The Legend Returns!

Well presumably everyone has heard by this point that Lance Armstrong, the 7-time Tour de France winner and veritable legend of cycling, has ended his three year retirement and is already back to his "old self". Having won the Tour de Gruene early last month in Texas quite handily, Armstrong is poised to make a successful comeback for the 2009 cycling season. He plans on racing the Giro d'Italia, Tour of Flanders, all the classics of cycling (minus Paris-Roubaix), Tour of California, Criterium International, and Circuit de la Sarthe. On top of that already challenging schedule, Lance has even made statements he might make a 2009 Tour de France bid.


You will find no greater Lance supporter than myself. I believe he has been more transparent than any other sports figure in history and his blood has been analyzed so many times in his cycling career that sports scientists will be studying his DNA for years. However, the controversy over Lance's return is alive and well. He has already been publicly ridiculed for returning to the sport of cycling, even though in his three years of retirement he has competed in mountain bike races and marathons unabashed. Lance claims he is returning to the national arena to bring more publicity to his foundation's cancer research and that he isn't thrilled with the thought of having to work with French TV and the Tour's race organizers again.

Lance has said that he is confident in his return but the new competition is exceedingly good. In last year's Tour de France alone, individual times were comparable if not better than some of Lance's best performances. This makes me question what is in store for the "second cycling career" of the great Lance Armstrong? Will he be the dominant force we are all used to seeing when he mounts his Trek road bike or is the field now leveled thanks to up and coming talent and an aging legend? Only time will tell, but I do know one thing: Professional cycling is alive and well regardless of the doping controversy and disqualifications, and things are about to get that much more interesting now that a 37 year old legend is about to join the ranks of talented 20-somethings. Look out for Lance!