
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994                   TAG: 9402080135
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LEMOND, ARMSTRONG TO TOUR VA.

Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond and world pro road-race champion Lance Armstrong were confirmed as entrants Monday when Tour DuPont organizers announced a revised course for the annual bicycle race.

The 1,060-mile, 12-day event will begin May 4 in Wilmington, Del., and will include stages in four states before ending May 15 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

LeMond won the event in 1992, his first U.S. stage race victory in seven years. The two-time world champion skipped the race last year to ride in the Tour of Italy.

As a first-year pro, Armstrong finished second last year to Raul Alcala of Mexico. Alcala, who will be back to defend his title, is Armstrong's teammate with Motorola.

"It looks like an exciting course; I'd better be in shape to climb," LeMond said. "I'm looking at myself as the defending champion, like I never missed last year. I am motivated to come back and win."

The race, which began in 1989 as the Tour de Trump, will include four new venues from the sites originally announced in October. Featured stages will include four consecutive mountain races, beginning with an uphill time trial in the Roanoke Valley on May 9.

In addition to LeMond's team, Gan and Motorola, U.S. pro team Chevrolet-LA Sheriff and the U.S. amateur national team, as well as the Collstrop pro team from Belgium and the Russian and Australian national amateur teams, have been confirmed.

by CNB