WATERLOO, WI (BRAIN)—Lance Armstrong and Trek have been reunited, and there's little doubt that Trek brass were grinning ear to ear when the seven-time Tour de France champ announced his return to professional road racing last week.
“Lance is a great champion and a wonderful ambassador for cycling, cancer survivors, and for Trek,” said Trek’s director of marketing Dean Gore. “He’s an important part of the Trek family and we are of course delighted to see him return to the sport that he loves—the sport that we love. We look forward to helping fuel his success, both on the bike and with his Global Cancer Initiative. We share his passion to cure cancer in our lifetime, having partnered with the MACC Fund for the past 19 years to hold the annual Trek 100, which has contributed more than $7.2 million to childhood cancer research. Lance’s values dovetail perfectly with Trek’s.”
Armstrong's return also marks the first time he’ll race aboard Trek’s new Madone platform (for the Trek-sponsored Astana Pro Cycling Team), a bike which Armstrong has ridden for the past two years, but never raced, and a bike that has been ridden to three Grand Tour victories, including the 2007 Tour de France, since Armstrong’s departure. He’ll also have an opportunity to race aboard Trek’s latest Equinox TTX. The prototype TTX Armstrong raced in the 2005 TdF has evolved considerably and the refinements will no doubt be to Armstrong's liking.
“For nearly a decade Lance has played an important role in Trek’s product development,” said Trek’s road bike brand manager and former team liaison Scott Daubert. “Keeping Lance ahead of the competition during his seven Tour championships pushed us to innovate and perform at the absolute highest level. We look forward to resuming that fruitful relationship. The new Madone and Equinox TTX bikes are the best bikes in the pro peloton and we’re confident they’ll give Lance the competitive edge he needs. But we in no way intend to rest on our laurels. We look forward to collaborating with Lance and the rest of the Astana team to develop exciting new products.”
