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PAGE 8: NEWFLASH: MORE LANCE MANIA-"AGE IS A WIVES TALE"
Road Bike Action and AFP
September 9, 2008
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The 36-year-old Lance Armstrong says he has his sights set firmly on the Tour de France in 2009. "I am going back to professional cycling. I'm going to try to win an eighth Tour de France," Armstrong told magazine, Vanity Fair.
Armstrong, who will turn 37 on September 18, cited 41-year-old US swimmer Dara Torres's Olympic comeback in Beijing as proof that age was no barrier to an elite sports career. "Look at the Olympics," he said. "You have a swimmer like Dara Torres. Even in the 50m (freestyle) the 41-year-old mother proved you can do it," he told the magazine. "The woman who won the marathon (Romanian Constantina Tomescu) was 38. Older athletes are performing very well. Ask serious sports physiologists and they'll tell you age is a wives' tale." Armstrong said he decided to tackle the Tour again in August, while competing in the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race in Colorado where he placed second, behind Dave Weins.
Armstrong said he would discuss details of his plans for competition in 2009 on September 24 in New York City. Johan Bruyneel said on Tuesday morning at the Tour of Spain he thought reports of the cyclist's impending return were only "a rumour." However, Bruyneel seemed to leave a door open for the American. "If he were serious about a comeback ... myself having a team I could not imagine him at CSC or Rabobank," Bruyneel said.
(Photo: Bettini)
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