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Nearly 3 1/2 years since his last event, Lance Armstrong returned to competitive road racing exactly the way he left it — with a victory.
Armstrong, 37, claimed the 35-39 age group Saturday in the 16-mile individual time trial at the two-day Tour de Gruene in Texas.
The last starter in the field at the German heritage-oriented event, Armstrong was timed in 33 minutes and 14 seconds. He was victorious by more than three minutes in his age group and was 1:43 faster than the second-fastest time in any age group.
Although he has competed in marathons and mountain biking, the last road race Armstrong participated in was the 2005 Tour de France, the culmination of his seven straight titles in cycling's most prestigious grand tour.
“I wasn't really sure what to expect,” Armstrong told the San Antonio Express. “Oh man, the crowds were super. It's hard suffering through the race but when you have people there being supportive, it makes the suffering a little more bearable. Overall I would say I was moderately pleased. I wasn't ecstatic.”
Armstrong was scheduled to ride in Sunday’s 27.3-mile, two-person team event at the Tour de Gruene with John Korioth, who helped found the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Armstrong twice previously competed in the Tour de Gruene, once with Eddy Merckx of Belgium, a five-time Tour de France winner, and once with former teammate Kevin Livingston, who now works for Medalist Sports, a cycling event management company.
The Tour Down Under, beginning Jan. 20 in Adelaide, Australia, will mark Armstrong's return to international pro competition.
Comments
Lance and his buddy College won the Team event as well. I haven't seen a time, but Chris Brewer twittered that it was faster than 29 MPH. According to the race website, part of the Team course had a 13% grade. I got the feeling that with Lance meeting with Johann Bruyneel in Copenhagen a couple of days ago to discuss his schedule for next year, Chris Carmichael getting SRM data from the races this weekend, and a trip to the wind tunnel and velodrome this week, that things just got serious. I'm excited.
LANCE IS BACK! 2009 is going to be great. Even Contador is scared, that's why he's making the Tour his focus.. he know's that's the only way he'll have a chance at beating Lance. Honestly, that may worry me a bit since Lance has put so much on his plate, but a loss won't mean nothin'. Seven in a row speaks for itself. Winning, if achieved, is probably just frosting on the cake as Armstrong takes his Livestrong message across the world.
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