Officially, Armstrong and his people have always maintained that he
would go for a seventh Tour victory with his new Discovery Channel team
while also launching a full scale assault on the one-day Classics
before, next year, rounding off his career with a tilt at the world
hour record.
Instead, Armstrong, the man who survived a bout of testicular cancer
so severe that he was only given a 10% chance of survival and then went
on to become a sporting immortal, is expected to announce his
retirement tomorrow. The signs are that he has had enough: enough
training, enough racing, enough of the lengthy absences from his
children, and more than enough of the suspicion that continues to
surround him, and which sees him rebutting allegations, briefing
lawyers and attending courthouses almost on a daily basis.