Robbie wins at home while Armstrong finishes in the middle of the pack

January

Robbie McEwen of the new Team Katusha wins the first race in the Tour Down Under, Lance finishes in the pack after three years of retirement. The crowd was huge for the race sponsored by the Cancer Council in the host country Australia for Armstrong’s return. Today’s race was a speed workout covering 51 kilometers in 1.04.32. with an average speed of 47.42 kph or 29.46 mph.

This race will take a day off and really start Tuesday. From today’s results look for McEwen, Greipel or Team Columbia-High Road and Baden Cooke to fight for the overall next weekend. Also watch a a younger racer, Nicholas Roche whose father won the Tour and World Championship in the same year. This will be Rouche’s come out year.

Armstrong missed strating his goal of posting his blood results on a website to bring transparency to his anti-doping program.

Armstrong’s stated goal of transparency with his anti-doping program goal of posting his blood results has passed. He had said it would be up for the world to see before starting his season.

At this point Armstong is working with Don Catlin who is also working with Team Columbia and Garmin-Slipstream on anti-doping programs. Catlin’s testers have begun to test Armstrong as have a number of other world testing agencies. He has been tested 12 times since his announced comeback.

“It’s full on. It’s underway,” Armstrong said. “This is the most comprehensive anti-doping plan in the history of sport. I’m proud of it, I respect Don, I know that he’s the toughest that there is out there.

“We’re under way. It’s slightly complicated because you have a lot of people involved and a lot of other agencies involved. Outside of Don Catlin there have been 12 other anti-doping controls out of competition.

“We’re just getting everybody together. We’re committed to having it in place before the first race.”

AP contributed to this post and provided the photos.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 10:16 AM by Randall Wolf. Print This Post | Email This Post

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