Lance Armstrong Right Behind Leader In 2009 Tour de France

Sports Betting News - July 8th, 2009 - Written by Mike

The Tour de France has a virtual tie after stage 7 and a legend Lance Armstrong is fractions of a second behind race leader Fabian Cancellera. Armstrong's Team Astana finished the stage first, as a team. Armstrong is going about this Tour de France the same way he usually does by laying back early and then dominating in the mountain stages.

This year he is not the dominate leader of his team as Alberto Contador is also on Team Astana and is hanging up near the front of the pack along side Armstrong, and the leader of the Tour de France. Cancellera, Tour de France leader, races for Saxo Bank, and will again wear the yellow jersey, in front of the pack of racers today for Stage 8. Cancellera hopes not to leave his teammates to far behind as they try to ride the same line as which he rides.

Lance is taking a much stronger approach to this years race right out of the gate, he knows everyone is seeing if he still has the skills and if he has the endurance that he has shown in all the other Tour de France wins he has collected overs the years. Armstrong is not at all worried about not sporting the yellow jersey, just yet, because as he knows there are many more stages, including through the mountains of France.

Hopefully this fast start for Armstrong is not going to take to much energy away from him when he needs it the most during the gruelling last stages. Armstrong is sure to be very focused and is not letting anyone, or anything get into his mind and take him off his game. Cancellera is a young energetic racer who is looking to be the main competition for Armstrong this year. Cancellera should make for an interesting finish to the 2009 Tour de France, provided he can at least compete with Armstrong in the mountain stages.

Armstrong dominated the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005 winning the race 6 times in a row. Lance Armstrong is the only racer to win the Tour de France 7 times. Currently, there are 4 other racers who have won it 5 times. This is his first Tour de France since 2005, after retirement. Though battling cancer, which started as testicular cancer that later spread to his lungs, abdomen, and brain, Armstrong was able to come back, and take win a record number of races. After all the treatments, the doctors still only gave him a 50 percent chance to live. From that time on, Armstrong dedicated himself, to his craft, while inspiring millions, around the globe, and supporting cancer research through his Livestrong Charity.