Competitor.com

Armstrong’s long and winding road to Tour

By Andrew Hood • Updated: Aug 15th 2010 6:37 PM EDT

Jet lag is a phrase that obviously isn’t part of Lance Armstrong’s vocabulary.

While Europe has been gripped by its worst winter in decades, Armstrong’s road to the Tour de France this year has been full of sunny climes that would turn any jet-setting royal blue with envy.

In January, Armstrong raced in the Tour Down Under for his season debut in the heat of Australian summer. In February, instead of suffering through the European cold, he found refuge in tropical Hawaii.

Just hours after finishing seventh overall at the Tour of Murcia in Spain in his European season debut, the seven-time Tour winner flew Monday to South Africa to compete in the 65-mile Cape Argus race.

“Out for a gorgeous ride here in Cape Town,” Armstrong said on his Twitter feed. “A nice 3hr ride. I’ve heard many times before that Cape Town is stunning. That was no lie. What a place.”

He’ll fly back to Europe next week in time for Milan-San Remo on March 20 and then race on Corsica for the Critérium International on March 27-28.

In April, he’ll be busy in Europe, with likely starts in four big classics: Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

After watching him race in Murcia, RadioShack team boss Johan Bruyneel is considering adding the Circuit de la Sarthe (April 6-9) for a few more days of race-speed training.

In May, Armstrong will compete in the Tour of California (in much better weather than its February date) before returning to Europe to put the final touches on his Tour preparation.

In June, Armstrong will likely race in the Tour de Suisse, though the Dauphiné Libéré is another option.

Filed under : News • No Spoil
Read more about : , ,
Previous Post : Rocky Mountain conference opens with Denver crit and TT
Next Post : William and Mary hosts Atlantic conference

  • woah
    Carbon footprint .. massive !
  • JackyO
    Lance Armstrong is a really insporational man. I enjoy cycling more since Ive read his books and the experiences he has been thru with cancer and his continued cycling! Amazing!
  • Paulo Pereira
    Saw teh Tour of UTAH release the other day and was just wondering if they will run a prize or a stage in memory to Terry Mcginnis.
    I travelled with Terry to follow the ToC last year, we rode together many days. real good buddy. The converstation was always crossed with his passion for the race he organized, his passion for cycling and so on.
    He deserves it and his family and friends will be happy.
  • The Raven
    Lance can do whatever he wants. I can't imagine what else he feels he needs to accomplish in the sport. Poor guy should just get fat and enjoy life like Lemond, Merckx, and Hinault. It seesm to me that his good charity and public awareness initiatives have been put on the back-burner. Let it go man!
  • Dave
    haha!!! What grade are the readers of this article? Reading and understanding more than Dr Suess must be hard if you've never heard of the word climes.
  • Bob
    It's great he's doing some of the spring classics but what about Paris Roubaix? No other win would do more to bolster his place in history...
  • jayb
    Greatest of all time? Check this out: http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rankings/ranking_combined_overall.txt

    If you look at the history and have any objectivity, Merckx is it. No one close, no one better. An absolute dominating machine. If you want to compare eras, don't come up with how the current era is tougher "with the 10 month schedule". The racing was tougher then, much more so, look at the tour stages and overall km. The riders had no control, the peloton wasn't full of a bunch of divas who could dictate. Then look at how EM just dominated it. Days in yellow?
    The hour record? Lance want's to go pound on trigeeks and weekend warriors in CO. Nice gig if you can get it, but he is not the greatest, just ask Lance.
  • smittyj
    I know it takes all kinds (ilks) but if you don't like LA, why read an article that blatantly decries that it's about "Lance" when this obviously upsets you? The headline should have given you a clue.

    Also amusing that when you comment about word usage it would be great to look up the definition first. Clime: noun, from the Greek word klima meaning regions of the earth, denoting warmer, colder, drier, wetter, etc.

