JOHN LEICESTER,AP Sports Columnist / This is what retirement ultimately might look like for Lance Armstrong: reminiscing about his Tour de France exploits to an audience of suits and evening dresses who paid $1,000 a plate to hear him and mingling with a couple of princes.

No wonder Armstrong got back into cycling. He isn’t quite ready to go gentle into the good night of cocktail engagements and perhaps — only he knows — a life in politics. He’s not yet finished with his bike.

So Armstrong — a rebel with a cause — rolled up in denim jeans and an open-collared black shirt to a fundraiser for his cancer foundation in Monaco on Thursday night, less than 48 hours before he embarks on the most hotly anticipated comeback to the most storied race in cycling.

Monaco’s Prince Albert II, a Jordanian prince and princess and the other 100 or so guests were dressed and perfumed to the nines. Armstrong apologized, telling them that in packing for the Tour he omitted a tie.

“This is what you get,” he said.

Before cutting out early to bank sleep for the hard roads ahead, skipping the lobster salad and roasted medallions of lamb, Armstrong did at least partly answer the burning question: What brought you back? Why, in the shadow of the casino that helped make Monaco both famous and wealthy, would you risk your Tour legacy by racing again at the possibly overripe age of 37?

Over the next three weeks, in a most unforgiving physical test, there is a genuine possibility that rivals 10 years his junior or more could reduce the once unbeatable Armstrong to an also-ran. The record of seven consecutive Tour wins that he built from 1999 to 2005, on the ashes of his own battle against cancer, could become an edifice to the rider Armstrong once was but no longer is.

Or, less likely, the 37-year-old Texan could win again. What a story that would be.

Either way, Armstrong figures, this is a gamble he’s already won. Measured in donations, pledges and support for the foundation which bears his name, Armstrong’s decision to return to cycling is already paying off. It brought him those guests to the fundraiser, where an Armstrong-autographed Tour yellow jersey, a signed wheel and other items auctioned for $53,000. His campaign against cancer is going global. Despite the recession, sales of Livestrong merchandise have hit new highs and donations to the foundation rose by 6 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

“Some people from the sporting side said this is about sport, this is about him wanting to win an eighth Tour, this is about him wanting to be on TV again, this is about him missing the spotlight. That’s not it at all,” Armstrong told his invitees.

“I have to say that I think we have already won,” he declared. “I have my own ideas and my own ambition, of course, but if we roll in third or fourth, I will unequivocally say that this has been a success.”

That Armstrong and the Tour now need each other again is one of the biggest paradoxes of his comeback. In 2005, their relationship seemed over.

Armstrong quit railing against the “cynics and the skeptics” who refused to believe that a cancer-survivor could be so dominant without taking banned drugs.

Those who run the Tour suggested he wouldn’t be missed. Many in cycling looked forward to a supposedly new and doubt-free era.

How misplaced those hopes proved.

After three subsequent Tours tarnished by doping scandals, even some of Armstrong’s rivals now see his return as good publicity.

“He has a lot of courage to do that,” said Bjarne Riis, who runs the Saxo Bank team. “We all have to thank him a lot for coming back.”

Racing again can’t erase the doping questions that hang over Armstrong’s exploits. The battle between those who believe in and those who doubt Armstrong has been fought to a standstill.

This time, Armstrong’s entourage has leaned on cycling’s powers for him to be tested as often as possible, preferably every three days. Armstrong has publicized the tests — about 34 by his count — in Twitter postings. He told cycling author John Wilcockson that one reason he’s back is to silence the skeptics, so his four kids don’t grow up “reading all these things about me and doping.”

Make no mistake, Armstrong will win this race if he can. He’s shed some 25 pounds, looks like his wiry former self and as if he’s enjoying the riding and being back with the boys in the peleton.

“Those of us who knew him well knew that ‘retire’ is not a word that is in his vocabulary,” said Doug Ulman, president of the Armstrong foundation.

