This Saturday, 25th October, seven-time Tour de France 'winner', Lance Armstrong is set to join former members of his U.S. Postal Service team at the Gran Fondo Hincapie in Greenville, South Carolina. However, USADA (US Anti Doping Agency) has just announced that it is investigating whether Armstrong is eligable to take part under the conditions of his life ban from cycling.

The event was initially listed as non-sanctioned, however, Armstrong's participation is now in doubt as the event is officially classed as ‘category F’ under USA Cycling rules, and therefore within the jurisdiction of the national governing body. 

“It is a sanctioned event,” Bill Kellick of USA Cycling told Cycling Tips, “but the determination about Lance’s participation rests with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency per Section 10.10.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code.”

If permitted to compete, Armstrong will line up alongside three members of his first Tour de France winning team in the form of George Hincapie, Kevin Livingstone and Christian Vande Velde. Former Postal/Discovery Channel team members Michael Barry and Tom Danielson will also be attending. Although initially listed as participating, another of Armstrong's former team mates, David Zabriskie is now no longer able to make the trip.

Lance Armstrong in his U.S. Postal days (Image: Flickr - Eugene Wei)

Armstrong and former team mate George Hincapie (Image: Flickr - mnorri)

Perhaps even more controversially, the former pros will be joined by a number of members of the current professional peloton including Tejay van Garderen, Brent Bookwalter, Matthew Busche and Alex Howes.

In their coverage of the story, VeloNews outlined what each of Armstrongs former team mates are doing now:

Since the USADA report was released, those involved have gone in disparate directions. Hincapie retired, and now runs an apparel company, which sponsors a successful development team.

Vande Velde served a six-month off-season suspension, raced in 2013, and then retired; he’s now a race announcer for NBC Sports.

Danielson served a six-month off-season suspension, and continues to race, and win, for Garmin-Sharp.  

Livingston, who was a member of the USPS team but did not testify in the USADA report, serves in the role of competition director for Georgia-based race organizer Medalist Sports; he also runs the Pedal Hard Training Center in Austin, Texas, in the basement of the Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop owned by Armstrong. 

Barry and Zabriskie have maintained relatively low profiles, with Zabriskie competing this year in Race Across America and the Leadville Trail 100 MTB Race.

Armstrong was banned for life and stripped of his Tour victories; within a week of the USADA report’s release, he lost millions in sponsorship revenue, as well as his seat at the Livestrong Foundation, which he founded.

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