Lance Armstrong confirmed yesterday that he will ride in the Tour de France for the first time since he won the race for a record seventh time in 2005. However, in a departure from the American’s usual routine, he will line up for the Tour on July 4 after having previously competed in the Giro d’Italia from May 9 to 31.

With such a quick turnaround between two gruelling races, Armstrong, 37, acknowledged that his body may not last the pace, forcing him to play a supporting role in the Astana team. “I’m committed to riding for the best guy,” Armstrong said. “If you’ve been away for three or four years, it would be silly for anybody to think I could pick up where I left off.”

However, Armstrong is bullish about his performance in training with the team in the Canary Islands. “I can tell you I feel better than ever, I feel stronger than ever on December 1,” he said. “How that translates to racing, we’ll have to see. Mentally, in terms of motivation, this feels like 1998-1999 to me.”

The team boast Alberto Contador, the 2007 Tour winner, who missed last year’s race because Astana were barred from riding for previous doping violations. A strong line-up also includes Andreas Klöden, of Germany, Levi Leipheimer, a veteran American, and Yaroslav Popovych, a leading support rider from Ukraine.

“We’ll abide by the same code that I do: cycling is a team sport, while we’d all like to win,” Armstrong said.