Claiming success with his cancer campaign before the race has even begun gives Armstrong an out should his aging legs be unable to match his on-bike ambitions. Losing won’t matter so much as long as he helps teammate Alberto Contador, the 2007 champion, win again. Selfless dedication is a prized virtue in cycling and Armstrong could win fans by sacrificing himself for the Spaniard should he prove the stronger of the two. Armstrong has already laid ground for that possibility.

As always, he’s got his bases covered.

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN, AP Sports Writer MONACO / Denis Menchov won the Giro d’Italia and will attempt to capture the Tour de France to become the first man to win both races in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.

The 31-year-old Russian impressed in claiming the biggest win of his career in Italy in May and turns his attention to the Tour where he will have the help of his strong Rabobank team and rising star Robert Gesink.

The best young rider of the Tour in 2003, Menchov is one of six riders considered joint-favorites this year along with Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and defending champion Carlos Sastre.

“I feel good, comfortable and confident,” Menchov said on Friday during a press conference at the eve of the first stage in Monaco. “I feel relaxed after my victory on the Giro and I’m looking forward to starting the race tomorrow. It will be difficult, but I know that I can win.”

With Gesink on his side, Menchov’s ambitions carry added legitimacy. The 23-year-old climber from the Netherlands will be riding in his first Tour but has already confirmed his talent this season with a third-place finish in the Amstel Gold Race and by taking fourth place in the Dauphine Libere.

“Robert is an important piece of our team,” Menchov said. “He is a strong guy and he is good in the mountains. I hope that we can do the same race we did last year and that we will be able to a play some tactics in the mountains.”

Gesink said he wants to learn from Menchov and promised to dedicate himself to working for the Russian’s victory.

“Denis is our main guy for the general classification,” Gesink said. “He will be the leader of the team and the rest of us will try and help him.”

In Italy, Menchov secured victory by winning two of the race’s key stages — a hilltop finish and a challenging time-trial. The Russian said the Tour’s opening time-trial Saturday, a 9.6-mile route with climbs, tricky hairpin bends and fast curves, would be crucial.

Besides the overall standings, the Rabobank team can aim for stage victories with riders such as the Spanish duo of Juan Antonio Flecha and former world champion Oscar Freire. Hampered by back problems this season, Freire hopes to retain the best sprinter’s green jersey he won last year. But he will face a strong challenge from Briton Mark Cavendish, considered to be the king of sprints.

“It will be difficult but not impossible,” Freire said. “I won the green jersey last year, so why not this year?”

JAMEY KEATEN,Associated Press Writer, MONACO  Defending Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre says Lance Armstrong could use a lesson in respect after the Texan reportedly called the race last year “a bit of a joke.”

Sastre, a 34-year-old Spanish veteran, says seven-time Tour champion Armstrong is entitled to his opinion — but insists it’s the wrong one.

“It his point of view, it’s his words — his life,” Sastre said at a news conference Friday. “He is a great champion, he won seven Tours de France, a world championship, he’s a great rider.”

“But behind every rider must be a person, and on that point, maybe he needs to learn something more,” he said, adding: “There is something wrong with him about respect.”

In the new book, “Lance — The Making of the World’s Greatest Champion” by John Wilcockson, Armstrong is said to have recounted his early musings about a possible comeback after the 2008 Tour.

“The Tour was a bit of a joke this year. I’ve got nothing against Sastre … or Christian Vande Velde,” he was quoted as saying shortly after the race last year. “Christian’s a nice guy, but finishing fifth in the Tour de France? Come on!”

Vande Velde, of the Garmin-Slipstream team; Sastre, of Cervelo, and Armstrong and 2007 Tour winner and pre-race favorite Alberto Contador of Astana will square off among the 180 riders set to start the race Saturday in Monaco.

Sastre shrugged off all the attention heaped on Armstrong and Contador, saying he prefers to express himself “in the saddle,” not in the media spotlight.

But make no mistake — he will be the only rider wearing jersey No. 1 on Saturday. Quietly, he has demonstrated solid recent form with two mountain-stage wins and a fourth-place finish overall at the Giro d’Italia in May.

