Armstrong announcement hints at possible retirement

Six time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is set to make an "important announcement" just before this year's Tour de Georgia on April 18. In an interview with French paper Le Figaro, published on Wednesday, Armstrong hinted at a possible early retirement, although he does have a two year contract with Discovery Channel.

"I won't be doing the Tour forever," he was quoted as saying. "But it's still to early to talk about it. I will announce it to you, to the world, only later...To win a seventh Tour is now my objective. But seven would be just one more whereas six was magic."

Armstrong said that he found it hard to be away from his family for long periods of time. "The long and many absences, the long distances make me want to say stop it, to return home and be near them."

After a bad start to the year, Armstrong has seemingly found his legs again, finishing in the main peloton in both the Brabantse Pijl last Sunday and Paris-Camembert yesterday. He will be part of the Discovery Channel line up in the Tour of Flanders this Sunday, which will be led by Stijn Devolder and George Hincapie. The other riders are Viatcheslav Ekimov, Leif Hoste, Roger Hammond, Benoît Joachim and Hayden Roulston