Armstrong takes pressure off local cycling challengers

Lance Armstrong's participation at the Tour Down Under this week may have stolen the limelight from the local challengers, but he has also proved a welcome distraction.

Armstrong's arrival in Australia following his decision in September to come out of a three-year retirement has prompted huge media interest across the country.

The 37-year-old seven-time Tour de France winner will saddle up with 132 other riders for the first stage race of the season on Tuesday.

Australian Stuart O'Grady is enjoying seeing cycling's biggest star of the past 20 years attracting all the attention.

"Lance who? -- is Lance here?" joked O'Grady on Sunday at the pre-race media conference.

"It's been phenomenal, having Lance come to Adelaide ... every time I look at the newspaper, he's front, back, middle page," he said.

"It's certainly taken a bit of pressure off me, but at the same time I don't think everyone's objective is to come here and beat Lance.

"Everyone has a general interest in how he's going to come back.

"Hopefully I will be able to be competitive and be up there, we'll see what happens," he said.

Armstrong has said his first aim is to get comfortable again among the professional peloton, but O'Grady believes the "super-freak" American will be keen to put some of his formidable riding talents on display.

"When someone of Lance's stature comes back to the peloton -- it's a hard game and he hasn't just come back to ride around," said the 35-year-old O'Grady, who is from Adelaide.

Willunga Hill is usually one of the highlights of the race, which has been toughened up by organisers this year following Andre Greipel's overall victory -- complete with four stage wins -- last year.

Greipel is a sprinter with the Columbia team, but the German is likely to feel the heat as of the challenging second stage, a 145km race from Hahndorf to Stirling.

Two of his teammates -- 2002 winner Michael Rogers and Adam Hansen -- will have a better chance of challenging for the overall winner's ochre jersey.

"With Michael Rogers, George (Hincapie) and Adam Hansen, we have three other guys who are competitive as well," said Greipel.

"There is not so much pressure on me, I just want to win a stage."

The decisive day is likely to be stage five, which features Willunga Hill.

This year it will be raced twice instead of once, which introduces suspense by putting pressure on the leader and giving hope to the men giving chase.

Race chief Mike Turtur said: "Willunga with the second lap -- it means, in my opinion, that you can be two minutes down on the general classification and still win.

"In the past, that wasn't possible, it's opened the race up."

Armstrong has already hinted he won't simply be making up the numbers and O'Grady, Australia's only winner of the tough Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, said he was expecting a strong opponent.

"I can't see us dropping him up Willunga Hill," he said.

"He's a super freak athlete and we can't forget that, even if he's been out of the game for a few years.

"He's still one of the most gifted athletes to have walked the planet."