The Tour better suits Sastre this year than most as the 96th edition favors climbers. Time-trials — which are not his strength — have been given relatively less importance than the mountains, where he excels.

Sastre is not the only rider overshadowed by the suspected Contador-Armstrong rivalry.

Russia’s Denis Menchov, who won the Giro d’Italia in May; Australia’s Cadel Evans, runner-up at the Tour for the last two years; and the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, are not to be ruled out in the title quest that ends July 26 on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

On Friday, an unofficial poll of 30 riders, race veterans and team sports directors in the French sports daily L’Equipe showed that most don’t expect Sastre to make the podium this year. They picked Contador first, Evans was second, and Menchov third. Armstrong and Sastre were tied for fifth.

But Sastre believes otherwise.

“I think that I am ready for this race,” he said. “Winning the Tour de France last year has changed a lot of things, but myself: I’m the same person.”

But can he win again?

“Yes, why not?” he said with a grin.

SAMUEL PETREQUIN,AP Sports Writer,  MONACO  Belgian cyclist Tom Boonen was cleared Friday to compete in the Tour de France after winning his appeal of a ban for testing positive for cocaine

The French Olympic committee’s arbitration panel handed down the decision a day before the Tour is set to start in Monaco.

“Obviously, I’m happy. I didn’t have much time to think about the race, but I’ll try to give my best,” Boonen said at a press conference. “I haven’t looked at the road book yet, so I’m going to mark the stages where I can do something. It will be a real challenge.”

Boonen appealed to French sports authorities for permission to ride in the three-week race after a court said it didn’t have jurisdiction in the case.

Tour organizers ASO had sought to ban Boonen by saying the Belgian had damaged the race’s image after testing positive in an out-of-competition test in April.

Cocaine is not banned during out-of-competition periods, and the International Cycling Union (UCI) decided not to take action against the rider.

“The management of the Tour de France believes that, considering the great champion that Tom Boonen is, he will relish the opportunity that has been given to him and that he will have an exemplary attitude during the event,” Tour organizers said in a statement.

Boonen’s Quick Step team welcomed the ruling, but regretted that a decision came so late.

“I’m relieved but I’m sorry that we had to go up to here,” said team manager Patrick Lefevere. “This is not the ideal scenario. Pressure has been huge, not only on Tom Boonen’s shoulders, but on the whole team.”

Boonen, one of the world’s best sprinters and one-day classic riders, resumed cycling last month — including the Dauphine Libere stage race.

In 2007, Boonen won the green jersey awarded to the Tour’s best sprinter. He has already proved his form this season by winning Paris-Roubaix for a third time.

Boonen, who has won six stages on the Tour, will replace Australian Allan Davis in the Quick Step team.

UCI tests blood of Tour riders

Cycling’s governing body says all 180 riders expected to start the Tour de France — plus one — have undergone planned pre-race blood tests.

The UCI said nine riders from each of the 20 teams were tested Thursday along with Quick Step sprint star Tom Boonen.

The blood tests are part of UCI’s anti-doping program known as the “biological passport” that provides individual profiles of riders’ blood parameters.

L’Equipe is reporting that four to seven more doping cases could happen before the start of the race Saturday. These would come from recent testing at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Suisse.

Garmin-Slipstream’s Martin pulled from Tour team

Mountain specialist Dan Martin will miss the Tour de France with a knee injury. He will be replaced in the Garmin-Slipstream team by Dutch rider Martijn Maaskant.

Martin has tendinitis and the team does not want to risk aggravating the problem during the three-week race. The former Irish national champion said Thursday that “I would have loved to start the Tour, but I want what is best for the team.”

Martin is the nephew of former Tour de Frace winner Stephan Roche and would have started with his cousin Nicholas Roche.

Martin was to be a key ally for Christian Vande Velde in the grueling mountain stages.

Another distraction for Team Astana – Vinokurov says, “It’s Bruyneel or me.”

