Armstrong cleared for Down Under return

(CNN) -- Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been cleared to race in the 2009 Tour Down Under in Australia, the International Cycling Union (UCI) have announced.

The American targeted the event in Australia as the first step on his comeback after a three-year absence from the sport.

His participation has been in doubt after the 37-year-old was told he had to respect the UCI's 'biological passport' rule demanding that athletes must be registered with an anti-doping program six months prior to competing.

But the world govering body said it was satisfied that Armstrong could take part.

"The International Cycling Union (UCI) has approved Lance Armstrong's participation in the forthcoming Tour Down Under in Australia, to be held on 20-25 January, the first event of the 2009 UCI ProTour," said a UCI statement.

"According to Article 77 of the Anti-Doping Regulations introduced in 2004, a retired rider may only return to competition by informing the UCI six months in advance in order to allow him/her to be available for out-of-competition testing.

"Consequently, Lance Armstrong would only be able to return to the sport at international level from 1 February 2009, a week after the end of the Australian event.

"In respect of this situation, the UCI has taken into account the progress made in its anti-doping program since 2004. As a result of the improvements implemented, riders are now subject to a much-reinforced system of monitoring compared to that of the past.

"The UCI can confirm that Lance Armstrong has and will be the subject of very strict monitoring throughout the period running up to his return to the peloton."

Armstrong's comeback is meant to draw attention to his global campaign to fight cancer, a disease he survived before winning seven straight Tours from 1999-2005.

It is also a defiant stand against critics who doubt he could have achieved those victories without the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Now he is liable to be tested at any time without notice and will have his own biological passport as part of a UCI-backed initiative to monitor possible doping offenses.

Armstrong will not be paid for returning to the saddle and the testing costs will be covered by his Kazakhstan-based Astana team, which is managed by his cycling mentor Johan Bruyneel.

The Tour Down Under is the first event on the UCI Pro Tour calendar in 2009 and is likely to be followed by the Tour of California in February.

Armstrong has suggested he might enter the Paris-Nice classic stage race in March, and could compete in South Africa before taking part in the Giro d'Italia in May. He will attempt to win the Tour de France for an eighth time in July.