Lance Armstrong Fears Personal Safety at '09 Tour de France

To Americans, Lance Armstrong is a hero. He's a man that not only beat cancer, but went on to beat thousands of cyclists for seven straight years at the Tour de France, a feat never accomplished before in the sport's biggest race.

To everyone else, Armstrong is a cheat. Countries see him as an American that found an edge that still can't be traced. They see him as a guy that has a little too much dirt under his fingernails that one day will be revealed, like a sports figure with a Joker jersey on under his cycling gear.

Because of that, Armstrong has professed fear for his personal safety if he decides to enter the 2009 Tour de France, the first time he would be competing in the event since his final victory in 2005.

"I don't want to enter an unsafe situation but you see this stuff coming out of France," said the American rider, who has many critics in France. "They're some aggressive, angry emotions. If you believe what you read, my personal safety could be in jeopardy."

It is worth noting that the country in question here is France (which, when speaking of violent acts, always brings me back to this video), even if the people do seem to get heated when talking about Lance and his dominance over their big sporting event.

While cycling attacks are few and far between, we have to remember that the French have been out to get this guy for a while. In early October we reported that Lance was being brought under investigation by an Anti-Doping agency in France about urine samples dating all the way back to 1999. One of his urine samples came back positive for some sort of illegal substance but it was all messed up because you need two sets of tests to come up positive to prove anything. Since that dates back to '99, the other test had been tossed out so basically the agency had a foundation to build on but no supplies for the house.

Armstrong did say that while critics continue to ride him about doping, he has and will continue to have nothing to hide.

"I understand people in France and in cycling might have that perception, but the reality is that there's nothing there," he said. "The level of scrutiny I've had throughout my career from the press and the anti-doping authorities is unmatched. I'm not afraid of anything. I've got nothing to hide. I won seven Tours through hard work.

To steer away from safety for a minute, Armstrong did say he feels that he is in the best shape he's been in at this point in training ever, even saying he feels as motivated as he did in 1999 when coming back from cancer.

"I'm much better physically now," he said at his home in Austin, Texas. "And mentally there is no comparison. I'm far stronger and more motivated. The motivation of 2008 feels like the motivation of 1999. I was back from cancer then. I had the motivation of vengeance because nobody wanted me or believed in me."

While I find it rather remarkable, and possibly a little fishy, that a guy could come back from testicular cancer and a germ cell tumor that metastasized to his lungs and brain and become one of, if not the, greatest cyclist of all time, nothing has ever been dug up on the guy, so you have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

While comebacks are normally a lot of hype and little success, it seems if Armstrong puts his mind to something he normally succeeds. What, you think he just happened to run into Sheryl Crow on the streets of Austin? This dude's life has basically been that "Strong Enough to Be My Man" song.