Armstrong a favorite to win … again
07/02/09 8:54 PM EDT
It's still about Lance Armstrong. Even though he hasn't raced in the Tour de France for three years, he's a seven-time winner who will enter as one of the favorites. So says Versus racing analyst Phil Liggett.
"He proved to us in the Giro d'Italia that he was -- by the time that race finished -- probably the best ride in the race," Liggett told The Examiner's Jim Williams. "His form had come great and he took a while to come back after his broken collarbone in Spain and when he started the Giro, he was behind. By the last week, he was very strong. I think the riders are scared of Lance right now."
Liggett said it's a two-man race between Armstrong and possibly his teammate, Alberto Contador.
Tour de France veteran Levi Leipheimer told Williams that the southern track will test the riders because of the heat.
If it becomes an even bigger test of wills, then it's once again advantage Armstrong.
"I guarantee -- he'll be a reckoner in this race," Liggett said. "He will not take it lying down."
Follow The Examiner
