Armstrong coming back for more at Tour de France

Armstrong ... seventh heaven beckons. - AFP

Paris - There's no stopping Lance Armstrong at six when seventh heaven beckons.

The only six-time winner of the Tour de France ended speculation that he would skip cycling's most prestigious race by announcing on Wednesday he'll be back in July.

Armstrong's 2005 race schedule "will include this summer's Tour de France where he will go for a seventh straight victory," said his Discovery Channel team's Web site.

The American will be nearly 34 - too old, surely, to win the gruelling three-week race again? But doubters said that last year, too, only for Armstrong to crush younger competitors with arguably his most dominant Tour de France performance ever.

Time will tell whether Armstrong can become as fired up about winning seven as he did to clinch record No. 6.

But he had already said that if he did come back, he would aim for nothing but victory. He says he loves the classic race too much to treat it with anything less than the respect it deserves.

And Armstrong showed last year that in the saddle, he can shut out fame's distractions - like his recent appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV show with his rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow - to focus on winning.

"I am grateful for the opportunity that Discovery Communications has given the team and look forward to achieving my goal of a seventh Tour de France," the team Web site quoted Armstrong as saying.

It said he will start his season with the Paris-Nice stage race in March. He will then compete in the Tour of Flanders on April 3, before returning to the United States to defend his title at the Tour de Georgia that month.

Armstrong added that he and Johan Bruyneel, his friend and team manager, "will evaluate my fitness later this spring and possibly add some races to the calendar."

"I am excited to get back on the bike and start racing, although my condition is far from perfect," said Armstrong.

German Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour champ and five-time runner-up who is one of Armstrong's biggest rivals, welcomed the Texan's decision.

"It's good that he is there. The best should be at the Tour," he said.

"I always said he would ride. I am glad he's there," agreed Andreas Kloden, last year's runner-up.

British bookmaker William Hill immediately installed Armstrong as the 4-7 favourite, with Ullrich at 7-2. It also gave 11-2 for Italian Ivan Basso and 10-1 for Kloden.

"Not many people would bet against Armstrong," said Hill spokesman Rupert Adams. "But the course has had a number of radical changes this year that are said to be in his rivals' favour. So we might well see a new king of the road."

His sixth crown last year elevated Armstrong above four great five-time champions: Jacques Anquetil, who loved wine, food and winning; Eddy Merckx, the Belgian "Cannibal" who devoured rivals and glory; the testy Bernard Hinault, who bullied the pack; and Miguel Indurain, the Spanish professional.

The Tour de France route this July 2-24 passes through Germany, and features 21 stages over 3,584 kilometres (2,222 miles).

The mountaintop finishes are less intense and the time trials shorter this year. Both are disciplines where Armstrong excelled in the past, so the changes may mean he will have fewer opportunities to take huge chunks of time off his rivals.

But some initially had thought that the 2004 route also might trip up the champion. Instead, it proved just to his liking.

His winning margin over Kloden - 6 minutes and 19 seconds - was not his biggest. But his five solo stage wins and a team time trial victory with his squad made it arguably Armstrong's best Tour.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin