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Lance Armstrong expecting baby with girlfriend

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-24 16:29

NEW YORK --  Lance Armstrong is going to be a father again.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of the US rides during a training session with his new team Astana in Tenerife, Spain's Canary Islands in this December 2, 2008 file photo.

Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven consecutive years after overcoming testicular cancer, is expecting a baby with girlfriend Anna Hansen.

"Anna and I are thrilled to confirm that we are expecting in June and our families are ecstatic and grateful," Armstrong told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We are very much looking forward to what 2009 brings on many fronts. We appreciate respecting our privacy, as we are both eager to celebrate the holidays as a family."

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Three years after retiring following his last Tour de France win, Armstrong announced in September his return to competition in the Tour de France in 2009. He called his comeback an attempt to raise global awareness in his fight against cancer.

Diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain, doctors gave Armstrong less than a 50 percent chance of survival. Surgery and brutal cycles of chemotherapy saved his life.

Armstrong and his former wife Kristin had three children using in vitro fertilization with sperm he had banked before his chemotherapy.