Banned cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov plans to return to competition with former team Astana when his doping suspension ends on July 24.

Vinokourov, who was given a two-year ban for blood doping during the 2007 Tour de France, said Thursday that he is negotiating his return with team manager Johan Bruyneel.

“I’m going to relaunch my professional career on July 24,” the 35-year-old rider told a news conference. “I can’t imagine myself riding with another team than Astana. The Kazakhstan federation wants me to ride again in this team, I’m currently negotiating with Johan Bruyneel and I think we are going to find a deal in the coming week.

“This team was created for me and thanks to my efforts,” Vinokourov said. “I have served my suspension and I do not see why I could not return. If Bruyneel does not want me, it will be Bruyneel who will be leaving the team.”

Astana, which gets most of its support from a Kazakhstan state holding company, was initially created to help Vinokourov win the Tour. But he and his Astana teammates were forced out of the 2007 race when he tested positive for a banned blood transfusion after winning the 13th stage. He retired last year, then said he planned to race again.

Vinokourov, who wants to revive his career for “one season or two,” intends to compete in the Spanish Vuelta which starts Aug. 29 and wants ride at the world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, in September.

The Astana team will have two key riders on this year’s Tour, which starts Saturday in Monaco: Spaniard Alberto Contador, who won the race in 2007, and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

The cycling community lost avid cyclist Lorraine Valentini Tuesday. David Wilson, President of the Westchester Cycle Club announced in an email to the membership.

Valentini, of Hartsdale, was a longtime club member and board member who broke her neck and was paralyzed in a cycling accident on Route 22 just north of Rye Lake Bridge on Memorial Day, 2005. She taught English for 33 years in New York City schools and was also a volunteer firefighter.

Friends and family set up “Team Lorraine” and raised money to help pay for 24-hour companion care, which was not covered by medical insurance. They held many fundraisers and had a table at the Golden Apple ride for donations. Those who donated placed a green ribbon on their helmets. Team Lorraine member Jane Shakman of Ossining said in December of 2005, “She always put herself last, so here’s our time to help her,” “She was incredibly athletic. She was moving night and day. It’s so sad to see her trapped.”

In the photos Lorraine’s husband, Chris Reyling hands out green ribbons at the 2005 Golden Apple ride.

15 members of Team Lorraine rode from Hartsdale to Washington DC in August of 2006 to raise support for stem cell research and to raise funds for her care.

Wilson had this to say about Valentini. “I remember riding with Lorraine and the A riders many years ago. She liked to be the first one up the hill. She’d power past us, sweat dripping from her brow, a look of pure determination on a face that would break into an impish grin when she glanced over her shoulder at the top. There were also the days we’d try to catch her and her longtime partner, Chris Reyling, as they cruised on their tandem, following them as they got up out of their saddles on the hills, and then trying to hang on their wheel after we reached the crest and flew down on the descent.”

A wake will be held July 9th beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Bizub-Parker Funeral Home, 47 Main Street, Little Falls, NJ. A funeral mass will be held the following day, Friday, July 10th, at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of the Holy Angels Church, 465 Main Street, Little Falls, NJ.

Donations in Lorraines memory can be made to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Foundation: Reeve Foundation, 636 Morris Turnpike, Suite 3A, Short Hills, NJ 07078 or through their Web site: www.christopherreeve.org

Will Lance Armstrong win number eight after his retirement of three years? How about his Astana teammate and current odds on favorite of the betting parlors in Europe Alberto Contador? Is it time for Australia to have it’s first winner in Cadel Evans or Michael Rogers? Could last year’s winner Carlos Sastre win back to back with different teams? Maybe Denis Menchov will do the grand tour double with the Giro and Tour? Or will Saxo Bank will bring one of the brothers Schleck to Paris as the winner. Two other America’s have stood on the third step of the podium in Paris, could Levi Leipheimer or Christian Vande Velde move up two steps?

