Amid all the madness of the Manchester City takeover, ‘The Messiah’ resigning from Newcastle FC and England’s footballers finally admitting they are too chicken to play in front of their home fans, some good news…
Today, Lance Armstrong, who recovered from cancer to win the Tour de France seven times, confirmed his return to professional cycling – and staggeringly to the gruelling Tour itself.
In 2005, Armstrong was named (in part due to his work but probably more due to our former editors love of cycling) as Marketing’s 100th most powerful marketer.
Amstrong had inspired millions of people pay a US dollar for yellow LiveStrong wristband to support his charity, The Lance Armstrong Foundation. The success of the LiveStrong brand spurred other charities to follow suit – most notably MakePovertyHistory. But sadly the fashion passed and people stopped wearing the bands.
Armstong's return has little to do with winning Le Tour - at 37 its unlikely challenge for the Yellow jersey in 2009 - but is great news for the Tour, cycling, his numerous sponsors(including Nike, Oakley and Trek) and most importantly of all the cancer patients and survivors he aims to inspire around the world.
