lance armstrong will turn his focus to triathlon and ironman competition once he brings down the curtain on his tour de france career at the end of this month.
the american competed in the multi-discipline event before he began his illustrious cycling career that saw him win an unprecedented seven tours.
and with the radio shack rider too far off the pace in this year’s event to pose his customary threat to the podium his thoughts have already turned to what comes after.
“the first thing i have to do is to compete in a half ironman to test myself,” said armstrong.
“because of my age and i would rather not compete in olympic distance. those triathletes who dispute this distance achieve speeds that I cannot get close to.
“what is clear is that if I want to be competitive, I have to focus on the longer distances as they often have tougher cycling sections and that would benefit me.”
though armstrong, who recovered from cancer back in 1997, is an able swimmer and runner his strong suit in the swim-bike-run would obviously come on the second discipline where ironman’s non-drafting rule would also assist him.
whatever comes next for armstrong, he is adamant that a return to the tour de france is not something he would consider, despite his emotional attachment to it.
“this tour will be my last race of three weeks,” he said. “i would give me a chance in a triathlon but do not know how fast I could go.”
steve wilson, telegraph.co.uk
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