Lance Armstrong to Astana

by optic | September 24, 2008 at 08:00 am

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This rumour has now been confirmed by Nikolai Proskurin the deputy president of the Kazakhstan cycling federation. Lance will begin his return at the Tour Down Under (or is that "de" Down Under) in January. Recently Armstrong showed good form when he and two team mates took the 12 hours of Snowmass mountain bike race in Colorado. The amount of press that covered the usually marginally attended event shows what kind of impact Armstrong's return could have on cycling both in America and Globally.

As journalists in New York City prepare for Lance Armstrong's comeback news conference, details of his return to the sport were spilling out all over.

Security was tight at the Sheraton New York Wednesday morning prior to Armstrong's remarks at the 10 a.m. opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

Former President Bill Clinton introduced Armstrong and spoke of the Tour champion's plan to turn his anti-cancer Livestrong campaign from a national to a global campaign.

"This is an exceptional commitment by an exceptional person," Clinton said.

Armstrong was applauded when he announced that he was coming out of retirement.

"I cannot guarantee you an eighth Tour victory," Armstrong said. "But I can guarantee you that the Livestrong message will touch all aspects of our society, all continents of our society and certainly touch all the different aspects of cancer."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who joined the stage with Armstrong and Clinton to open the conference, called Armstrong "our hero for the day," and said he expected another Tour victory.

"What's so hard, it's like riding a bicycle," he joked.