Armstrong coming back in 2009?

NEW YORK — Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement and compete in next year’s Tour de France, the cycling magazine VeloNews reported on Monday.

Velonews cited sources as saying that Armstrong, 36, would compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphine-Libere and the Tour de France.

It quoted the sources as saying an exclusive article revealing the American’s intentions would be published in the magazine Vanity Fair this month.

Armstrong would race for the Astana team and receive no salary or bonuses, the sources said.

Telephone calls to Armstrong’s manager Mark Higgins were not immediately returned.

Armstrong won the Tour de France, cycling’s most prestigious race for a record-breaking seven consecutive years from 1999 to 2005.

But Astana said it had no plan of including Armstrong in the squad. The team was not able to compete this year after quitting the 2007 race following the expulsion from the event by rider Alexandre Vinokourov for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Astana team director Johan Bruyneel, who was with Armstrong for all seven Tour wins from 1999-2005, said he was unaware of plans of a comeback by the cyclist.

"I don’t know where the rumors come from," he said.

The US Anti-Doping Agency confirmed Armstrong is part of its out-of-competition testing pool and would be eligible for elite competition on Feb. 1, 2009. The Amgen Tour of California begins Feb. 14.

USA Cycling said Armstrong has not applied for an international cycling license, but chief operating officer Sean Petty said Armstrong typically did not request such a license until January or February.