The soap opera of Team Astana makes for an interesting story as they lead up to the main race of the season. Will all-American hero Lance Armstrong return triumphantly and have yet another amazing comeback story for his eighth win?  Or will the spurned new champion, Alberto Contador return to the top spot and win his second tour and fifth grand tour. Who will the team support or will it be divided? Will the Americans support Armstrong while the Spanish support Contaor? What about the quite Andreas Kloden who has placed second at the Tour? Will he ride for himself at this point or in support of his two-team leaders? Maybe the key is Johan Bruyneel. Can he really tell Lance to wait for Alberto? Would he? The team is also on very poor finical terms with it almost splitting a week ago. Armstrong and Johan had a sponsorship package by the name of Livestrong-Nike. Clearly Armstrong would have been the CEO while other reports had Contador and three other riders going to Garmin-Slipstream to work for Armstrong’s former Lt. Jonathon Vaughters.  The team is now selected and clearly shows Johan is in charge. It’s not Lance or Alberto, it’s Johan. He’s picked a strong team and left a couple of key people off. His last selections of Rast, Muravyev, and Paulinho does not really favor Alberto or Lance but should make for a more cohesive team of workers.

It seems that Astana will make it through this year but unlikely continue as sponsor next year leaving the door open for Lance to step into the ownership of  the team. With that some riders will need to ride for themselves to gain contracts for next year. Results like stage wins and top 20 placing at the Tour de France will get you a big contract, riding on the front to support a team leader while finishing 67 only matters if you plan on staying on the same team. Contador will most likely move to another team and out the shadow of Lance in 2010. Kloden will be cut free as well due to his constant connections to past blood doping, This sets up a difficult group of riders to manage, I’d not call it a team at all and that’s how Armstrong has one in the past with nine guys riding for Lance and Lance alone.

My top ten
1.    Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) – This is the only team that has a single goal of winning the Tour with one man and they will do it.
2.    Alberto Contador (Astana) – His talent will take him to second, but his team will come up short.
3.    Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) – He could win, but he’s still a year or two away, plus a great team and one of the best directors. In Riis.
4.    Denis Menchov (Rabobank) – Hard to win the Giro and Tour.
5.    Carlos Sastre (Cervélo TestTeam)– He’ll miss Riis and his old team.
6.    Vladimir Karpets (Katusha)– He’s going to ride the wheels and find one attack.
7.    Michael Rogers (Columbia-Highroad) – This will be more of a team top ten and he’ll help his countryman during the climbs.
8.    Lance Armstrong (Astana)– This is still a great result for someone to have not raced three years.
9.    Roman Kreuziger (Liguigas) – Another youngster in the top ten.
10.    Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) – look out – he cracks the top ten in the Tour and sets his sights on winning a grand tour next year.

The green or sprinters jersey will be a battle between the older Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam)–  and two young guns, Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) and American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream). My pick is Farrar, since his teammate Christian Vande Velde is not on form to compete for the top three overall the team will focus on stage wins and the green jersey. ( Eds note – I didn’t include last years winner, Oscar Freire of Rabobank. He will be in the hunt again as well. )

What do you think? Vote in our poll and voice your opinion in the comments.

(AP Photos)

BRUSSELS (AP)  Dutch cyclist Thomas Dekker will not take part in the Tour de France after testing positive for the illegal blood-booster EPO.

His Silence-Lotto team says Wednesday that the cyclist recently learned a retested urine sample taken in December 2007 contained the banned hormone. Dekker was riding for the Dutch racing team Rabobank when the sample was taken.

Dekker joined Silence-Lotto last year on a two-year contract.

Silence-Lotto team leader Marc Sergeant says he was “very disappointed” by the news, adding he moved to suspend and replace Dekker ahead of the Tour.

The Tour de France starts Saturday in Monaco.

Eds notes, Dekker’s abnormal blood values held him out of the Rabobank team’s Tour line up last year and was part of the reason he left Rabobank. This is the second Silence-Lotto rider who joined the team to be suspended for anti-doping violations. They had signed Bernard Kohl who finished third and won the mountains jersey in last year’s tour. This also shows the UCI’s biological passport program is rooting out cheats and allowing target testing, lets hope this leads to a cleaner sport and level playing field.

