So, it’s true. But will it be with Astana? They denied it very strongly at first, but have since softened their tone a bit. Still, Lance is saying pretty clearly that he’s returning to “launch a global anti-cancer strategy,” not race for free on behalf of Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil companies.

My guess is that his announcement on September 24 will be that he’s forming a new team or taking over an existing sponsorship with Livestrong branding.

(I had Lance’s video from the Livestrong site embedded here, but it starts playing automatically which is really annoying.)

I’ve added another of my columns for ROAD Magazine to the archive. This one discusses the choice that a sponsor faces when their team is involved in a doping scandal, based on what SRAM went through with the Riccardo Ricco mess.

Also, here’s an excerpt from the column that will be out at Interbike:

So, getting back to the original question, how will people interpret the current sponsorship shuffle? Of course, lots of fans will say that it’s just about money, and there’s plenty of truth to that. It’s no secret that teams want to maximize revenue and sponsors have an incentive to sign whomever will help them move the most bikes. But this principle extends far beyond cycling and fans of all sports seem willing enough to accept it, albeit cynically at times.

But there are some cycling-specific implications as well. On the one hand, the realignment of teams and bikes suggests that all the bikes are good enough to win races at the highest levels of the sport. On the other hand, this undercuts each company’s ability to argue that their products are superior. That’s a mixed result for most of the brands involved, but it seems to me like one stands to benefit.

Germany’s kick-ass cycleball duo of Abel and Hess:

In other news, Lance Armstrong is making a comeback.

I’ve been helping the good folks at Zipp with their new website, which went live today! GS Design did a nice job with development.

Here’s a screenshot from Cyclingnews that I noticed while researching the next ROAD column.

(no, this does not mean that the bikes are put away.)

Posts related to things other than me will resume as soon as the bikes are put away.