Lance Armstrong has decided to race the Tour of California to prepare for his attempt at an eighth Tour de France victory. Last year the Texan rode the Giro d’Italia for the first time in his career to build up his form for July.
“I’ve decided to ride the Tour of California in 2010,” Armstrong said on his Twitter page.
The Tour of California is scheduled to start on May 16, and this year it has a competing time slot with Italy’s Grand Tour. The Giro will start on May 8 in Amsterdam.
During his seven-year winning streak Armstrong focused solely on the Tour de France, only racing the smaller week-long Tours to fine tune his fitness. Last year, however, was different. Coming out of a more than three-year retirement, the American decided the best way to prepare for the Grand Boucle after such a long break was to dive-in and build the endurance needed for July by racing in Italy.
He came in an incredible 12th place in the Giro d’Italia and went on to shock the world by finishing on the podium in Paris behind Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck and his then Astana teammate Alberto Contador.
Armstrong announced during this year’s Tour that he would be starting a new team sponsored by Texas-based company RadioShack. He has brought the core of his former Astana team over with him, including Johan Bruyneel, the manager who’s tactical brilliance guided him to his seven Tour victories. This move has left Contador with a team that is unable to support a yellow jersey contender in July. The Spaniard is currently trying to get out of his contract with the Astana team, and has been in serious talks with Caisse d’Epargne, Quick Step, and the Garmin-Slipstream team
Team RadioShack will debut in Australia’s Tour Down Under.