The Return of the King

Lance Armstrong made his official return to the professional peloton Sunday at a pre-Tour Down Under Criterium in Adelaide. He finished in 64th and safely within the pack.

For the uninitiated, his underwhelming placement was considerably less grand than the Tolkien-esque one envisioned; announcing his re-entry by triumphantly riding his carbon steed across the finish line.

But for the rest of us, those who have followed his career from the start, his return was right on script. No one would expect the greatest stage racer of all-time, arguably, to jockey around with the speed demons of the peloton in a Criterium format, and certainly not is his first race back after a three-year hiatus.

Realistically, the first true measure of the man pundits used to refer to as the “patron of the peloton,” will be at the end of the six-day Tour Down Under stage race that begins on Tuesday January 20th and runs until the 25th.

A good placing would serve to validate his off-season training, which by all accounts has been well ahead of schedule, even when compared to the same time in the season during his Tour reigning days. And a win, well…the expectations for the spring and summer would most likely reach nuclear proportions.

Follow all the stories of Lance's return on the Triple Crankset Newsgroup, and the Tour Down Under on Versus (check your local listings).

Versus' Schedule:
1/20/2009 - 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
1/21/2009 - 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
1/22/2009 - 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
1/23/2009 - 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
1/24/2009 - 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
1/25/2009 - 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Photo: AP