Washington: Lance Armstrong is coming out of retirement in 2009 to raise awareness about cancer, the seven-time Tour de France winner said on Tuesday.

Armstrong had been linked with a return to the peloton for weeks and the 36-year-old American made it official on his website.

“After long talks with my kids, the rest of my family, a close group of friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in 2009,” he said.

“The reason for this is to launch an international cancer strategy based on the fact that we lose eight million people around the world to this disease — more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.”

A survivor of testicular cancer, Armstrong will race in the Tour de France, the Amgen Tour of California, the Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia and the Dauphine-Libere, a cycling journal reported.

Armstrong did not reveal his plans and said he would unveil them on September 24 in New York City.

He told a magazine he was “going to try and win an eighth Tour de France.”

Armstrong said that finishing second in a 100-mile mountain-bike race this year triggered his desire to return to competitive cycling. (Reuters)