Adelaide, Australia - Cycling legend Lance Armstrong was back in the saddle Tuesday in his first stage race since the last of his seven Tour de France victories in 2005.
The 37-year-old Texan is out of retirement and at the head of the Astana Team in Australia's six-day Tour Down Under in the south-coast city of Adelaide.
The gods smiled on the cycling god with the temperature a balmy 25 degrees and most of the 133 riders in the 140-kilometre stage taking things easy on the first day of the opening tour of the 2009 professional road racing season.
Melbourne, Jan 17 : Lance Armstrong has promised to attack during the Tour Down Under, and laughed off suggestions that his comeback was a bit like the return of Jesus Christ
Refuting suggestions that he will treat the race as a glorified training ride, the seven-time Tour de France champion today fronted more than 100 local, national and international media, and answered questions for more than an hour about his comeback to cycling.
Sydney - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong set hearts racing Friday in Adelaide as the clock ticked to his return to competition after a three-year lay-off.
Thousands of cycling fans lined the streets of the south coast city to glimpse the 37-year-old Texan on training rides ahead of Sunday's prologue to the six-day Tour Down Under, beginning Tuesday.
Sunday's twilight race is a criterium on an Adelaide street circuit that is unlikely to give an indication of Armstrong's potential.
Sydney - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong on Thursday was geared up for a practice ride on the hilliest stage of next week's Tour Down Under.
The Australian classic signals his return to competition after three year in retirement.
Cycling pundits are predicting that the 37-year-old Texan will finish in the peleton until the penultimate stage of the six-day race and make his move when the pack goes up Willunga Hill.
Sydney - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong on Wednesday took the wraps off the specially prepared carbon-fibre bike he will board for next week's return to professional cycling in Australia's Tour Down Under.
The 37-year-old Texan's Trek machine is emblazoned with the number 1275 - the number of days that will have elapsed between his last Tour de France win in 2005 and the start of the six-day stage race next week in the south-coast city of Adelaide.
Sydney - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong began the Australian countdown to his much-heralded return to professional cycle racing Monday well away from the public gaze.
Armstrong, 37, comes out of retirement to compete in the star- studded field gathering in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under stage race.
South Australian Tourism Commission head Andrew McEvoy said the cancer survivor was whisked away from Adelaide airport to a secret location because of the huge international interest in his return.
Adelaide, Australia - Cycling legend Lance Armstrong was back in the saddle Tuesday in his first stage race since the last of his seven Tour de France victories in 2005.
Melbourne, Jan 17 : Lance Armstrong has promised to attack during the Tour Down Under, and laughed off suggestions that his comeback was a bit like the return of Jesus Christ
Sydney - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong set hearts racing Friday in Adelaide as the clock ticked to his return to competition after a three-year lay-off.
Sydney - Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong on Thursday was geared up for a practice ride on the hilliest stage of next week's Tour Down Under.
