"Sour Grapes"! Once again the nay-sayers have come out of the woodwork to sling mud on Lance's rep. As a recovering addict all i can say is keep the focus on yourself and not on others.

yet another rider whois purely scared at the prospect of being in the same peloton as the man himself.how many will be quaking in their lycra in a similar fashion? im guessing the vast majority.

Shouldn't he be critising his fellow German riders who HAVE been caught with a needle in a vein. I have mixed feelings both about Lance's return and his past performances and behaviour. Whoever he is probably one of the, if not actually, most tested cyclists and maybe athletes in the world and no one has been able to PROVE any wrong doing. Lots of whispers and conspiracies, but no proof.

Is Lance the reason there will be no Tour of Germany or TdF coverage in Germany in 09? I really don't think so, even if a German TV producer wants to point the finger at Lance rather than his fellow country men.

Get a grip people.

If LA tests positive then let's deal with that if it happens. It's disheartening to hear the Germans lambasting him so publicly when several of their own high profile riders are drugged to the eyeballs. Perhaps Gerdemann is suffering from withdrawal of media attention. As for the German media, sour grapes indeed.

If the "new generation of clean pro cyclists" want to publicly crucify cyclists who dope, then they should, because it will demonstrate their willingness to police their ranks. However, they should call out cyclists who have been found guilty of doping. Armstrong, who has been hounded by accusations of doping, has never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Shame on Gedermann (and Ganz).

FFS. If Armstrong was taking anything it would have shown up somewhere in the past twenty years.

Flog yourself everyday - get quick.

Nobody tested positive when Armstrong was in his pomp. Not even Pantani who was on such a cocktail of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs you'd have thought it would been harder to miss him than test him positive. The Festina affair only broke because of a team car being stopped with loads of EPO gear and paraphenalia in it. The testing was way behind the drugs, and the fact that pretty much all of Armstrong's major competitors - and team mates - have since been exposed doesn't lend much credence to the 'he never tested positive' stance. Not having tested positive doesn't equate to not having doped.

Whatever Gerdemann's reason for putting this out, I think most who care about cycling as a sport support the line that Armstrong, Hamilton, Landis, Mayo, Basso etc are the past and we have to move on to get credibility. Yes, current riders are being caught and being booted out - hey, the testing's caught up with them, and that's a GOOD thing.

Good to see someone not afraid to say what half the peleton are thinking.

All his comments I totally agree with! Armstrong is coming back to 'prove' yet again he can win a major tour with the help of banned substances. He decieved everyone 7 times so I am sure his ego and arrogance will win him an 8th Tour title.

Lance is the man, can't waite for next years tour and to prove his doubters wrong an 8th time. There's a lot of bitter and jeoulous poeple in the sport of cycling if you ask me.

mackiej - I'm not sure it's bitter and jealous people, rather bitterly disappointed with what went on in the past and having been duped so badly. I really don't think Lance will hold a candle to Contador in the Tour; indeed, I suspect the only reason Contador is still with Astana is because Bruyneel has realised after his initial excitement of being reunited with Armstrong that Contador's the best bet of a win and keeping all the others in the team - especially Kloden and, to a lesser extent, Leipheimer - on side. Lance had his teams totally behind him and him alone in the past. These younger guys now want their chance of winning, not just grinding it out to protect an ageing Lance for three weeks. In fact, if Lance is doing the Giro, he won't do the Tour. And Contador? Well, he's not doing the Giro, is he.

When did we start hanging people before giving them a fair trial?

If Armstrong had anything to hide there's no way he'd be making this comeback. He's going to look like the victim of a vampire attack by the time they've finished with him.

I'll be surprised if he wins the Tour - he's not going to have the support he's used to. Without 100% you're stuffed - look at Cadel Evans this year.

If someone hasn't been done for doping, why is everyone going for him? Wether he did dope or not (I very much doubt he did, with the number of tests done on him), Armstrong has never been caught taking anything. I don't understand what the problem is (Apart from Lance being an a really up-himself SOB Texan.)

With all the negative reaction, I'd love to see Lance win his 8th tour and be proved clean.

p.s. Why has no one said anything about Cavendish? With the speed he overtook everyone to win those 4 stages at the tour, yet no one has questioned him about doping.