SAMUEL PETREQUIN,Associated Press Writer, PARIS  /  Lance Armstrong believes he can win an eighth Tour de France title, well aware his aging legs are not as strong as they used to be. He is also willing to put such ambitions aside if it means helping teammate Alberto Contador win.

The AP photos show Armstong’s legs in the recent Nevada City Classic above and  his 2004 Tour win below.

Contador, the 2007 winner, and Armstrong will ride for the Astana team in the three-week race that starts Saturday with a time trial in Monaco. The pairing raises an intriguing question: Can the two Tour de France champions ride together or will their fierce individual agendas divide them?

The 37-year-old Armstrong won the last of his record seven straight Tours in 2005, and his startling comeback has fans worldwide eager to see if he can add to his cycling legend.

“Now it’s 2009, not 2004, 2005 or 2001, that’s different”, Armstrong said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. “I would love to be eternally young, but I’m not. That’s just the reality.”

“It’s not going to be easy to win,” Armstrong added. “In December and January, I thought it would be easier. It ends up being more difficult than I thought. Perhaps because of the crash, of the complicated season or simply because I’m older now.”

Armstrong said he would be willing to support Contador if it becomes clear the Spaniard is the likelier rider to win the grueling race.

“Out of respect for him, out of respect for the team and out of respect for the rules of cycling, I would do it with pleasure”, Armstrong said by telephone after previewing the 18th stage of the Tour, a time trial in Annecy.

When riders take the start line in Monaco, just one rider — the 40-year-old Spaniard Inigo Cuesta — is likely to be older than Armstrong. The Tour’s oldest champion is Belgium’s Firmin Lambot, who was 36 when he won in 1922.

Armstrong knows the odds are against him, and he would love to prove his doubters wrong.

“They would say that my time has come and gone and that I’m too old, that it’s very complicated, that there are other riders now,” Armstrong said. “I know those things and you could use those for motivation. I know where I am. I’ve studied my performances in training very closely, and I’m excited to race. I’m not sure that I can win, but I can tell you that the person who thinks that I get 10th … he is dead wrong.”

Armstrong overcame testicular cancer to win his first Tour in 1999 and finished a creditable 12th place recently in the Giro d’Italia. Still, most regard Contador as favorite for the world’s biggest multistage race.

Before the Giro, Armstrong broke his collarbone in a crash during the Vuelta of Castilla and Leon in March. Now he has recovered fully.

“The indication I have in training and the tests that I did tell me that my condition is good,” he said. “Maybe not the best of my life, but not too bad.”

As meticulous as ever, Armstrong spent the last four days scoping out the big difficulties he will face during the third and final week of the race — a sure sign his ambition still burns.

However, Contador’s legs are 11 years fresher than Armstrong’s, and Spain’s supreme climber is just as hungry to win.

Armstrong insists there are no conflict of interests on his team.

“We really have a clear-cut favorite (Contador) that we can say he is better than the other contenders,” he said. “Nobody wants to lose. I’m not going to act irresponsibly. Neither will Levi (Leipheimer), neither will (Andreas) Kloeden. And, at the end of the day, we will have to follow the orders of the team’s director.”

Armstrong and Contador, one of only five riders with victories in the three main tours (Spain, Italy and France) don’t know each other well and they have spent little time together.

“The relationship is cordial and respectful — there is not a lot of interaction” Armstrong said. “The language is an issue, a challenge. His English is similar to my Spanish, so the crossover is not easy.”

Astana manager Johan Bruyneel, who oversaw Armstrong’s seven Tour wins, recently said Contador would be team leader.

Armstrong told the AP that Contador would wear the team’s No. 1 jersey on Saturday for the 9.6-mile time trial.

The opening clock race could establish a clear hierarchy within Astana. If Armstrong wins it, it would be hard for the 26-year-old Contador to claim leadership later.

