Sheryl Crow engaged to cycling champ Lance Armstrong

WASHINGTON - Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is engaged to marry rock star Sheryl Crow, a spokesman for the cyclist confirmed.

No details of the wedding were released, although the spokesman said a spring wedding was likely.

The couple met at a charity event in October 2003 and began dating a short time later. The testicular cancer survivor has three children from his first marriage. It will be the first marriage for Crow, 43, who has previously been linked with rock star Eric Clapton and actor Owen Wilson.

Armstrong, 33, has been dogged by controversy recently when a French newspaper said six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed traces of the banned substance EPO (erythropoietin).

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999. However, samples from the 1999 Tour de France were kept and have been recently retested by a lab based outside of Paris.

Armstrong, a Texan who last month took cycling enthusiast President George W. Bush on a 17-mile workout, has denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Crow, a former backing singer with Michael Jackson, has won nine Grammy Awards since breaking through in 1993. The singer/songwriter, best known for such hits as "All I Wanna Do" and "If Makes You Happy," will release her fifth studio album, "Wildflower," on September 13.

(additional reporting by Dean Goodman)

- REUTERS