Armstrong in Bruyneel's early Tour Down Under team selection

Johan Bruyneel has selected nearly half of the RadioShack team that will be racing the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, from January 17 to 24. Yesterday, he named Lance Armstrong, Gert Steegmans and Yaroslav Popovych.

"I can tell you Lance will be racing. Gert Steegmans - he's the sprinter and there is a big possibility for bunch sprints. Yaroslav will be racing," said team director Bruyneel on his website.

Organisers hold the Tour Down Under in Adelaide, which offers a warm start to the season. Armstrong used the race to make his return to cycling this year after a three-year retirement. He finished 29th, 49 seconds behind winner Allan Davis.

Next year, the Tour Down Under will mark the start of Armstrong's and Bruyneel's new RadioShack. Organisers allow seven-man teams.

"It will definitely be a pretty strong team," said Bruyneel. "We want to be competitive from the start in the uniform of RadioShack."

Armstrong announced on July 23, during the Tour de France, that American company RadioShack would sponsor his new team for the next two years. Bruyneel later announced that he would make the jump to RadioShack from team Astana, too.

Bruyneel guided Spaniard Alberto Contador to win the Tour de France in 2007 and this year. Contador will likely remain with team Astana.

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