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Bruyneel confirms Armstrong will race classics

By Andrew Hood • Updated: Jan 29th 2010 9:22 AM EST

Armstrong is shown with Didier Rous on his way to winning the 1996 Fleche Wallone. AFP PHOTO/Pascal PAVINI

Lance Armstrong will be back in the spring classics this year in a big way.

RadioShack sport director Johan Bruyneel told Biciciclismo that Armstrong will race Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Armstrong was a consistent classics performer before being stricken with cancer in 1996, twice finishing second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and becoming the first American to win Flèche Wallonne.

Armstrong’s tentative schedule
  • Vuelta a Murcia, March 3-7
  • Milan-San Remo, March 20
  • Criterium International, March 27-28
  • Tour of Flanders, April 4
  • Amstel Gold Race, April 18
  • Liège-Bastogne-Liège, April 25
  • Tour of California, May 16-23
  • Dauphiné Libéré or Tour de Suisse, June
  • Tour de France, July 3-25

Following his dramatic return in 1998, Armstrong largely steered clear of the spring classics as his focus shifted to the Tour de France. He finished second in the Dutch classic Amstel Gold Race in 1999 and again in 2001 and participated in Milan-San Remo.

Bruyneel’s comments confirmed rumors that Armstrong was poised to race both Flanders and Liège.

Following his debut at the Tour Down Under, Armstrong will make his European season opener in early March at the five-day Vuelta a Murcia in Spain, a race that was a popular Armstrong stop during his Tour heyday.

He’ll also race the Criterium International in Corsica in late March after what’s expected to be a shot at Milan-San Remo, with nearly 300km of racing to help hone his fitness as he enters the northern classics.

His appearance at the Tour of Flanders in early April should draw huge crowds as well as give Armstrong a shot at riding some cobblestones ahead of this year’s Tour route, which includes one stage across Belgium with some pavé.

Armstrong on the cobbles at the Tour of Flanders in 2005. AFP PHOTO FRANCK FIFE

A dramatic return to Amstel Gold Race and then Liège will cap a busy spring campaign in Europe before the seven-time Tour champ returns to the United States to race in the Tour of California in its new date in May.

Bruyneel said they still haven’t decided whether Armstrong will race the Dauphiné Libéré or the Tour de Suisse in June as final preparation before the Tour.

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  • Franklyn
    Excellent! I think this will be a lot of fun. Honestly, the Tour de Suisse is too close to the french big event. My best guess is that Lance will not try this one out.
  • Pete Morales
    Lance is remarkable, his contributions to the sport are tremendous and inspiration to guys like me a type 2 diabetic completing century rides - well, he should received the athlete of century award.
  • Great news from a Great Ambassador!
  • Canuck1
    Lance will generate a lot of interest in these races, not that they are not already huge in Europe, but people in the States will also be watching the 'classics'. Once again, he is doing something that will be very positive for his sport. Additionally, maybe he will be able to generate some more podium finishes in high profile races.
  • Christophe
    He pretty much always rode the Amstel and LBL and ended top-10 on a few occasions, it hasn't generated much intrest now has it? The cobbles will do him some good for the next Tour. When he gets on the stage in Brugge, he'll get a polite applause.
  • bikehobo
    I'm pretty sure the Tour of Flanders will draw huge crowds even if Lance doesn't show. Yes, it's cool that he's riding the classics. I would have loved to see him do that more often in his prime, but seriously, Flanders is an amazing race and his prescence there will only be a minor point of interest. By the time they hit the Mur very few will even remember that he was in the race. What's his best result there--25th? I think-the year Boonen was on his team.
  • SPIKERGUY
    Any time Lance is an entry it's a major happening, and his achievements obviously set him apart from anyone else in the field. Win, Lose or Draw Lance is and will continue to be an unforgettable legend. Well, perhaps Mr. Hobo, assuming you develop amnesia, you won't remember. Cheers! SPIKE!
  • Christophe
    LA won't generate a lot more attention in Flanders. The commentators will talk about him to fill some time until the race gets going . Flanders IS a major happening, regardless of LA's participation. I'm assuming you've never been on one of the cobble hills before, but they're pretty much already filled with people when it's the E3 race.
  • PELETON MAN
    LANCE THE BEST TOUR RIDER EVER THE PROOF IS WRITTEN IN HISTORY
  • Eric
    It's not a question of his tour history. In order to quiet his European critics, Lance needs to win a few more Classics, and it's too bad he seems to be using them as prep races and not really trying to win. A few wins in the Ardennes and he would solidify his place as the greatest rider of his generation, a title that he certainly now shares with Fabain Cancellara
  • cleanrider
    More races by Lance= More Good,Hi-def TV coverage. The only reson I'm not totally sick of the Lance/Johan show
  • justafan
    I suppose all of the "I'm sick of Lance" crowd would have hated to watch Merckx in his prime or Jacques Anquetil. And I'm sure they don't like the old footage of Hinault and Indurain when they made the TDF so "boring".

    Sure Lance gets a disproportionate share of the media coverage. That's the price you pay for the priveledge of watching the greatest rider in the history of the sport in action.
  • jesusnieto
    I have to disagree a little. I was a huge fan of Hinault because he was an attacker, all season, from the Ardennes all the way to Worlds and Lombardia. He attacked and went for hot spot sprints wearing the yellow yersey, wore the polka dot jersey, green jersey... pink and golden too. He even attacked his own teammates! I would not want him as a friend, but he was an awesome rider to watch.
    I agree somewhat on Merckx, and fully on Indurain.
    And I think that Armstong is very different to the way he was before the comeback. He seems more relaxed, less of a Tour winning robot, more of a champion hungry for racing. That's the impression I have after learning of his race program and after seeing how he rode at Down Under, and other races last year, and after his recent interviews.
    Maybe that's what comes with not being the top Tour favorite anymore, after having achievied what nobody could have achieved before. It would still be very cool to see him win a classic and ride Roubaix, even if he sucks later at the Tour. I would stop calling him a Diva if he does.
  • Aku Ankka
    I think he should do Roubaix. Just so that it can't be said he never rode it. It would not make any sense rationally thinking, but it would be a huge publicity stunt and spectacular anyway. See Lance attack and ride at the front in Arenberg?

    I don't like his public image that much or enjoy watch him ride, but I would be sitting on the edge of my sofa seeing him doing that.
  • dt shifter
    i got the dvd "road to roubaix" and they interview lance. he says that it is the one regret of his career not to have lined up for the hell of the north. now is his chance.
  • Patrick
    In Road to Roubaix, Lance says that his biggest regrets of his career is that he never did Paris Roubaix, nows the time for him to back it up! That being said I would be absolutely shocked if he did it (other than sectors included in the Tour)
  • bman
    Hope he doesn't fall on that pave. Seems like a pretty risky move to run Flanders. Always raining and slippery. Hope he stays upright and doesn't get run over by Devolder and Boonen.
  • sko
    doesn't this imply he was ahead of them?
  • Rabbit
    With this schedule ,Lance & Johan are showing that Lance is no longer "the man". Alberto and the Schleck bros. smell blood !
  • roady73
    He is not the man. Lance himself has confirmed that. Flanders is the only thing "out of the norm". Every other race is on par with his previus tour prep. He is only doing Flanders because of the pave stage in the tour.
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