O'Grady: Lance not a favourite

Eurosport - Mon, 29 Dec 11:33:00 2008

Stuart O'Grady has said seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is not considered one of the favourites for Australia's Tour Down Under.

CYCLING 2008 Astana Armstrong - 0

Armstong, who retired after winning the Tour de France in 2005, is making a comeback with the Astana team at the Australian race from January 20-25 before riding the Giro d'Italia and the French race later in the year to promote cancer awareness. The Texan is a cancer survivor.

O'Grady, who won the Australian race in 1999 and 2001, confirmed he would ride for Danish team Saxo Bank in South Australia and said while he did not think Armstrong would be a favourite, he would attract a lot of interest.

"He's definitely someone special and when you're riding around with someone like that it's hard not to get taken in," O'Grady said in Adelaide on Monday.

"But I won't be concentrating on him. He's not going to be the big hot favourite for the race.

"There's going to be a lot of other guys out there who are possible winners before Lance. He's not going to be anywhere near the peak form he would be for the Tour de France."

Reuters

Comment 1 - 8 of 8

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  1. Stuart: you are idiot and Cadel evans ist not good, ist­ a arrogant person.

    From Antonio L, on Mon 5 Jan 2:16PM

  2. This just in: Lance not a favourite for Wimbledon, the­ PGA Championships, the Grand Prix de Monaco, the Berlin­ Marathon or Ironman Hawaii either. He is also not­ expected to challenge Michael Phelps for a spot in the­ 2012 US Olympic swim team in any event.

    From Enid, on Sat 3 Jan 5:12PM

  3. Love him or hate him, Armstrong will bring publicity to­ cycling that (hopefully) won't involve doping.

    From Tim, on Tue 30 Dec 10:16PM

  4. better to look at cyclegrancanaria at com to see­ something worth planning for...

    From Raymond L, on Tue 30 Dec 3:29PM

  5. Of the five top stories in cycling today, Armstrong is­ a feature in four. Aren't we interested in anyone­ else?

    From ddubdrahcir, on Tue 30 Dec 3:31AM

  6. Mr O'Grady always was clued up... unlike him Lance­ has a chance in july.. so maybe doesnt train to win the­ aussie race

    From Philip, on Mon 29 Dec 10:27PM

  7. boy....talk about a story written just to take­ space........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

    mo­ ve along...nothing to see here....

    From the FISH, on Mon 29 Dec 5:23PM

  8. of course you'll not expect that Lance would land a­ winner in Australia, this is just one of his training­ ground for the big race in Toiur de France come July­ 2009.

    From jovitomanuel, on Mon 29 Dec 4:32PM
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