By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press Writer – all photos by the Associated Press

PARIS (AP) _ Lance Armstrong can try for an eighth Tour de France title — if his team is clean in the run-up to cycling’s premier race.

A day after Armstrong confirmed his comeback with the Astana squad, Tour director Christian Prudhomme cleared up any doubts over whether the team would be allowed to race next year. Astana was barred from the 2008 Tour because of past doping violations.

“They should be there if there are no ethical problems,” Prudhomme told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. “They weren’t at any of our races in 2008. If nothing happens in the coming months, they should be at our races in 2009.”

To help persuade any doubters that he is clean, Armstrong said Thursday in he’s hired Anti-doping expert Don Catlin to test him anytime, anywhere — and to post the results online for the world to see.

Prudhomme said he isn’t sure whether Armstrong can still win after three years away from the sport or how next year’s race will play out with the Texan — so dominant in winning seven straight from 1999-2005 — back in the cycling pack.

But this much Prudhomme is certain of: Almost everyone is talking about the cancer survivor’s surprise comeback, even in remote regions of France, a country where Armstrong has long stirred mixed emotions.

Prudhomme said he spent Wednesday at a race in western France, the Tour of Poitou-Charentes, and that “practically the whole day, people spoke to me about the return of Lance Armstrong.”

“The fact that he is a star … means that this touches everyone,” he said.

But before Armstrong goes for an eighth Tour de France title, he says he must prove to his teammates that he’s the best rider to lead them.

Armstrong told reporters Thursday in Las Vegas that he doesn’t expect to be the Astana team leader if he’s not the best rider. He says his close friend and Astana team director Johan Bruyneel will make the decision.

Prudhomme said it was too early to say whether the extra attention generated by Armstrong will prove good or bad for the Tour, which has been beset by doping scandals in recent years. He said he wants to ensure the race retains its “humanity” — meaning that riders appear to be making a real effort and not just flying up tough mountain passes as they seemingly did when doping was more widespread.

“If you have that humanity with Lance Armstrong, then we will have a very beautiful Tour de France,” Prudhomme said.

The 2009 Tour sets off July 4 from the rich principality of Monaco on the Mediterranean coast. The rest of the three-week route will be unveiled next month. Prudhomme refused to reveal details now but said this year’s itinerary “will allow for suspense right until the end.”

Armstrong will ride five races for the Astana team, including the Tour and the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, in January. His first road race in America will be the 2009 Amgen Tour of California in February.

But he didn’t rule out competing in the Giro d’Italia for the first time. The 2009 Giro is scheduled for May 9-31, and the Tour begins July 4.

“I only told you the races I will enter, therefore I don’t exclude it,” Armstrong said in Thursday’s sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport. “If I’m able to involve your prime minister (Silvio) Berlusconi in the fight against cancer and some other things line up, who knows, it could be the right year to come your way.”

Just a comment on who will lead Astana in the Tour. It reminds me of the debacle between in 1985 and 86 between the egos of teammates Frenchman Bernard Hinault and upstart American Greg LeMond. In 85 Hinault crashed and 24-year-old LeMond was ordered to ride in support as Hinault sought to join the great Tour champions with five wins. LeMond says now that his team management lied to him about Hinault’s time gaps on a critical stage causing him to loose the overall.

The next year Hinault promised to ride in support of his protégé LeMond, but win the opportunity came in stage 12 Hinault attacked and built a five minute lead. Hinault later cracked in the mountains the next day putting Lemond in yellow and feeling betrayed once again by his teammate.

Will history repeat itself in 2009? Sure will be fun to watch!