Armstrong may talk of retirement plans

Paris: For six years, the main question about Lance Armstrong was whether he could win another Tour de France. Now the main doubt is whether he will ride another one after this year.

The Texan will be at the start of cycling?s biggest race in July, if only to fulfil his obligations with his team Discovery. Win or lose, the 2005 Tour will almost certainly be his last.

The most successful Tour de France rider of all time has fuelled speculation that retirement is on the cards by calling a news conference on Monday, on the eve of the Tour of Georgia, and making it clear that he has an important announcement to make. The six-time Tour winner?s contract with Discovery includes a clause that he should ride at least one more Tour.

There is no doubt that the 33-year-old American will honour his contract but only last week he told an Italian newspaper: ?In four-and-a-half months it?ll be over.?

Armstrong told a French daily he was finding being apart from his five-year-old son and three-year-old twin daughters, who live in Texas, harder and harder to bear.

?My frequent absences plus the long distances make me feel like saying stop and returning home to be near them,? he said.

Armstrong, who returned to competitive cycling in 1998 after a near-fatal encounter with testicular cancer, said his love of the sport had not diminished. ?To ride for three, four hours or more like I used to do before I turned pro still produces the same passion. It will never change,? he said.

The allure of more Tour wins was waning, however, he said. ?To win a seventh Tour is now my goal. But seven would just be one more whereas six was magic.?

Armstrong, never a conventional character, surprised everyone by showing up at an amateur event, the Ojai race in California, last week.

He also wrong-footed his critics last month by paying an unexpected visit to an Italian judge to discuss new doping allegations against him.

Armstrong, who has never failed a doping test and who has always been cleared in legal cases against him, may also be weary of the non-stop controversies surrounding him.

This season, he took part in Paris-Nice to please International Cycling Union (UCI) chief Hein Verbruggen, who needed the leading character in the sport to be at the start of the inaugural event of his new ProTour.

Then he helped teammates Stijn Devolder and George Hincapie, both classics specialists, and even showed glimpses of early form himself in the Tour of Flanders.

Back in the US for the Tour of Georgia, Armstrong will then start his preparations for what should be his last Tour. If he indeed announces the end of his career, some will say the American is leaving too soon, without achieving some of the feats he is capable of.