I think some people have forgotten WHY he is returning. It is not about winning.He really has nothing to prove there. The people that believe he doped will never believe otherwise. Even if he wins, there will be people who say, he found another way...

That is not the point, THIS is about raising awareness of cancer. Sure, he will fight to win and he will fight for reasons that people like young Gerdemann will not understand. Trust me however when I say, as a parent who has lost a little one, and been friends to others who have lost children to terrible disease like leukemia, Lance is doing this, because he has no choice.

When you see those little one suffering like that, you can't live with yourself without all but killing yourself with effort. THAT is why he can tear up a mountain like that... It is truly NOT about the bike.

I am a recreational cyclist who did what I could even though I have a large family. I did speeds and distances I didn't think possible and for those that were there, we did some amazing things for families of the Ronald McDonald House. But there were always people who would not understand or indicate that some of the rides were not possible... I would have to be a pro or something.

The point is... people who have not experienced a great loss, will never understand the tremendous energy one can garner when motivated by the love of a child.

My apologies if I offended anyone, it was not my intention to do so.

Well guys, it looks like most of you who've added speak with commonsense apart from the few who say oh yes Lance Armstrong was on drugs and that’s the only way he achieved what he has. Let’s face it he’s never been caught out if he is taking banned items and he was probably the one rider during his amazing seven years of pure commitment to the Tour de France that would have been tested the most. If you look at what Lance Armstrong has achieved since being a kid you’d see he was always going to achieve whatever project he focused on whether it’s cycling or his Foundation. I can imagine what it must have been like for Lance if he was watching the Tour this year – lets face it people say the Tour was the best it has been this year for some time – I’d have to disagree because it showed how disorganised all the other teams are. People may say CSC were awesome – I’m sorry they just looked good in front of all the other very poor teams. I can’t help but think Armstrong would have won this years Tour by his largest margin ever. Perhaps that German rider needs to look in his own backyard – as has already been mentioned it’s probably fair to suggest he’s scared along with other riders at how they could end up being embarrassed by a guy who is approaching his 40th birthday.

Perhaps the reason why the media don’t appear to like Armstrong is because he calls the shots – he is the one who decides when he’s going to speak to someone and not allow himself to be bullied into doing something he doesn’t want to do. Look at what happened to Cadel Evans at this years Tour – it was a disgrace the way the media treated him.

Don’t forget these couple of point’s guys:

- Gerdemann rides for a team which was formed out of Team Telekom – need I say more.

- Gerdemann is going to a team that has another German rider who has confessed to taking banned substances to win and defraud the sport.

- CSC are managed by someone who won the Tour with the use of EPO.

- CSC have a rider who is supposed to be one of their leaders who has gone and paid a large sum of money to a “coach” who has been found to have supplied banned substances to cyclist – he was that stupid that he sent the money from his own bank account. Surely if you are going to commit criminal acts then he should be wise enough to pay the “coach” in cash!

- Another well known rider from Belgium is allowed to take part in racing who has been taking Cocaine – no ban and no prison sentence. What’s the world coming to!

- The Tour was won this year by a rider who lets say has had very up and down race results throughout his career – I’m not saying anything and am not a Scientist but I think that may suggest something! Of course it’s all surmising and can’t be proved but neither can the rubbish that’s been written about Lance Armstrong.

Those are just a few items off the top of my head. Perhaps the reason why the French (generally speaking) don’t like Lance Armstrong is because they are jealous of the fact that he so focused and achieves – it’s not because he’s damaging their wonderful sport! Look at the way the treated Virenque after he finally confessed to using banned substances – they fell even more in love with him. If they cared so much about their sport they would have put him in jail and thrown away the key.

Well I’m sorry if I’ve been too blunt and honest (an not politically correct) but I can’t help but think that these people who doubt Armstrong should look at the people who are guilty or where there’s enough evidence to prove they are more damaging to the sport than a guy who’s come through so much in life (including probably losing his marriage due to his focus on the sport) and is looking to help other people overcome major illnesses. Lets face it, if he wanted to he could go and never work again but no he’s going to end up spending part of his winter months putting himself through pain riding up and down the beautiful French mountains!