Seem like Andreas Kloden is set to join Lance Amrstrong & 'The Shack' (previously known as 'RadioShack'). Being one of the best 'team rider', with Leipheimer & Zubeldia, it shows that Lance really wants his No.8! Maybe Contador is stronger but he will be better prepared this time.
Lance Armstrong's Astana team was fined on Monday after failing to sign on within the specified time at the start of the third stage of the Tour de France.Heavy traffic in Marseille city centre meant Astana broke the organizers' rule that teams must register for the stage at least 20 minutes before the start of the race.
The Kazakhstan-backed cycling team have been fined 65 euros for the infringement.
"How typical that this team were late. It is disrespectful to the public who came here just to see Armstrong," said race director Jean-Francois Pescheux.
"The money makes no difference to them.
"We will ask the UCI to make the fines harder."
Before the start, Armstrong was seen sharing a cup of coffee with actor Ben Stiller, who was visiting the Tour's VIP area on Monday morning.
Armstrong had a cameo role in the 2004 movie Dodgeball in which Stiller starred. It wasn't clear whether the coffee stop contributed to the delay in signing in.
Source: Velo News/ photo from supertouchart.com
No sanctions against Armstrong: France's anti-doping agency said Friday it will not seek sanctions against Lance Armstrong over a dispute with a drug tester.At issue was a 20-minute delay when Armstrong said a drug tester who showed up March 17 to collect blood, urine and hair samples agreed to let him shower while the American rider's assistants checked the tester's credentials.
"Just got the word from the French agency AFLD on the shower gate incident," the seven-time Tour de France winner wrote on Twitter. "Case closed, no penalty, all samples clean. Onward."
Source: The Seattle Times/ photo from telegraph.co.uk
The Trek ProjectOne Team added this message to Lance Armstrong's back-up time trial bicycle: "Lance -- Ride this one like YOU stole it."Armstrong posted this TwitPic on Friday morning, the day of the 15-mile Solvang individual time trial that's Stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California and perhaps the deciding stage for Levi Leipheimer.
Armstrong said Thursday that he'd ride his original time trial bike, the one that was stolen in Sacramento overnight on Saturday and recovered on Wednesday. He said it seems to be in "fine shape."
Source: Biking Bis
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has had his time-trial bike recovered by police after it was stolen at the Tour of California on Saturday.
The bike, used in the prologue and valued at more than $10,000 (£7,060), was taken from a team truck in Sacramento along with other road bikes.
A local resident brought the Trek Livestrong 1274 to police headquarters in Sacramaneto on Wednesday.
The man is not considered a suspect and no arrests have yet been made.
Armstrong, 37, had posted a picture of his stolen bike on the social networking site Twitter, and more than 900 people had enlisted in a search for the bike through a Facebook group "1 Million Citizens Looking for Lance Armstrong's Stolen Bike".
"Don't have details yet but it's apparently on it's way here. Thanks to the Sacramento P D for the help!"
Sergeant Norm Leong of the Sacramento police force said: "All the technology involved really kept the story alive and moving.
"It was clear that most of the people in the community were looking for this bike. It makes it hard to transport the thing; you can't ride it or sell it, it is that hot of an item."
Armstrong is competing in the US for the first time since his return from retirement.
The American's appearance in the Tour Down Under in Australia in January marked his first race since his final 2005 Tour de France triumph.
The Tour of California continues his build-up to a European campaign which is set to include the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.
Source: BBC News/ Sports- Cycling
Be on the look out. The Astana Team Trailer was broken into this morning and 4 bikes were stolen, including Lance's Custom 1274/27.5 TTX. There is only one of these bikes in existence so if you see it, you know it was stolen. Please keep an eye out!
The seven-time winner isn’t coming back just to prove he’s racing clean, or solely to raise awareness about cancer. What else is at stake?Don’t take it from me. The entire cycling world is a bit confused about why Lance Armstrong would risk his unblemished run of seven straight Tour de France wins by returning, at age 37, to try for an eighth.
“Why is he really doing this?” wondered Marc Sergeant, director of the Silence-Lotto team of Tour hopeful Cadel Evans.
“Personally the story so far doesn't do it for me,” said Columbia manager Bob Stapleton. “But maybe it is about something bigger. He is passionate about cancer.”
But perhaps Carlos Sastre, the man whose title Armstrong will try to regain as his own, put it best. “If he wants to return, it’s because he believes he has an opportunity,” said the 2008 winner to VeloNews.
An opportunity, yes, but for what? Read more..
Source : Bicycling Magazine - By Joe Lindsey
Lance Armstrong can do amazing things on a bicycle (most notably, ride it very quickly up very steep mountains). Yet it turns out that, for all the individual glory he has achieved as a professional cyclist, his greatest contribution to cycling may be his promotion of the bicycle as a form of transportation and recreation. Armstrong is about to open an 18,000 square-foot bicycle store in his hometown of Austin, Texas where, apart from selling the usual bicycle products, he will "promote bike culture and bike commuting" by providing showers and a locker room, as well as bicycle storage, for bicycle commuters that lack those facilities at their offices. As Armstrong himself noted, "This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting..." So you don't have to have Armstrong's quads to commute to work (although it wouldn't hurt), but having him in your town certainly helps.
Mat Touring'd say...GO LANCE!!!!
Source: Trehugger.com
Check out this beauty built by Orange County Choppers (OCC) for Lance Armstrong and his Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF).