Armstrong 'can still compete with best'

Eurosport - Sun, 25 Jan 13:46:00 2009

American Lance Armstrong said he believed he could again compete with the best cyclists in the world after completing his comeback race at the Tour Down Under in Australia.

CYCLING 2009 - Seven-times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong at the Tour Down Under - 0

The seven-times Tour de France winner was content just to stick with the pack in his first race for three and a half years but said the experience had reassured him he could still match it with the best.

He finished 71st in Sunday's final stage of the six-day 800 kilometre tour and 29th overall from 133 starters, 49 seconds behind Australian race winner Allan Davis.

"I wouldn't say it has given me too much confidence (but) it's given me a reassurance that I can still race," he said. "I think I can still race at the highest level."

Armstrong, who announced last year he was making a comeback at the age of 37, said he never expected to win the race but hoped to be competitive in the middle of the year.

He began cautiously but made a couple of attacking moves in the latter stages of the Tour only to be swamped by the specialist sprinters in the mad dash at the end of each stage.

"It helps when you have good legs. I felt a lot better today, probably the best of the entire week," he said.

"So when you feel good and you've got good legs, you've got to go for it, don't you?"

Sunday's final 81km stage in Adelaide was won by Italian Francesco Chicchi ahead of Robbie McEwen and his fellow Australian Graeme Brown, who clipped each other in the final stages.

Davis, who won three of the six stages, was the overall winner from Australia's Stuart O'Grady. Spaniard Jose Joaquin Rojas was awarded third place on a countback from the 2007 race winner, Switzerland's Martin Elmiger.

Armstrong's comeback sparked unprecedented global interest and an estimated 144,000 people turned up to watch Sunday's final stage.

Journalists and photographers from around the world travelled to Adelaide for the race and Armstrong, who has had a prickly relationship with the media in the past, was on a charm offensive as part of his push to promote cancer awareness.

"This guy is something special, I am totally impressed, he is the complete champion," race director Mike Turtur said.

"We've achieved something special this week, I know we've got a high benchmark but isn't it good to get there."

Reuters

Comment 1 - 14 of 14

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  1. et ventoux tu nest rien de plus que un grand con, felicitation pauvre meke

    From ralph, on Sun 1 Feb 7:21PM

  2. well said charlotte

    From ralph, on Sun 1 Feb 7:20PM

  3. We still don't know about the Tour Down Under. All we know is that Lance Armstrong was in it and did no single thing of interest, other than keep his Twitter entries up to date. As Shameycairns says-Embarrassed for him !

    From ventoux09, on Wed 28 Jan 11:25PM

  4. Well Said Charlotte, and for those that havn't heard of the tour down under, well you have now thanks to Lance.
    Good effort and can only be good for cycling.

    From FeetonGround, on Wed 28 Jan 2:06PM

  5. Good to see a great sportsman bak. Not expecting to win but rather to boost his charity and see how it goes. and please shut up about drugs. most tested cyclist ever andnot one failure - no matter what the french press like to think. would be nice to see him do well at giro and avoid being embarassed at the tour - good to have a real idol back at last!

    From johnadodd, on Tue 27 Jan 9:33PM

  6. Armstrong......the guys a f...ing joke. A complete clown. I'm embarrased for him.

    From shambles, on Tue 27 Jan 5:42PM

  7. charlotte a is right except merckx all but admitted he doped, and big mig would you belive , like a lot of other extreme athletes was supposedly asthmatic . anyway, does anyone really think tha jamaican won the 100metres in the olympics by SLOWING DOWN to finish. as already said, its all around us in sport, get used to it.

    From Keith M, on Tue 27 Jan 9:39AM

  8. It's the man's first ride of the season and I for one am very much looking forward to his last one. I don't care if he finished the Tour downunder. When has anyone ever been interested in that non event ?!

    Anyone remember the 87 Tour? Unlike Armstron, Roach came from winning the Giro, to win the Tour and then went on to triumph at the Worlds.

    Drugs or no Drugs, Armstrong is the most over rated cyclist in history.

    From ventoux09, on Mon 26 Jan 10:16PM

  9. The problem Armstrong has is he isn't the least bit likeable, so unfortunately for him as clever and above suspicion as he currently thinks he is, sooner or later someone somewhere will finally spill the beans.

    From Holty, on Mon 26 Jan 2:23PM

  10. To all of you poor sods - Get over it, and deal with it. Armstrong is the greatest cyclist of our generation. Hinault was a fraud (re: le tour); Indurain was great, but couldn't compete against the best climers of today, And who is left? Anybody who thinks that Merckx was the greatest cyclist ever (which I totally agree with). Do you not believe that they all doped? Maybe, or maybe not, steroids or amphetamines. So, back off. If you want to vilify the all time best, first look in your own closets. For example, as much as I admired Big Mig, does ANYBODY who understands cycling believe that someone that large could ever win mountain stages? You do? Really? You obviously have never tried to ride a bike up a 10 percent or more upgrade.

    From charlotte a, on Mon 26 Jan 12:06PM

  11. Overplayed record, you said it tatoogimp, so put a sock in it!

    From Michael M, on Mon 26 Jan 9:57AM

  12. The major tours are not his objective but watch out for him in the spring classics, the guy has a great turn of speed and can get over any climb in northern Europe maybe even tour of Flanders.

    Paul

    From paulandlyndsay, on Mon 26 Jan 7:38AM

  13. looking forward to the summer...

    From ed_trench, on Sun 25 Jan 11:24PM

  14. Why is it that they have to mention Armstrong in every article that is written about cycling these days.

    The only one I really want to read involving Armstrong is the article about him retiring or finally getting caught cheating.

    I don't care what Armstrong had to eat yesterday, today or tomorrwo. I don't care if he has good, bad or indifferent legs just be less bias about your reporting and mention someone else.

    THE SAME RECORD PLAYED OVER AND OVER BECOMES ANNOYING.

    From tattoogimp, on Sun 25 Jan 10:17PM
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