Armstrong cleared for Sydney

Armstrong remains a favourite for success in Sydney

Two-time Tour de France master Lance Armstrong will compete at the Olympics despite a fractured vertebrae in his neck.

The American is heading for Sydney "cautiously optimistic" about his chances in the men's individual time trial despite last month's crash during a training ride.

The event is one of the latest in the Olympic programme and the Texan still has more than a fortnight in which to regain full fitness.

Armstrong collided with a car near his home in southern France on 29 August. He has been making steady progress since to recapture his form.

I'm cautiously optimistic about my chances in Sydney ... but my biggest concern is that flight to Australia - 24 hours!

  Lance Armstrong

"Bottom line is that it's getting better every day. Aside from the neck injury, my legs feel very good," Armstrong wrote on his website Tuesday.

Armstrong is expected to arrive in Australia on Monday.

There had been fears he might have to pull out of the Olympics because of the injury.

"He has not changed his plans. He's told us all along that he's never hedged on coming," said Rich Wanninger, spokesman for USA Cycling.

Armstrong is entered in the road race on 27 September where he will ride to support riders such as his US Postal team-mate George Hincapie.

George Hincapie is part of a strong team

The clear aim of the Texan, who survived cancer to twice win the sport's toughest event, is gold in the time trial on 30 September.

Armstrong is leading a strong US team, most of whom compete at the highest level of the sport in Europe.

"Our men's Olympic road team will be as strong as any country in the world," said Sean Petty, USA Cycling director of athlete performance when it was selected.

Like Armstrong, another US Postal man Tyler Hamilton is regarded as a medal hope in the individual time trial.

During his 1992 Olympic debut Armstrong was 14th in the road race at the Barcelona games but was unhappy with 12th place in that event on home soil in Atlanta.

Even sixth in the individual time trial was regarded as a disappointment. It was two months later that Armstrong discovered that he had ridden his entire 1996 season while suffering from cancer.

The advanced condition was beaten by the determined athlete who then returned to triumph in the 1999 and 2000 Tours.

For the Olympics he is reunited with his mentor Jim Ochowicz, the man who brought him to Europe in 1992 to ride for the Motorola team.

Before pioneering American involvement in one of Europe's biggest sports Ochowisz was a member of the 1972 and 1976 US Olympic track cycling squad.

The man Armstrong calls "Och" also helped the Texan through the torment of cancer, and is now the national team coach for the USA.

No Tour de France champion has won an Olympic medal the same year they won the three-week marathon.

Hincapie leads road squad

US hopes in the road race are less certain although Hincapie goes consistently well in the European one-day races of the World Cup series.

Hamilton joins Armstrong in supporting their team-mate in this event while the team is completed by Californians Fred Rodriguez and Antonio Cruz.

Sprinter Rodriguez is the current American national champion and rides for cycling's richest team, the giant Italian Mapei squad.

After stage wins in the Tour of Switzerland and Four Days of Dunkirk races this year he earned three top-four stage finishes during his first Tour de France.

Cruz earned his spot on the team after winning the US Olympic Trials in May.