Lance Armstrong breaks his collarbone

Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong's decision last September to make a comeback at the grand old age of 37 is not going as smoothly as he hoped. Last weekend, he finished a long way down the field in the Milan - San Remo classic, one of cycling's blue riband events, as he tested out a sore back. And yesterday things got a whole lot worse: in the first stage of the Vuelta de Castilla y Leon, a five-day race in Spain, Armstrong broke his right collarbone in a pile-up with about ten other riders.

Armstrong’s courage has never been in doubt - he won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times after being diagnosed with testicular cancer - but even he will need between a month and six weeks to recover from the injury.

Which means his chances of taking part in the centenary edition of the Giro d'Italia, six weeks away, are slim. Armstrong has never before competed in the event, one of the top three in his sport, and wanted to make an impression. "When I show up in May it's not going to be to eat pasta and gelato and go home and say I did the Giro", he said before yesterday's accident.

He can take heart from the example set by his former teammate, the American rider Tyler Hamilton, who finished fourth in the 2003 Tour de France after riding for three gruelling weeks with a broken collarbone or he may decide to forego the Giro and concentrate on the big one in July: the Texan's real ambition is to win the Tour de France for an eighth time.