Lance Armstrong

It's already being said, on Versus television by announcers such as Bob Roll and Paul Sherwen, and in the peloton by 2009 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. A favorite for the 2010 Tour de France title? Lance Armstrong.

Boom. That is the shot Alberto Contador fired over Lance Armstrong's bow Friday. When Contador suddenly hunkered down and tried his afterburners in an attempt to seize control of the Tour de France, it wasn't that his Astana teammate Armstrong couldn't keep up. It was that Armstrong is playing the cycling game as it's supposed to be played. And if this were chess or checkers or Monopoly, Armstrong has gotten himself a free move.

When Lance Armstrong surged to third place overall Monday in the Tour de France, plenty of news crews recorded his heroics. But six of the video cameras trained on the 37-year-old cyclist's surprise breakaway weren't working for any newspaper, magazine, TV station or website -- they were sent by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Hollywood loves beat-the-odds stories, and Sony hopes that Armstrong's return to racing after a 3 1/2 -year absence could prove as enthralling as any make-believe film.

Lance Armstrong says he has found a new American sponsor to back Astana next year. He won't say if he will stay with the team or start his own squad. "Making a very cool announcement on Thursday re: a new American partner for our team in 2010 (and beyond). Stay tuned!" Armstrong said on his Twitter feed Tuesday, without elaborating.

The statement wasn't as absurd as it sounded. A journalist here, looking over the crowd that had gathered, said to Lance Armstrong, "It looks as if Jesus Christ is going to cycle." "I've been called a lot of things in my life," Armstrong replied, "but not Jesus Christ. And I don't know that he rode, either. He can do a lot of things, apparently, but I don't know that he rode." Armstrong is back, and with a vengeance.

Lance Armstrong announced Thursday that he would ride in America's biggest cycling stage race, the Amgen Tour of California. The news came one day after Armstrong officially announced his return to professional cycling after a three-year break. However, he had not listed the Feb. 14-22 California race on his schedule.

Cycling's governing body is relaxing its own rules to allow Lance Armstrong to make his road race comeback in Australia in January. The International Cycling Union said the seven-time Tour de France champion can compete in the Jan. 20-25 Tour Down Under, his first race since coming out of retirement after three years. A strict application of dope testing rules would not have allowed him to compete until Feb. 1, 2009, six months after he filed paperwork with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Inside the San Diego Air and Space Technology Center wind tunnel, while a steady rain fell outside, Lance Armstrong was dripping wet and pedaling hard. "The seat is five inches too high," Armstrong said and bike technicians came running with screwdrivers and furrowed brows. Armstrong squinted to look at numbers that measure his pedal cadence, his oxygen intake, his calorie burning. He was here to re-perfect his bicycle form. His competitive urge? That is just fine.

Lance Armstrong will ride in the 2009 Tour de France, marking the first time he will compete in that race and the Giro d'Italia in the same year. "I'm committed to riding for the best guy," Armstrong said Monday, acknowledging the taxing schedule could leave him riding in a supporting role in France. The Giro runs May 9-31, and the Tour begins July 4.

The International Olympic Committee on Friday rebuked Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, for comments it said had impugned the integrity of cycling star Lance Armstrong. The action resulted from a complaint Armstrong filed in 2005 with the IOC Ethics Commission after Pound publicly suggested that the cyclist had taken the blood-doping hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, during the 1999 Tour de France.