[Shark79]

Wow boys!!

This is great news for us cycling fanatics!

He mentions that the biggest reason for coming back to cycling in ´09 is to help defeat cancer.

Not only is he coming back, but hes back with a cause.

This surely is what heroes are made of.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/othe...ng/7605378.stm

Armstrong to make shock comeback


Lance Armstrong won seven consecutive Tours from 1999-2005

Cycling legend Lance Armstrong is coming out of retirement to try to win an eighth Tour de France in 2009.
The American, who will be 37 on 18 September, recovered from cancer and claimed victory in the Tour a record seven times before retiring in 2005.
He said: "I'm happy to announce that after talking with my children, family and closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling.
"It is in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden."
He added on his website on Tuesday: "This year alone, nearly eight million people will die of cancer worldwide. It's now time to address cancer on a global level."
Armstrong famously overcame an aggressive form of testicular cancer before embarking on his remarkable run of Tour de France victories.



Since his retirement in 2005, he has run respectable times in the New York and Boston marathons but much of his energy has been spent running the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a charity dedicated to combating cancer.
Armstrong had to return to the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) testing programme to compete in last month's Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in Colorado.
He finished a creditable second in the tough event, to show he remains in good shape but the Texan is unlikely to settle for that at next year's Tour.
Armstrong will announce details of his team and pre-Tour racing schedule on 24 September at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.

When I'm on the bike I feel just as good as I did before


Lance Armstrong

"I think it's great," said Armstrong's former team-mate George Hincapie. "Without Lance, half the teams in the Tour probably wouldn't be around. He's done more than anyone for the sport especially in America and around the world."
Armstrong gave more detail of his return in an interview with American magazine Vanity Fair's website VF.com.
He appears to have been inspired by some of the older competitors at the 2008 Olympics, as well as what he believes was a slow pace of this year's Tour de France.
"Look at the Olympics," said Armstrong, who gave the interview to the website over three days in late August.

Armstrong (right) returned to competitive action in a recent mountain bike event

"You have a swimmer like Dara Torres, who claimed silver. Even in the 50m freestyle, a 41-year-old mother proved you can do it. "Constantina Tomescu-Dita won the marathon and she was 38.
"Older athletes are performing very well. Ask serious sports physiologists and they'll tell you age is a wives' tale.
"I'm not going to lie. My back gets tired quicker than it used to and I get out of bed a little slower than I used to.
"But when I'm on the bike I feel just as good as I did before."
Nevertheless, Armstrong will have to buck a clear historical trend if he is to win a remarkable eighth Tour title, with only the 36-year-old Firmin Lambot - back in 1922 - winning the Tour beyond the age of 34.
During his career, many other riders were caught doping but Armstrong has never tested positive and has always maintained he was a clean rider, using hundreds of passed drug tests during his career as proof.
In 2006, an independent investigation by the International Cycling Union cleared Armstrong of any doping in his first Tour victory.

606: DEBATE
Armstrong's hard-earned reputation is now on the line


BBC Sport's Phil Harlow

"There's this perception in cycling that this generation is now the cleanest generation we've had in decades, if not forever," said Armstrong. "And the generation that I raced with was the dirty generation.
"I'll be totally honest with you. The year that I won the Tour, many of the guys that finished second through to 10th are gone. Out. Caught. Positive tests. Suspended. Whatever.
"And so I can understand why people look at that and go, 'well, they were caught - and you weren't?'
"So there is a nice element here where I can come with really a completely comprehensive program and there will be no way to cheat."
Armstrong has also hit the headlines and gossip columns for his private life since divorcing his wife Kristin, the mother of his three children, with high-profile relationships with singer Sheryl Crow, fashion designer Tory Burch and actress Kate Hudson.

[BestPlay2day]

Didn't even follow the Tour de France this year, probably will next year with Lance racing again. Glad to see him back!

[Shark79]

Lance represents in so many ways the Tour of France

Most ppl watch it because he was on it ... nothing else.

