What notable American will be racing in the Tour of Ireland, which will be shown online live?”
The American was mobbed by hundreds of fans before the start of stage one as a lack of security threatened to let the situation get out of hand. Other riders noticed the increased interest too. British national champion Kristian House commented on his Twitter feed, “Talk about the “Lance effect”. This is staggering…” The Texan veteran had arrived in Dublin in a private jet after riding a charity criterium in Oslo organised by Thor Hushovd. He revealed on Twitter that he kindly gave a lift to Stuart O’Grady (Saxo Bank), Jeremy Hunt and Gabriel Rasch (Cervelo). Armstrong arrived at the exclusive Ritz-Carlton hotel in the Irish Capital late on Thursday afternoon. He patted a dog, signed a few autographs but did not stop to talk to the media. The three-day Tour of Ireland will be Armstrong’s last road race of the 2009 season and his last race in Astana colours. He will be back in 2010 but with his own The Shack team he is currently building with Johan Bruyneel. Bruyneel is still under co
