Yes neilr4, it is a public forum and in america that is­ why we are able to express our opinions. If I were­ paying the bills I would be furious that armstrong is­ promoting himself over cancer awareness and over team­ Astana.
People need to wake up and smell the coffee­ over this kind of behavior. Just like obama, good guy,­ good intentions, but he still a POLITICIAN (ie.. born­ to lie and be crooked )
Best wishes.

yeah, stop rating dave p low just because he said­ something we all know.
regardless of whether you like­ or support lance, it's absolutely true that we hear­ more about his next race from him and others than we do­ about his support of cancer awareness.
and even from­ stories posted here on eurosport there have been quotes­ where he's said there is a conflict between his­ original goal and the need to compete.

and what­ better proof than to listen to the commentators and­ read the articles about him? all of them say he's­ supporting cancer awareness, but nobody mentions­ anything about exactly what he's doing. i know­ he's doing great things, but nobody talks about­ them. he and they talk about racing only.....

martin m­ is totally right about the team splitting up. you saw­ it in the giro. pop stayed with lance pretty much no­ matter what, and horner @#$%il he left) was glued to­ levi and that was pretty much it. i anticipate the same­ will happen it he tour too ,and that's too bad.­ time will tell, but lance didn't look like he'd­ be podium ready for the TDF in the giro, imho, and if­ effort is spent to help him that hsould have helped­ contador (assuming he's in form) it's to the­ detriment of the team...

I did a little checking. No LA is not drawing a salary­ from Astana. However, a large chuck of his expenses­ covering his 2009 summer European vacation are paid for­ by the foundation. It is called advertising. Oh, and­ I agree, on the ego thing.

Ahh... HC-- you have reared your big nasty head again.­ It seems the only thing rotten around here is you. Now­ why don't you do us all a favor and climb back­ from under the pile you poked your head out from.

Gav your kazak mate was actually fourth, but that's­ not important
As for his comeback to promote cancer­ awareness, a worthy and noble cause
that no one can or­ should really argue about, I haven't seen much of­ this up
to now, and I agree with Dave p in that he­ should use the publicity better
rather than telling us­ about his TdeF preperations, I think that the team will­
spilt into two factions on the tour with Contador­ probably having to rely on Klodden
and an other rider­ for support and Lance will have the rest of the team to­ support him
with Levi having to payback for the help he­ got on the Giro.
One other thing that irritates me­ slightly with Eurosportis that every time the refer to­ Armstrong it always starts with 7 times tour winner or­ cancer survivor, any one who follows cycling or has any­ interest in this sport knows this already so please­ stop and just use his name, thanks to anyone who reads­ all of this

Spot on Gavin.

This whole comeback was supposed to be­ about highlighting the battle against global cancer.­ All I heard him talk about this Giro was himself and­ the "team" also known as his slaves.

He­ really could be using the publicity to better promote­ his worthy cause, rather than tell us about his TDF­ preparation.

and "gavin" one of those so called token­ kazakhs just came third in the tour of luxembourg­ prologue. Not dat token then. And leipheimer has­ already had a really good season, so you can't­ really comment on him either.

indeed gavin if those samples from 1999 have any traces­ of drugs in theyve been tainted since as even the­ french stated they were clean. anyone against what­ lance is doing is really against cycling, what he is­ doing is amazing for the sport, the publicity hes­ bringing is huge, and people who didnt care about the­ sport are beginning to take an interest. As for his­ policy anyone should be proud of a man racing and­ arraising awareness for a disease such as cancer that­ kills thousands worldwide. and yes "freeborn"­ astana have to pay for him to enter races such as the­ giro and the tour, but theyre still not paying him a­ penny.

I agree with you Lee K.----­ freebornmanofthetravelingwhatever-- take another hit of­ whatever you are smoking and Mr --heartandvascular-- I­ am glad to see your heart is in the right place.­ Obviously no one is going to steal your spotlight. and­ --Gavin-- what is there to say to someone like you who­ think they have everything all figured out. If only you­ could come up with some solid evidence of wrong doing­ instead of repeating what you heard from the French­ about 10 year old tainted samples. I believe when he­ was cleared of any wrong doing they used the words his­ samples were as clean as the pure driven snow.

i live in south spain. i am a fervent follower of Lance­ Armstrong. on the other hand i dont understand at all­ why there should be any financial problems?? astana­ comes a country so rich in oil and gas...much richer­ than other countries teams participating in this­ year's cycling tours. are they really­ ''financial'' problems or simply­ ''political'' or ''cyclists­ rivalry''`problems??

You sad people-stealing the spotlight for cancer­ awareness?? god forbid you ever need support for cancer­ treatment for you or yours...lance is, as i've­ posted before, the most tested man in sport ever..he­ has had, and survived cancer...GET A LIFE....he did and­ ar54holes like yu are criticising him??? leave our­ sport please, you are the reason drug cheats live on

Think Vino has a lot to do with it.

He obviously still­ exerts huge influence over the sponsors and team­ structure, and this is the tail end of a power struggle­ over the future of the team. If Lance does even­ reasonably well in this years tour, why would he not­ think about hanging around for another season or two?­ Bye-bye any chance of Vino coming back to that team­ then.

IMO Vino needs another blood transfusion (to his­ brain) if he thinks the TDF organisers will EVER let­ him race the tour again.

Have the Kazakstan sponsors lost the plot you have one­ of the greatest cyclists riding in a team for free and­ your not paying the sponsorship money missing out on­ coverage at the Giro. The publicity following armstrong­ is a frenzy . This is the chance for Kazakstan to gain­ world publicity improve business and tourism after all­ Astana is the name of the capital.

indeed, they will be more appropiate.

If I was Astana, as NeilR 4 says, I wouldn't be­ complaining about (probably) the most marketable­ cyclist in the history of the sport wearing my­ 'company' name without my having to pay. I­ don't think promoting cancer awareness is something­ to complain about either.

Does enybody know exactly who is actually financing­ Astana now as it is not quite clear to me from this­ article.