time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has announced that he is making his final appearance in the Tour next month. The 38-year-old American, two years into a second comeback, revealed the news through his Twitter website just days before he begins his campaign for an unprecedented eighth victory in the grueling event. “And yes, this will be (my) final Tour de France. It's been a great ride,” Armstrong tweeted. “Looking forward to 3 great weeks.” Armstrong overcame testicular cancer and a break from professional cycling while undergoing treatment to win the Tour de France seven times in a row between 1999 and 2005. He retired in 2005 but made a comeback last year, at age 37, saying he partly missed the thrill of competition but was driven by a greater cause, to help promote cancer awareness. He finished a creditable third in last year's Tour de France, behind his Spanish teammate Alberto Contador, but formed his own Radioshack team for this year's race after the pair fell out. But Armstrong's comeback has not been well received by everyone. He has been dogged by accusations of doping throughout his career and although he has never failed a test and always maintained his innocence, the claims have continued. Just last month, his former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his win in the 2006 Tour de France because of a doping offense, accused Armstrong and other members of his team of cheating. The latest accusations prompted a flurry of finger-pointing and counter-accusations with Armstrong hitting back at Landis, who finally owned up to using performance-enhancing drugs after years of denials. This year's Tour de France starts with a prologue in Rotterdam Saturday and ends in Paris on July 25. The organizers are hoping for a clean race next month. Though no rider was actually caught for doping during last year's race - stage winner Mikel Astarloza was suspended shortly after the Tour for failing a test during the event - the 2009 edition was not without controversy. The head of French anti-doping agency AFLD, Pierre Bordry, accused the International Cycling Union (UCI) of not fully respecting testing procedures and the subsequent row led the UCI to cease cooperation with the agency for this Tour. UCI president Pat McQuaid won support for the decision from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who will send observers to make sure all testing conforms to its code.
