Armstrong considers return to racing
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-07 09:45

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Seven times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong says he is considering a return to competitive cycling.

"While I'm absolutely enjoying my time as a retired athlete with (fiancee) Sheryl (Crow) and the kids, the recent smear campaign out of France has awoken my competitive side," Armstrong said in a statement on Tuesday.

"I'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances but I will no longer rule it out."

Armstrong, 33, retired after winning this year's Tour de France for a record seventh consecutive time.

He has been dogged by controversy since a French newspaper said last month that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed traces of the banned substance EPO (erythropoietin).

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999.

However, samples from the 1999 Tour de France were kept and have been recently retested by a laboratory based outside Paris.

Armstrong, who survived cancer, has steadfastly denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Mark Higgins, an Armstrong spokesman, earlier told Reuters the American was "still thinking" about returning to racing.

"He's still fit and very much in his prime.... In light of the stuff that's been going on in the past few weeks, a comeback has become appealing.

"At the same time, he's a retired athlete who is very much enjoying being with his children and working with charities. And he just got engaged. We'll just have to see."

Armstrong and rock star Crow will probably have a spring wedding, Higgins said.

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