Armstrong's Long Rode Back to the Tour

Lance Armstrong, who recently came out of retirement and jumped back into pro cycling to globally promote the fight against cancer, has yet another hurdle to overcome. Lance Armstrong who after overcoming testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain came back to win the grueling Tour De France a record breaking 7 consecutive times, created a foundation to help those fighting cancer. Lance Armstrong officially retired from pro cycling, but this past year has come back to riding with Team Astana to help promote a global movement in the fight against cancer. Lance is one of the oldest riders and if he wins the tour an 8th time he would be the oldest rider to win the Tour de France.

Before Lance came back to ride for team Astana they had one of the strongest teams in cycling. Now with lance Armstrong team Astana is more then stacked with riders, Levi Leipheimer , Alberto Cantador and Lance Armstrong. Not known to non-cycling fans cycling is a huge team sport, and even though Lance Armstrong won the Tour De France a 7 Consecutive times he won it not just because he was a great rider but also because he had a great team. Cycling is almost like a chess game on bikes and your teammates are crucial to you winning an event such as the Tour De France. One of the biggest questions as we near the 2009 Tour De France in July was who would Team Astana be using as there top guy to win the Tour. All three of their top riders, LeviLeipheimer, Alberto Cantador and Lance Armstrong all are great contestants that could win the Tour De France.

Lance Armstrong Opened up his come back to pro cycling with the Tour Down Under in Australia. He rode well, but cautiously and finished alright but not right at the top, as many fans were hoping. But if you look at the race, its a fairly hot and flat course, and Lance was known to make is competitors suffer in the mountains. That is where lance shined, up in the mountains when he would break away from the pack and no one could follow. So for his first race back being in hot simmery Australia on a flat course, was not a race he was built to win. It was also his first race back and he was stretching his legs and getting feel for riding in the peloton again.

Lance Armstong's second race back was the Tour De California where he rode very well, finishing much more at the front of the pack. Lance was looking good, getting ready for the Tour De France. But the big question was who would be riding to win for team Astana, they still had three guys who could all possibly ride to win the Tour. Lance Armstrong may be old, but he proved in the Tour of California he could still ride with the younger guys, and he does have a lot more experience then any of the other younger riders.

Lance Armstrong all along has been saying to reporters that he his only riding to promote his foundation that has raised millions of dollars in the fight against cancer since its establishment. I do not doubt Lance Armstrong's motive on promoting a global fight against cancer by riding in races all around the world, but he is a competitive athlete at heart and I don't see him not trying to win the Tour De France for an 8th time if team Astana gave him the chance. Lance is not juts a fit rider, but also a mentally tough athlete, like no other.

Unfortunately the rode for Lance Armstrong just became harder as yet another hurdle has come up. The man who never had a major accident while riding suffered a fall in Spain in the Vuelta Castilla y León race. In the race a few riders nicked wheels in front of Lance and fell, and he crashed right into them not having time to evade the pile up. Lance Armstrong fell and broke is collar bone, and has since had surgery back in America getting a metal plate and 12 screws.

The man who has defied every hurdle in his path has yet a new one to overcome. With only a little more then a month and a half till the Giro De Italia in Italy the questions now are, will Lance Armstrong be ready? The Giro would be his final race before the Tour De France in July. Lance has made statements on his Twitter account that he still plans to ride in the Tour De France and the Giro de Italia, but are taking his injury day by day, not knowing how it will effect him having never been in a situation like this before. As of right now it will look like he is out of the running for being the team leader for Astana in France this year, but Lance Armstrong is not the man to bet against and it is often in times with odds against him, that he seems to perform his best.