Thankfully, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and former UCI chief Hein Verbruggen have put the kibosh on the Sydney Morning Herald speculation that they wanted to buy A.S.O. and the Tour.

Said Armstrong, Tuesday in New York according to Velonews.com:  ”I don’t have that kind of money.”

And Verbruggen, to AFP: ”I heard about the rumors that said I wanted to be president of the UCI again, or that I would try to buy the Tour de France. All of which, of course, are completely ridiculous.”

In other ridiculous speculation starting right here, five-time TdF winner Bernard Hinault — aka “The Badger” – may want another Tour de France title. Hinault lost out to Greg LeMond in his quest for No. 6, and he may be tired of zipping up yellow jerseys in July and may want to get No. 6 zipped up for him instead.

And fellow five-time TdF winner Eddy Merckx just may disown his son, Axel, for signing on as director of Armstrong’s new under-25 team that reportedly will be sponsored by, gulp, Trek instead of the Merckx family brand. You may have read it here first.

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