Seven-times Tour de
France winner Lance Armstrong has announced that he is making his final
appearance in the Tour, which starts on Saturday. The 38-year-old
American, two years into a second comeback, revealed the news through
his Twitter website just days before he begins his campaign for an
unprecedented eighth victory in the gruelling event. A man to shine in
adversity, cancer survivor Armstrong has had plenty of difficulties this
season, possibly his last as a full-time professional rider. Now, in
this last race he will probably like to prove himself and be established
as a great rider and a righteous man.
On the other hand, champion Alberto Contador knows he will have no
room for error in his bid for a third Tour de France title, with the
first week of the race peppered with tricky obstacles. Spaniard
Contador, known as the best climber in the world and a fine time-trial
rider, will face the wind and cobbled sections early on in the race he
also won in 2007. Having a hard time within his own team last year on
the Tour was a good thing, after all. “What is done is done. It gave me
experience. Last year’s Tour gave me a lot of maturity and I think I
can now deal better with tricky situations.”
In a few days the Tour starts and both of them will have to prove
themselves.