Lance Armstrong - New boss of Astana?

Armstrong, winner of an unprecedented seven Tour de France titles, has been racing with Astana since coming out of retirement in September 2008.

The current economic slump has hit the Astana cycling team hard and Armstrong, currently riding on an unpaid basis, would certainly prove a popular figure among many to spearhead a revival.

“Considering the economy and global sports sponsorships – it’s a tough climate for all that stuff – we’ve had high interest” said Armstrong.

Up until now Astana has received most of its financial power from a Kazakh state company but in recent months they have been unable to pay their workforce.

“My situation is different as I don’t take a salary but there are a lot of people who have families. When they sign a contract, they expect to be paid.”

“There’s not a lot of clarity about what is going to happen,” Armstrong continued. “Maybe the situation gets resolved and the guys start getting their dough. Otherwise I think the license ought to be transferred to [team director] Johan Bruyneel and we try to start a team in the middle of the season.”

“I don’t want to talk about possibilities,” he said. “Obviously if the team folds in the middle of the year certain things need to happen. I don’t have any concrete answers but I suspect we can find some funding that would get us from June to the end of the year,” he said.

“It could be a combination of people that have a shared interest in Livestrong and want to see Livestrong promoted around the world and believe in what we’re doing.

“If someone commits to fund a team for half a year, that’s $7 or $8m,” he said. “For a full season it’s $14 to $20m. That’s a serious decision and can’t be made in 20 to 30 days.”