CYCLING ARMSTRONG'S RETURNLANCE ARMSTRONG'S plans to return to professional cycling were welcomed by fellow riders yesterday. "It's great news for cycling," said Astana rider Jose Luis Rubiera of Spain, who was part of Armstrong's line-up on five of the American's seven Tour victories.

"Armstrong has got the character to do it and he would draw in millions of supporters again. At a sponsorship level, I can't see it doing anything but good. On one level, you have to ask if it's possible to come back at 37 to win the Tour. On the other hand, knowing Lance, anything is possible. He won't be coming back to finish second."

Rubiera is due to retire at the end of the season but said he might reconsider after Armstrong's decision to return. "It would be a very interesting challenge. I was going to quit but I could go on for another year if Lance asked me to do so," he said.

Fellow Astana rider and former Tour de France winner Alberto Contador said he would be pleased if Armstrong signed for his team.

"I'm focused on winning the Tour of Spain but of course I would welcome him to the team," Contador said at the start of yesterday's Tour of Spain's stage 11.

The 25-year-old Spaniard added, however, that he would not sacrifice his own chances of a second Tour victory. "Assuming I race the Tour de France next year, it will be to try and win it," said Contador, who won the Giro d'Italia in June. The Kazakh-funded Astana team were barred from this year's Tour because of their implication in doping scandals over the past two years.

Carlos Sastre of Team CSC, who won the 2008 Tour, said: "Just seeing Lance Armstrong on television makes my hair stand on end. Armstrong is in love with this sport. It will be tough for him to come back but if that's the case it's because he thinks he can do something."

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme said he did not rule out the return of Armstrong, who retired after his seventh successive win in 2005, provided the American accepted the rules.

"As long as his team, which one we don't know, and himself accept the rules regarding notably doping, the perception of which has changed a lot over the past few years, we will accept him," Prudhomme said. "It is a real challenge to come back three years after having retired, even if he did finish second in a mountain bike race recently," Prudhomme added.

Tour of Spain director Victor Cordero said: "Personally, I don't believe in these sorts of comebacks. Beyond that, I prefer not to comment."

Armstrong turns 37 next week and another Spaniard, Alejandro Valverde, admits he cannot understand why the American has returned to the sport.

"As a cyclist I don't understand it," he said. "But everybody is their own person and can do what they wants. It seems surprising to me, after having left cycling and even more so after having won seven Tours, but if he sees himself as fit and hasn't lost his form then he will be welcomed back."

Carlos Sastre, this year's Tour de France winner, was also cautious about welcoming Armstrong back to the sport. "I imagine that he's studied everything and he will have looked at the pros and cons and decided that he's interested in returning to the Tour," he said. "If he's done that, then it's fine with me."