If you thought the broken collarbone suffered at the Tour de Castilla y Leon in Spain on Monday was going to keep him out of the 2009 Tour de France, you would apparently be incorrect.

The seven-time winner of the premier cycling event will compete in France and possibly in the Giro d'Italia, according to the Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel.

"I don't think this changes anything for the Tour de France," Bruyneel said Tuesday. "A broken collarbone in the month of March does not at all compromise the start of the Tour de France or your performance in the Tour de France."

Judging by the above picture found on Lance's popular Twitter page, the break has obviously been a problem. He has described it to his near 400,000 Twitter followers as "hurt(ing) like hell for now," but as anyone that has broken a bone can attest, such an injury doesn't normally tickle. Armstrong has until May 9 to be ready for the Giro, and the Tour de France isn't until July 4, but the big question mark is with his training. Like another Twitter post describes, "Btw, hard to tweet left handed," so I'm sure riding a bike and training for one of the most grueling events in the world isn't exactly going to be easy.

That said, if there was an athlete in this world that I'd put money on in Vegas to come back from some sort of injury to compete in an event that was in question, Lance would probably be at the top of my list with nobody even close. The guy took down cancer. He's scoffed at adversity.

The only problem is, if the guy went out and miraculously won this thing, I think the French might be so frustrated they'd actually ask for the Statue of Liberty back.

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