Sydney  - Lance Armstrong, who re-started his professional cycling career in Australia in January, will be back for the next Tour Down Under as part of the RadioShack team, officials in Adelaide said Thursday.

The Texan, who was third in this year's Tour de France while riding for Team Astana, finished the Australian six-day classic in 29th position, 49 seconds behind the winner.

The new RadioShack Team will be led by former Astana head Johan Bruyneel, who mentored Armstrong through his seven Tour de France wins.

South Australia state government officials refused to disclose how much 37-year-old Armstrong would be paid for entering the Tour Down Under, which starts January 17.

They would not go further than what was said in Dublin, where both Armstrong and Premier Mike Rann were speakers at the Livestrong Global Cancer Summit in Dublin, Ireland.

Cancer campaigner Armstrong was quoted as saying he was "looking forward to going back to Australia for the first race of the season with Team RadioShack, the first race of all time for Team RadioShack, and continue the work, continue the global mission, the global campaign."

Officials said Rann negotiated the deal with Armstrong during the recently completed Tour of Ireland.

Armstrong's first reappearance on a bike at the 2009 Tour Down Under attracted enormous media interest and generated record crowds for a race run in and around Adelaide.(dpa)