Armstrong to race in Ireland after Tour. Does Tour of Missouri have a chance?
The hard-working dudes at Velonews have reported that Lance Armstrong will extend his schedule beyond the Tour de France and compete in the Tour of Ireland in late August, then appear at a two-day cancer conference there.
This is significant because earlier reports indicated that Armstrong would shut it down after July. Last year, Mark Cavendish of Columbia-High Road competed in Ireland and looked fresh as a daisy in winning three stages here.
So, if Lance is feeling good, he could consider riding the Tour of Missouri. Race organizers dropped the word “Astana” into the conversation several times when they revealed the host cities last month, so it would be no surprise to see Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and the other Americans here on Labor Day.
The missing ingredient that could lure Lance is a sponsorship tie-in to cancer research, perhaps the Siteman Center at Barnes-Jewish signing on, or maybe the Kansas City Cancer Center or some other research facility on the west side of the state.
For your reading pleasure, here’s the link to the story from Velonews.
Mr Armstrong has visited KC a few times in the past few years related to American Century. He also has made appearances out in Tahoe at the American Century golf tournament. If you know anyone that at American Century, maybe they can apply the necessary grease to bring Mr Armstrong to the ToM.
thanks for your time
I’d say that any cancer-related group or sponsor, such as American Century, that was willing to step up and make a donation to Livestrong or sponsor the race would help lure him here. I don’t know anyone personally at American Century, however. I’m not much of a palm-greaser or a skid-greaser.
Reiterating what Paul & Kathleen said: American Century.
The company went so far as to hang a seven-story tall poster of Lance at the top of their headquarters in 2006 exclaiming “Get your Lance Face On”. They timed the promotion so that they wouldn’t be fined by the city for violating city ordinances.