Six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has pulled out of the Tour of Qatar, citing family reasons. The Qatar race is scheduled for January 31 to February 4.
”This is quite unfortunate since we were looking forward to seeing him race here for the first time,” the president of the Qatar Cycling Federation, Sheik Khaled bin Ali Al Thani, said on Friday. ”But these things happen. Maybe in the future he might race in Doha.”
Other members of Armstrong’s Discovery Channel team will compete in the fourth edition of the Qatar race along with 15 European teams, Khaled said.
Veteran Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini said on Friday he will make his season debut in the race. He will race with Liquigas-Bianchi.
Cipollini (37), a former world champion and one of the best Italian sprinters ever, has not been competing since his withdrawal from the Tour de France in July. He is currently training in South Africa.
Armstrong said on Monday he remains uncommitted about going for a seventh Tour de France victory this summer.
He tentatively plans to race in four European classics — three in Belgium and one in The Netherlands — before deciding in late April whether to skip the Tour de France, scheduled for July 2 to 24. — Sapa-AP