Lance Armstrong's Astana Team Resolves Financial Problems

Astana Able To Participate In Tour De France With Financial Problems Resolved

Cyclist Lance Armstrong will be able to participate in next month's Tour de France after his Kazakhstan-based Astana team "resolved [its] financial problems," according to the London TELEGRAPH. Unpaid bank guarantees meant the team "had been threatened with expulsion from this year's race," and the Int'l Cycling Union also had "threatened to rescind the team's Pro-Tour competition licence after the team's riders were reportedly not paid for two months." But Astana Sports Dir Alain Gallopin said the team's financial problems as of yesterday "are resolved." Astana team members during last month's Giro d'Italia "refused to carry the name" of main sponsor Astana "as a result of non-payments," but during yesterday's leg of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré they "reverted to their traditional team jerseys." Meanwhile, despite Kazakhstan Minister of Tourism & Sport Temirjan Dosmukhambetov saying that an American organization "had been lined up to invest in the team," Astana GM Johan Bruyneel said that he is "'not aware' of the arrival of a new sponsor" (London TELEGRAPH, 6/10).

WAR OF WORDS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Reed Albergotti notes former cyclist Greg LeMond last year filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Minnesota against bicycle maker Trek "alleging break of contract -- claiming, in part, that Mr. Armstrong was responsible for Trek's alleged neglect of Mr. LeMond's signature line of bikes." The lawsuit is "essentially a contract dispute, but has been largely overshadowed" by a feud between LeMond and Armstrong that has become "one of the most enduring feuds in American sports." Albergotti notes Trek and LeMond next week will "go to mediation," but if that fails, the case "could go to trial next spring" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/10).