ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PARIS
SOURCE: SAMUEL ABT NEW YORK TIMES
THE ODDS are in favor of two-time Tour DuPont champ Lance Armstrong, who is training again after 12 weeks of chemotherapy.
His numbers are good and getting better, and so is he, Lance Armstrong happily said Tuesday.
By numbers, the 25-year-old American bicycle racing star meant his markers: the protein count in his blood that signifies how his battle against cancer is progressing.
``They're down to three,'' he said. ``Three from a high of 90,000.'' Zero means the body is free of cancer.
In late September, testicular cancer was diagnosed in Armstrong, and it had spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain. He immediately underwent an operation to remove the malignant testicle and then began 12 weeks of chemotherapy, which ended in mid-December.
His odds of recovery are now 80-20 in his favor, Armstrong said.
``At the end of the last treatment, I asked my doctor, `If I was 50-50 before, where am I now?''' Armstrong said. ``He said 80-20. And that's a month ago.''
His next visit to his doctor in Indianapolis is scheduled for Feb.10. Armstrong, who was in Paris for the formal presentation of his new Cofidis team, planned to fly home to Texas on Wednesday.
He arrived in Europe last Thursday and has spent his days meeting his new teammates, renegotiating his contract and resuming serious training. Until he began riding hard again in Florida late in December, he had not been training since he ended his season last September.
``On the bike, I've never had to suffer as I did in the last few weeks,'' Armstrong said. ``I tried to ride through the chemotherapy, but I had to ride slow and to go just that speed would hurt. That was a big adjustment.
``And off the bike, of course, there were many, many, many adjustments to make, just mentally, knowing you were fighting for your life.''
His new team is based in France and includes three other American veterans of the extinct Motorola squad: Kevin Livingston, Bobby Julich and Frankie Andreu. They said that Armstrong seemed fit enough, everything considered.
``We rode about 120 kilometers yesterday,'' he reported. ``I enjoy riding. Now it's physically easier. I feel stronger. Stronger, not strong. I lost a lot of condition. I lost muscle and put on some fat because of the inactivity. I think I have to start working on my strength.''
Armstrong said he will emphasize weight training in Texas.
``That's really what I lost: a lot of leg strength,'' he said. ``I'm going to start Monday as if I were starting in November or December, go back and do your typical off-season training, strength-building. Then I'll work on the aerobic engine.''
While he remains in Texas, the 20 other Cofidis riders will be starting their season - first with a training camp in the south of France for the next week and then in races in February. When the riders trooped on stage to be presented one by one, the Texan won the loudest ovation. His illness and recovery have been major news in Europe, especially France, where he has distinguished himself in the Tour de France by winning two stages.
Wearing a white baseball cap to mask the two scars that brain surgery left on his hairless head (``Look,'' he said earlier, removing the cap, ``I've got fuzz already. Four to six more weeks, I'll have my hair back.''), Armstrong answered questions through an interpreter.
In which race did he expect to return to competition?
``Any race,'' he said. ``It depends what the doctors say.''
He returned to this theme later when a television interviewer asked him how long he expected to be away from bicycle racing.
``Six months, a year,'' he said. ``Maybe forever. Living is more important than racing.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. After brain surgery for cancer, cycling star Lanceby CNBArmstrong says, ``Living is more important than racing.''