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PARIS — Cycling great Eddy Merckx says seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong should focus on more than just beating Alberto Contador in his bid to become the oldest winner of the race.
Armstrong came out of retirement last year and finished third behind his then Astana teammate Contador in the 2009 Tour, amid reports of friction within the team.
Armstrong quit to start up his new RadioShack team, leaving the Spanish rider as Astana's undisputed leader.
Merckx, who won five Tours, told The Associated Press that he considers Contador the biggest threat to Armstrong. But he warned that the 38-year-old Texan could be caught by other riders if he focuses too much on knocking the Spaniard off his perch.
"Contador has shown he is the most complete rider, when you see the way he won the Tour de France. He is much younger than Lance," Merckx said at a presentation in Paris for next month's inaugural Tour of Oman. "But there's not just him, there's other young wolves like the Schleck brothers ... I think it will be a very open Tour."
Merckx won four straight Tours from 1969-72 and tied Jacques Anquetil with his fifth win in 1974 at age 29.
The 27-year-old Contador is entering his prime as a cyclist, while Luxembourg rider Andy Schleck, 24, showed during last year's Tour that he is hard to drop in the punishing mountains.
Schleck finished second and his older brother Frank was fifth behind Bradley Wiggins.
Skeptics argue that Armstrong's age is a barrier to success given that the Tour's oldest winner, the Belgian rider Firmin Lambot, was 36 when he triumphed in 1922. Armstrong was 33 when he won his last, the 2005 edition.
But Merckx argues that Armstrong's 3 1/2-year retirement after winning his seventh straight Tour may have helped keep his body younger. While others trudged up the torturous climbs of the Alps and Pyrenees, Armstrong's body was spared that punishment during those doping-marred 2006-08 Tours.
"That also counts. We'll see, it's a challenge and hats off to what he is doing," Merckx said. "What wears you out is the competing, not the training."
Armstrong made his comeback last year at the Tour Down Under in Australia. On Sunday, he will race there again with his RadioShack team.
Contador told a cycling magazine recently about how he "resisted the pressure" within his own team during last year's Tour, with numerous reports of high tension between Contador and Armstrong.
Merckx, who also won the Giro d'Italia and the Spanish Vuelta, feels little can dim Armstrong's ambition to win Tour No. 8.
"He's doing it for himself," Merckx said. "The Tour is the No. 1 event in cycling."
