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It is understood the team has yet to make a decision.

“I don’t know who sent this story into the world,” team spokesman Philippe Maertens told Cyclingnews Friday morning when confronted with the rumour. “We will decide after the Tour of California.”

Armstrong has recently dropped out of an event because of stomach pains and his returned to his family home in Austin, Texas.

English claimed his third 24-hour Mountain Bike Championship in a row.

“Its fantastic to win three in a row,” said English after the race. “It’s awesome. Its my 10th win in a row in a 24-hour event.”

“The only move I made was to try and catch Brett,” English told cyclingnews.com. “So that happened eventually in traffic, and he fell back into the main group. I had a bit of a lead, so I capitalised on that and expanded on my lead during the early hours of the night.”

He hopes to win the world championship in Canberra in six months time

I just want to see an Australian win, that’s the goal I have.

“It’s important not to get sucked in by the faster US-based riders who like to charge off and go too hard. The Australians have the patience and can sit back and bring it home strong.”

Douglas said she was overwhelmed with the victory.

“I’m very pleased to have it all over and done with,” said Douglas, who finshed fourth at last year’s World Championships. “I only been back in training for four weeks. I was just relying on previous 24-hour form and a hell of a lot of base.”

“I had a minute gap and it just grew from there.

“My body didn’t want to play from midnight until 6:00 am. It was 90 percent mental. I definitely overrode my survival instincts on my body.”

Armstrong will miss the Amstel Gold Race on April 18.

His team manager at RadioShack Phillipe Maertens confirmed this week.

“After Sarthe he will go back home to the United States to train and spend time with his family,” Maertens told cyclingnews.com

The 38-year-old has ridden Amstel four times, finishing second in both 1999 and 2001.

Some of the top features of this shoe includes of course the Carbon Lite sole which is new for 2009-10; a soft instep closure system; an adjustable heel retention device, a caliper buckle, a Tecno-II system, High Security Velcro Faterns and a  3 bolt sole for Shimano SPD-SL.

Three time winner Malcolm Lange won the event with ease.

“Lance tried to go with a kilometre to go but I don’t think he realised how strong the wind blows down here in the Cape. I think their plan was to make me go early but I waited. With about 150 metres to go I knew I had it,” Lange told AFP after the race.

Armstrong is expected to return his base in the south of France before riding next Saturday’s Milan-San Remo.

- with cyclingnews.com

Darrell was the favourite heading into the event and was pleased with the victory.

“I came out of the gates and I was just in front,” Darrell said. ”Alex pulled up just next to me. We went over the second jump and we collided in the air and I nearly fell off,” he told cyclingnews.com

“I came around the next corner and I held it together. Michael Jobson came up the inside and he washed out. I was in front coming into the second corner and I went out wide, whilst the others went inside.

“Then on that third corner I heard a big pile up behind me, and I just kept going. I just looked over my shoulder and saw that I had some clear space. I just shut it down and rolled over the finish line with a big smile on my face.”

Michael Jobson finished second ahead of Alex Lloyd. While in the womens’ event, Sarsha Huntington took the honours.

Evans, currently in fourth place, fought back to gain eight seconds.

“When you can get some like Scarponi on the ropes, you go with all you can,’ Evans told cyclingnews.com after the stage.

“I saw Scarponi in difficulty and could just about make an acceleration. I had Garzelli and I think it was Gasparotto lined up for the finish, then I looked under my shoulder and saw I’d got another Astana guy on the wheel. I thought ‘what do I do here?’ I could have stopped and played for the stage but get caught by everyone, or continue to try and take time on Scarponi on GC.”

Evans hoped those eight seconds would be the difference.

“We’ll see,” Evans said. “I thought that with the way Androni Giocattoli rode at the start there was nothing we’d be able to do, but they really fell apart with a crash on the descent and after the climb. They’re don’t look quite as solid as I first expected.”