Lance Armstrong, shown here toasting his 2005 Tour win, reportedly is willing to submit to drug testing in order to return to competitive cycling. (Alessandro Trovati/Associated Press)

Contrary to reports, Lance Armstrong will not be representing the Astana cycling team should he come out of retirement to race in the 2009 Tour de France, team press officer Philippe Maertens said Tuesday.

"There are no contacts or plans of Team Astana to take Lance Armstrong," he said by phone from Belgium. "As far as I know, Lance Armstrong doesn't have plans to do road cycling.

"But that's a question you have to ask Armstrong. We have no plans."

Cycling journal VeloNews reported Monday that Armstrong — who reportedly is willing to submit to drug testing — would race in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris Nice Cycling Race, Tour de Georgia, Criterium du Dauphine Libere and the storied Tour de France, which he captured a record seven times from 1999-2005.

Armstrong, who turns 37 on Sept. 18, retired on July 24, 2005.

Armstrong stays in good shape: Astana team head

Astana team director Johan Bruyneel, who was with Armstrong for all seven Tour wins from 1999-2005, said he considered it "very unlikely" that the athlete would ride in the Tour again.

"He is a man who stays in good shape," Bruyneel said Tuesday in Sabinanigo, Spain, at the Spanish Vuelta, according to national news agency EFE. "He also does cyclocross and has run marathons. But I see it very unlikely he will compete again in the Tour of France.

"For me it is just a rumour, although I will have to speak with him."

The Astana team was not allowed to compete in this year's Tour after Alexandre Vinokourov was kicked out of the 2007 edition for testing positive and the team quit the race.

Maertens said rumours that Armstrong might come out of retirement had been circulating for a few weeks.

"If it would be true that Armstrong wants to come back it would be stupid for us to say no," Maertens said, "but it's not the case."

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency confirmed Armstrong is part of its out-of-competition testing pool and would be eligible for elite competition on Feb. 1, 2009. The Amgen Tour of California begins Feb. 14.

Pat McQuaid, head of cycling's governing body, suggested Armstrong may be hoping to take advantage of new, more rigorous drug-testing procedures in cycling to answer skeptics who suspect that the champion might have used drugs when he was at the top of his game.

"It may be that he has a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because of the accusations and rumours surrounding him, none of which were ever proven," McQuaid said. "And he wants to come back and show that, now that there is a new system in place which is the biological passport which can show any type of manipulation of the blood, he wants to come back and show that he is the athlete he claims he was, that his results have shown."

Armstrong did not respond to a text message or voicemails left by the Associated Press. His manager, Mark Higgins, and Bruyneel also did not respond to voicemails left by the news service.

Also a marathon threat

Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer, has largely turned his competitive juices to running marathons since he retired from competitive cycling three years ago.

In August, he finished second in the Leadville Trail 100, a lung-searing 160-kilometre mountain bike race through the Colorado Rockies.

McQuaid agreed that Armstrong's fitness could allow for a comeback.

"He's been running marathons and doing all sorts of other stuff. He hasn't really let himself go in any way," McQuaid said.

With files from the Associated Press