authorities came after an astounding victory in an exhibition wheelchair race for contestants 120 years-old and over.
Armstrong, 133, said his love for cycling as a sport was intact but he had lost his obsession with winning the Tour.
“I’m not interested in leaving a deep imprint. For cycling, I will remain the stranger who came from a faraway land, over and over again”
If there is one thing that people must have learned about Armstrong over the years, is to never doubt him. Second, he is one of those rare athletes, that when backed into a corner, and things are really not going his way, can somehow call upon some super-human powers to pull out the big performance.
Another thing is that he is very professional. If he says, and knows that he must do one Tour de France in the next two years for Discovery Channel, he will do that. It would appear, that, this would be the year. I suspect that he will be a strong contender as always. He is in no better or worse shape this year, compared to the other main contenders for the Grande Boucle. It would appear that everything is on course. However anything can happen. What’s most remarkable to me about the 6 Tour Wins is that, there ARE so many variables to winning this race. I mean just look at ALL of the things that have happened to all of Lance’s main competitors over the years. These things never seem to happen to him, or if they do he somehow manages to steer around the land-mine - sometimes literally. That move of his avoiding the fallen Beloki on a tricky descent, 2 years ago and then the cross-country, cyclo-cross routine to get back on the course, has to be one of the all-time great moments in cycling. That could have been a career ending crash had Lance gone down. Beloki has never been the same since!
After this year, who knows. As father my self to a young child, also in a split family set up, there is nothing more special than spending time with your kids. If he quits and just hangs out with his kids, I say great!
