time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong gave his thumbs up to next year's route and said he was eager to meet the new officials in charge of the race and clear up the uncertainty over his participation. The American, who is coming out of a three-year retirement, has yet to decide whether he will ride in France next summer because of his difficult relationship with the Tour organizers and the French crowd. Route details released Wednesday in Paris include an innovative course that sends the peloton from Monaco over the Pyrenees, up eastern France and through the Alps next July 4-26 with the Ventoux mountains in the penultimate stage. “The route of the 2009 Tour de France strikes me as innovative and very interesting,” the 37-year-old Armstrong said in a statement released late on Wednesday. “From its start in Monte Carlo with a 15k time trial, to the reinstatement of the team time trial, to stages in my old hometown of Girona all the way to another visit to my old friend the Ventoux, I could not have hoped for a different Tour.” He added: “While there has been a fair bit of tension and numerous disagreements with the Tour and its organizers, I am well aware that there is new leadership at (tour owners) ASO and I look forward to upcoming conversations and to a mutually beneficial future together.” Former ASO president Patrice Clerc, one of Armstrong's fiercest opponents, was last month replaced by Jean-Etienne Amaury, who said Armstrong's return would be “embarrassing”. Armstrong's manager in team Astana, Johan Bruyneel, said on Wednesday that the Texan, who triumphed on the French roads from 1999 to 2005, would ride the Tour if he felt the atmosphere would be serene, rating his chances of taking part as 50-50. Concern over who will be the rider pushed forward for the yellow jersey by the 2009 Astana team with its all-star lineup were addressed by Armstrong as well. “As to the leadership of the Astana team in 2009, it's illogical to pre-select a leader in October of the previous year,” Armstrong said. “I have been around long enough to know that cycling is a team sport and I am committed to supporting the strongest rider, whether that's me, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, or Andreas Kloden.”
