Cycling: Armstrong looks forward to stress-free life

PARIS - American Lance Armstrong will spend his new-found free time stringing partner Sheryl Crow's guitars while cycling searches for its next boss.

The most successful Tour de France rider in history retired on Sunday with a record seventh title and jokingly suggested he might follow his sweetheart on tour, the way rock singer Crow followed him.

"If she needs me to string a few guitars, I'll be happy to do whatever I can be useful to. Why not go hanging on a rock'n roll tour for a while, drink beer and have fun," he said.

But after seven years of hard work and sacrifices and of being a role model for people affected with cancer, Armstrong is looking forward to the quiet life.

"My intention is not to remain a public figure for the next few years. I need a period of quiet and peace and privacy," he said.

"Come Monday morning, I'll wake up in Paris, take the kids and Sheryl and land on a beach somewhere and drink wine and not ride a bike and eat too much, splash the kids around and not worry about a thing.

"This job is stressful, this event is stressful," he said.

"Next week is going to be a preview of what my life is going to be for the next 30 years. No stress."

There have been all sorts of talk about what the American will do after retiring.

Film director Ron Howard, in Paris to shoot the Da Vinci Code, was invited to Sunday's last stage and is rumoured to be working on a script based on the rider's life.

Some hint Armstrong might stand for governor of Texas but the 33-year-old, who will continue his cancer charity work, has no intention of quitting the cycling world completely.

Among those tipped to succeed him as the best cyclist in the world are:

* Italian Ivan Basso
*German Jan Ullrich - the 1997 Tour champion and Armstrong's arch-rival
* Ukraine's Yaroslav Popovych, who on Sunday clinched the white jersey for the Tour's best under-25 rider
* American George Hincapie, who progressed in time trials this season and won the hardest mountain stage in Pla d'Adet.

- REUTERS