FanHouse LanceArmstrong

MONACO (AP) -- Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong went out early and put up a solid time in the opening stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, then was upstaged by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland.

Cancellara finished the 9.6-mile time trial in 19 minutes, 32 seconds, beating 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador by 18 seconds to capture the yellow jersey.

In a video on his web site, Lance Armstrong says he thinks it's likely he'll be prevented from riding in this summer's Tour de France because of a dispute with French officials over drug-testing procedures. The video is below.

If you thought the broken collarbone suffered by Lance Armstrong at the Tour de Castilla y Leon in Spain on Monday was going to keep him out of the 2009 Tour de France, you would apparently be incorrect.

The seven-time winner of the premier cycling event will compete in France and possibly in the Giro d'Italia, according to the Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel.

"I don't think this changes anything for the Tour de France," Bruyneel said Tuesday. "A broken collarbone in the month of March does not at all compromise the start of the Tour de France or your performance in the Tour de France."

Lance Armstrong returned to the cycling world yet again this year. The cycling legend intended to compete in the Tour de France and bring yet another title to America. However, his progress hit a major speed bump Monday when he broke his collarbone in a crash during the first stage of the Tour de Castilla y Leon in Spain. Video below (FYI: foreign announcers ahead.)



Via FanIQ

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong is getting back on a bike after taking three years off. In this exclusive FanHouse video we hear from Lance, his fans, and Lance's close friend, actor Ben Stiller, who says that going to lunch with the sports icon is not as cool as people might think. We also find out how those yellow wrist bands we are all so familiar with came into being, and what Armstrong really thought about them at first.

Check out the video after the jump.

Lance Armstrong may be racing in the Amgen Tour of California, but he kicked off his morning like many of us: drinking some coffee, checking some email and watching ESPN in the background. How do I know this? Because the guy's on Twitter and he told me so.

Unfortunately, the quiet calm of his Sunday morning was soon interrupted: "Whoa!! They just came to my room and said our truck was broken into and someone stole my time trial bike! Wtf?!? APB out to the twitterati."

In the wake of the Alex Rodriguez admission to steroid use, you'd think athletes are doing whatever they can to keep their name and steroids as far apart as possible, especially if they've been questioned in the past.

Not the case for seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who, after announcing his comeback to cycling, claimed that he would be undergoing some comprehensive testing by Don Catlin, basically the Tiger Woods of anti-doping scientists. The tests were to be extremely strict and available for everyone on the Internet, but have since been canceled without Catlin ever getting a chance to test Armstrong even once.

Michael Jordan came back to the Bulls after baseball and was an absolute hero. He led Chicago to three championships and went from Hall-of-Famer to Best Player Ever.

Jordan also came back one too many times when he joined the Wizards. It was ugly. He wasn't the same guy, and the lasting image was him front-rimming a dunk he couldn't put down in the All-Star game. Yikes.

Hopefully Lance Armstrong will be different, despite returning to professional cycling to win his eighth Tour de France this summer. His first competition? Australia. His performance after Day One? Down under (Get it?).

Lance Armstrong is an American superhero, at least worthy of the same status as Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger, so, really, it should come as no surprise that when he gets finished slaughtering the competition riding in the 2009 Tour de France, he may consider a career in politics.

And although 2010 may be too soon to see Lance run (I can't wait for the political "ride" puns), he's at least interested/concerned, based on a recent interview with Mark McKinnon in The Daily Beast.

Is there a future for Lance Armstrong in politics?

If you feel like you can do the job better than people who are doing it now, and you can really make a difference, then that's a real calling to serve, and I think you have to do that. I felt a strong desire to come back and race right now because I felt we had a place and I could have a real impact and that's why I'm doing it. I don't think you want to enter political life unless you really think you can really have an impact. Don't do it for a bet, or a dare or for your ego. Or for any other competitive desire you have. Do it because you can get in there and change people's lives. That's why you do it. So, there will come a time, or not, that I say to myself, "You know what, I can help affect change." And if that day comes, then absolutely.

Okay, so that's not absolutely set in stone, but still, he's interested. Here's the thing about famous people and politics: it's a fantastic mix if the rational for entering the political realm is what Lance refers to above: AFFECTING POSITIVE CHANGE.

My dad once told me something I've kept with me for years and years -- "Why do with two testicles what you can get done with one?"

Lance Armstrong took that advice to heart, impregnating his girlfriend Ashley Olsen Anna Hansen, who is expecting a baby in June.

All jokes aside (because I actually think Lance is awesome), this is pretty good news for testicular cancer patients. According to the CNN report, Armstrong and ex-wife Kristin Richards tried to have a kid after Armstrong went through chemotherapy but couldn't because of his testicular cancer. Armstrong and Richards did have three children using sperm the cyclist had donated before the treatment, though.