On Saturday, the 96th Tour de France starts in Monaco, a suitably opulent setting for the return of the most famous - and most wealthy - cyclist ever to swing his leg over a bike, and turn a pedal in anger.

Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner, is 37; he is a multi- multi-millionaire; and for three-and-a-half years, since his retirement on the Champs Elsyées at the end of what he insisted was his final Tour, he has lived a showbiz lifestyle, dating A-list celebrities and, by his own admission, "drinking beer and sitting on my ass."

Armstrong: back on Le Tour

So, why? Why, why, why would he turn his back on all that to endure the stress and agony of riding another Tour de France?

With Armstrong, most assume that there can be only one reason - to win.

That is why this Tour could be the most fascinating for years, and why it could, finally, be the making of Armstrong, at least in the eyes of a previously indifferent - and sometimes hostile - French public.

Because to the question of whether he can win, most observers are sceptical, if not downright dismissive.

David Millar, the British rider, who raced with Armstrong in the recent Giro d'Italia, believes the Texan "will be shocked by Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador."

Schleck, of Luxembourg, and Contador, of Spain, are arguably the favourites to wear the yellow jersey into Paris on 26 July, but the 26-year-old Contador edges it. While Schleck has offered tantalising glimpses of his talent, Contador has already won the Tour, two years ago, before last year adding the tours of Spain and Italy to his already impressive palmares (which is cycling lingo for CV).

Domestic help

The twist, adding another layer of intrigue, is that Contador rides for the same Astana team as Armstrong. And in cycling, the "laws of the road" - as Armstrong has described them - dictate that a rider must sacrifice his own chances to support his team leader.

When Armstrong was in his pomp, he routinely benefited from such acts of sacrifice. Indeed, his US Postal team was built around him and for him, his eight domestiques (helpers) comprising a ruthless machine that would grind down opponents and set their leader up for victory.

Imagining Armstrong in the role of domestique is a bit like imagining Gordon Ramsay as a dishwasher. Yet the American has said that he is prepared to ride in the service of Contador - and this week the possibility moved closer when Astana confirmed the Spaniard as leader.

How this plays out on the road is anyone's guess - but it's a delicious prospect, and presents all kinds of possibilities.

Glory in defeat

It could also, as I have mentioned, prove to be the making of Armstrong. When he dominated, from 1999 to 2005, he did so in ruthless fashion. Consequently, it is perhaps fair to say that he was more widely admired than loved, especially in France, where they appreciate a little graciousness and humility in their champions (and prefer, if truth be told, that they're French).

The making of Armstrong, then, could be in noble defeat. If he battles, and races with panache - risking all by attacking - or rides selflessly to help his younger team-mate, then his popularity is likely to soar.

Yet there remains the small matter of Armstrong's character - and his apparent compulsion to win, which is at its most irresistible when he has been written off.

Speaking at his comeback race in Australia in January, he admitted, with a twinkle in his eye, that there had been "moments that were very enjoyable" during the past three years, even if for the most part he had, he claimed, "been drinking beer and sitting on my ass!"

It was in training for a mountain biking event last August, he said, that he "discovered that I still have the passion... I was bitten by this bug again." And he maintains that another motivation is to use his comeback to spread global awareness of cancer, having overcome the disease thirteen years ago.

More than just a number

It is clear to most that he has been enjoying his comeback, despite the setback of a broken collarbone in March. Following that, his twelfth place finish in the Giro d'Italia, his first three-week Tour since 2005, was impressive.

But will Armstrong really settle for "impressive"? Will he be content to ride in the service of his Spanish teammate, and finish in Paris as an also-ran, with a pat on his back for his hard work?

And, regardless of team orders, will he be able to resist attacking when the road goes up, and the race is on?

To not do so will seem to Armstrong like going against nature. The equivalent would be Alex Ferguson telling Roy Keane, at the height of his rage - and in both Armstrong and Keane anger and rage appear to be significant sources of motivational fuel - not to tackle opposing players.

What unfolds over the next three weeks could be every bit as compelling as the seven Tours that Armstrong dominated, perhaps even with an outcome as surprising as 1999, when he rode and won his first Tour since recovering from the cancer that nearly killed him.

After that, what is age? Only a number, Armstrong might say.

Watch this space.

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