“Of course it’s important, but it’s a long way from Verbiers, the (Mont) Ventoux, (the Col du) Grand Colombier,” Armstrong said, looking toward the brutal third week.

This year, Contador has improved his speed and won the Spanish time trial last week. Armstrong predicts Contador will be fast in Monaco, but tabs Swiss star Fabian Cancellara as Saturday’s winner.

Armstrong also thinks his team will win the Stage 4 team time trial in Montpellier and take the yellow jersey then. It could be on his shoulders that day, or on those of Contador, or draped on his American teammate, Leipheimer.

During his heyday, Armstrong usually destroyed his rivals at the first hilltop finish. The first such finish this year is Sage 7, at Arcalis in the Pyrenees. Armstrong preaches patience this year.

“There are too many difficult parts in the final week,” he said. “Honestly speaking, I plan to be careful in Arcalis. It’s not like before when you had two stages in the Pyrenees and then one week through the middle of France pretty easy and then two stages in the Alps and then one week to Paris.”

According to Armstrong, the major threats to the Astana team will come from Australian rider Cadel Evans, the runner-up in 2007 and 2008, from the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, and from defending champion Carlos Sastre of Spain.

Armstrong has said he’s riding again to help fight cancer. He’s also back because of his passion for the sport.

“I’m racing for free because I love it,” said Armstrong, who doesn’t get paid by his team. “I don’t think a lot of people would do it for free. I’m doing it because I want it, because I love it and also because I can. The sport was good to me. I had many years at the top and I’ve made plenty of money. My life is comfortable and I can do whatever I want.”

RYE – Sixteen-year-old Greg Langer will journey to Portland, Ore., this weekend to embark upon a month long, 3,500-mile bicycle trip to Savannah, Ga. – his second cross-country bike trip in just over a year.

“Last year’s trip was fun, but kind of easy,” said Langer about his six-week, 3,000-mile ride.

On this year’s trip, organized by the Pacific-Atlantic-Cycling Tour, or PAC Tour, which Langer found online, riders will average 120 miles per day and reach a peak elevation of 10,424 feet at Tennessee Pass near Leadville, Colo.

Langer, who will be a junior in the fall at Rye High School and the youngest person on the trip, will join 25 others Saturday to begin the ride through mountains, forests, grasslands and prairies. The trip includes 800 miles of the Oregon Trail and crosses the Ozark Mountains and the Mississippi River. “The reason he’s going is to ride away from mom and dad,” joked Nancy Langer, his mom. “I’m actually really happy he found this activity on his own. We looked for camps, but they were just too static for him.”

Three support vans will accompany the group, carrying food and extra supplies. The riders, most of whom are in their 40s, will carry only clothes and spare bike parts. Though they will occasionally visit museums and restaurants, particularly on Route 66, there will be no full rest days.

“Each of the (PAC Tour) owners has done this before, so they know the terrain,” his mother said in connection with the teen’s safety. “I spoke to (one of the owners) and she seemed like a caring parent, down to earth. I know they’ll watch out for him.”

Along with the typical bike gloves, jersey, leg warmers and spandex, the trip requires special biking shoes that lock into the pedals, allowing momentum from both the foot’s push down and pull up.

“We’ll probably wake up around 4 a.m., ride, snack every 25 miles then lunch at 70 or 80 miles,” said Langer, who rides his father’s Specialized Roubaix, a road bike made for speed.

“We eat a lot. Last year, if we had pizza, we had to order a whole pie per person. We’d eat and be hungry again 20 minutes later.”

To prepare for the trip, Langer must ride more than 200 miles per week, a venture he believes will be much easier now that school is over. This week, the program directors suggest two 200-mile rides, each in fewer than 14 hours.

“It’s just really cool to know you can go so far on your own,” Langer said. “I wouldn’t have thought I could be at home, then bike somewhere to see a cow.”
Additional Facts

This was writen by JournalNews writer, Chelsea Mitamura, you can email her at cmitamura@lohud.com

Please check back here at Cycling Central for periodic updates on Greg Langer’s cross-country trip.