French Press Review 1 July 2009

Article published on the 2009-07-01 Latest update 2009-07-01 10:20 TU

It must be July, because Le Monde devotes an inside page to a fella called Lance Armstrong.

He's the man who made history by winning the Tour de France cycle race seven times in succession, without ever standing in the same room as an illegal substance.

Lance has been in retirement for the past three years but on Saturday in Monaco, he'll be at the start line, riding as a humble helper in the Astana team led by Alberto Contador, the Spanish rider who won the toughest sporting event in the world two years ago.

Why is Lance doing it? He certainly doesn't need the money, and he could hardly be more famous. The rest of the riders don't like him and have already formed cross-team groups to make him suffer in his warm-up races - revenge for the humiliations he dished out right, left and centre when he was at the top of his form.

Perhaps Mr Armstrong likes suffering? He certainly does not like losing, though his age and team position as a mere helper would seem to make that virtually inevitable this time. He is, of course, campaigning for his cancer research charity, Livestrong.

The real reason, says Le Monde, is that Lance is launching his political career. He wants to become governor of his home state. Don't laugh. If Arnold Schwarzenegger can do it in California, Armstong can do it in Texas.