Armstrong looks to add extra race to Tour preparations after average Vuelta de Murcia

Armstrong looks to add race to Tour preparations

MURCIA, Spain — Lance Armstrong is likely to add an extra race to his Tour de France preparations following an average performance in the Vuelta de Murcia.

Armstrong finished seventh overall, 1 minute, 23 seconds behind winner Frantisek Rabon of Team HTC-Columbia after Sunday’s final stage.

The seven-time Tour champion said he was not worried about the lukewarm result but that improvement was needed.

“Worried would be too strong of a word,” Armstrong said Sunday. “I’m aware of (my performance), but not too stressed.”

Team RadioShack boss Johan Bruyneel said Armstrong could use an added race. His next event is the Milan-San Remo on March 20, and the most likely addition after that would be the Sarthe-Pays de la Loire in France from April 6-9.

“In Lance’s case he needs more competition,” Bruyneel said. “His physical fitness overall is OK, but he just needs to get the speed and acceleration. Looking at Tour of Murcia in the past, he’s probably a bit ahead of what he was then.”

Armstrong focused on improving his time-trial performance this offseason, but several Tour front-runners beat him in that event here, including second-place Denis Menchov of Rabobank, Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins in third and RadioShack teammate Andreas Kloden in fourth.

Theo Bos of Cervello won Sunday’s stage while Rabon finished the five-stage race with an overall time of 16:01:24.

“My position (on the bike) was good but the power was not,” said Armstrong, who travels to South Africa on Monday to take part in a race next weekend to promote his cancer charity.

Armstrong has also hired a new director of sports science and training, Allen Lim, to improve his overall performance.

Lim said the pair have worked hard to improve aspects ranging from his positioning on the bike to warmup protocols and nutrition. Lim said Armstrong was being weighed before and after each race to hammer home the idea of taking on more liquids and food during the race stage.

“I’d be a little more concerned if he was killing it right now,” said Lim, who is using Armstrong as his guinea pig for a team-wide plan. “I’ve spent the last two months with Lance, and now it’s about making that trickle down to the rest of the team.”

Lim said that Armstrong’s genuine enthusiasm and passion for cycling was the biggest benefit to the team’s performance.

“He is genuinely one of the happiest guys I know. He wakes up he’s happy, he wakes up and he’s motivated, ready to go and that’s infectious in the team,” Lim said. “Lance — he’s human coffee.”