    Lance has defiantly been doing the warmer climes, climbing Kona only a few days ago.
  • I didn't really start to follow cycling until after Lance's retirement, but seeing him back out there added a lot of excitement to last season. Looking forward to more!
  • whippedcream
    wow, you're idiots...
  • dunno about anyone else, but man, finally seeing LA compete in so many races pre-Tour is just fascinating. i, for one, don't recall him racing this much...well...ever.
  • Beebo
    Lance never has truly "raced" pre- or post- Tour. They've all been training rides. He's never gone into the other grand tours or a the classics hell bent on winning. That's reserved for the Tour.
  • Martytardy
    @beebo: I seriously doubt that ANY pro riders go into a season hoping to win every race possible. Cycling is such a demanding sport that it's just not realistic to expect that of anyone, including your man Merckx. Riders set goals for themselves each year, maybe the Tour, or the Giro, but for others it is the classics, such as Paris-Nice. The overall team, likely the manager/owners or others, in conjunction with the riders, also sets team goals for the season and they all work together to accomplish those team goals and, as best as they can, in a way to help the individual riders meet and accomplish their own goals. To call the other races "training rides" for Lance or anyone else, is a little bit casual, perhaps even disrespectful because, while they do help improve each riders fitness and help them build up to their peaks, the riders do seek for certain results from each one. That may not mean that they are seeking to WIN the whole thing, some early races they might just wish to reacclimate to bumping elbows with the peloton in a competitive situation, or have other goals/purposes in mind. Hardly base enough to compare with "training rides" that they do as a team such as in the preseason.
  • a_casual_observer
    Clearly, you know what you're talking about. Still, unfortunately, there are those who just don't get it. They might point to his fourth place finish in the 1998 Tour of Spain--dolts. While others might point out his two second place finishes in Amstel Gold, or his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Or maybe they'll, fools that they are, dig a lil' deeper and point-out his second place finishes in San Sebastian and Zurich. But I doubt anyone (certainly not you) would consider his voctories in the 1995 San Sabastien or the 1996 Fleche Wallonne--not to mention his victory in the 1993 World’s--would serve as evidence that he did "'race' pre- or post- Tour." Sadly Bebo, not everyone is as well informed as you. =\

  • When referencing Lance's career it's probably a good idea to note whether you are discussing pre cancer or post cancer as the two phases are fairly distinct. Funny though none of you mentioned his win at Fleche Wallone which is considered a semi classic but a highly revered win in European circles.

    Pre cancer Lance was a larger man physically with a focus on the Spring Classics who raced for a Motorola team that was equivalent at that time with a Bbox Bouyges today in terms of personnel depth. And as a fan who came online during that era of mid 90's those battles at Paris Nice were fantastic. Competition is what makes for great races and he was always a great competitor.

    Also comparing Eddie Merckx to Lance is pretty silly as no one can come close to his achievements during that era of cycling which is so much different from this one. Which is no sleight to his achievements, but even a man of his stature would be hard pressed to win 440 races in the current hell for leather 10 month racing season.
  • True...save for that one Dauphiné TT years back (2004?) when Mayo "beat" him and all the talk was how much trouble Lance was in...

    Could be wrong here, need someone to check my dates/riders for me.
  • sierracanon
    Which is why Merckx is a greater cyclist than Lance... he rode every race to win. Even though LA has won more tours, Eddie has won more races than just about anybody. LA has always been a one race guy.
  • TT
    Are you kidding Beebo?? Check out his battles with Jaja @ Paris-Nice or his old school LBL performances to name a couple. During the Tour era, see Amstel Gold. lance doesn't do 'casual'. He goes to test himself AND to win.
  • hoboman
    Funny, if he was racing the LBL and Amstel to win then he failed. He never won a pre-Tour classic, and 2nd is losing (just almost not losing), You are correct about old school, someone came in 2nd to Eddy Merck every year when he was winning those pre-Tour races
  • Daniel
    "Traffic to the site is down!? Quick! Generate some Lance news!"

    Thanks Velonews! You know I love ya!
blog comments powered by Disqus