[john pavlic]

This guy is the biggest CHEATER EVER in sports, but just like Bonds, because his drugs are ahead of the curve he hasnt been busted!!! Let me see, every teammate of his has now been caught, but he told them no thank you I am better then all of you even with your EPO, Blood Transfusions, and HGH. Get the **** out of here!!! He got cancer, and came back stronger just out of sheer will!!! LOL!!! Just like Bonds was the first major leaguer to ever put up monster stats after 35. If you want to go along with the charade go ahead, but he is, and always will be a cheater

[Shark79]

And then theres the haters!

All good.

[bigboydan]

Why would he put himself through this again though. I mean the media will be all over him about the roids issue, especially at his age.

[Shark79]

Probably to prove that he doesnt need or use em?

Or even worse. Give reasons that he did and still uses em.

[jjgold]

He is worse than Bonds

He is just an attention junkie

Watch now without hgh he will not even be close

[john pavlic]

Originally Posted by Shark79

And then theres the haters!

All good.

Yes your right, he is the one clean biker left, and he just happens to blow all the one's who were taking drugs away!!! That would be like a clean baseball hitter hitting 99hr's the year Bonds hit 72!

[jon13009]

Armstrong was an egomaniac before he got cancer and he is still an egomaniac. Before Armstrong was diagnosed with Cancer, he had a major attitude problem, and quite a number of skeptics. After Armstrong's return to cycling, he still had a chip on his shoulder, but he was not the same man, or cyclist, as before.

If you follow cycling, you know it takes a number of years to understand how to win the tour (see Miguel Indurain serving as a lowly team member prior to his 5 straight tour wins.) Believers feel cancer jolted Armstrong out of complacency and made him understand that his will to beat cancer could be transfered into a will to win the tour. Armstrong's ego was still there, but his rage was now focused on the non-believers and haters, and the haters are what drove him to return and to win year after year.

A brilliant team manager, a strong team (that included Floyd Landis) behind him, and a new lease on life - in the midst of the 1998 doping scandal - drove Armstrong to the top. Perhaps he used HGH or EPO. Ok, but Armstrong breathed life into the tour, and for 7 glorious years Armstrong beat his fellow doped up competitors and possibly the drug testers. They tested Armstrong, and they tested him - but never found anything. The French Press came up with various accusations and lost in the courts.

Regardless of whether Armstrong cheated or not, he is the most recognized cyclist on the face of the earth, and I am sure this news will breathe life into the listless Pro Cycling world. Armstrong's ego has pushed him to return, but unless he lands with his former manager at Team Astana or with his former team mate (George Hincapie at Team Columbia,) Armstrong will not have a chance to win his 8th Tour.

Face facts haters, Armstrong beat cancer, Armstrong beat the Tour (both the competitors and the drug testers), and now he is going back to try to piss all over the French/Euro Trash haters once again. God Bless America and the American Sports Performance Enhancing Industry (See the 1984 Olympic Blood Doped Cycling Team who STILL have their tainted medals around their necks and are NEVER going to give them back because blood doping was not illegal (technically legal) at that time!)

Keep it up haters, make your voices heard, because you are what is fueling Armstrong's return, Armstrong may not win the next tour, but the skeptics and haters will make this Tour one to watch.

[fiveteamer]

this guys is ****ing more juiced up than a dutrow horse coming off the claim.

**** him.

cheating one-ball son of a bitch.

[Panic]

Does anyone stay retired anymore? Favre, Armstrong, Jordan, Foreman, the list goes on and on.....wtf? If you retire, stay retired. Or dont leave in the first place.

[betplom]

Chuck Norris once challenged Lance Armstrong in a "Who has more testicles?" contest.
Chuck Norris won by 5.

[daggerkobe]

How does he keep getting these hot starlets?
He peddles on a bicycle for a living.

[Art Vandeleigh]

Originally Posted by Panic

Does anyone stay retired anymore? Favre, Armstrong, Jordan, Foreman, the list goes on and on.....wtf? If you retire, stay retired. Or dont leave in the first place.

I don´t see anything wrong with this, guys who are great at something and retire too early are always welcome back in my book. If one of the mods here at SBR retired too early and then decided to come out of retirement, would we not welcome them back with open arms?