'Softer' Armstrong Confident After Promising Performance Down Under

Lance Armstrong ended his comeback race with a flourish, attacking towards the end of today's final stage of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide city center, and then confirming that the race had given him "the reassurance that I can still race at the highest level".

The 37-year-old seven-times Tour de France winner also promised to return to South Australia next year. Maybe. "The comeback is at least a year," said Armstrong. "It's not three or four, I don't think, but it could be two years. We'll see how the campaign unfolds."

The campaign – which Armstrong insists is as much about spreading awareness of cancer as it is about racing – will now move on to the US, with February's Tour of California the next stop on the comeback trail. From there he goes to Europe to contest one-day races in Italy and Belgium, before his first appearance at the Giro d'Italia, and then a much-anticipated return to the Tour de France.

Armstrong declared the six-day race in South Australia "a good re-entry to the sport". He added: "The most important thing it tells me is that I've been training hard, that I've put in the miles and hours. It's a good indication of what I've done so far [in training]. I've still to fine-tune things, get lighter, get fitter, and work on certain aspects of conditioning, but I felt pretty good today."

Armstrong explained that his attack towards the end of today's stage, on the small climb of Montefiore Hill around 7km from the finish, was possible because he had finally managed to find his optimum position on the bike. "I made some adjustments to my saddle height today, and I think I got it," he said. "It's amazing when you get the seat angle right – it opens up the legs, and I felt much better. It's the best I've felt all week, so I thought I'd give it a go."

As Armstrong admitted, he didn't have the "firepower" to sustain the effort, and in the finale he and his breakaway companions were swamped by the peloton, with the Italian Francesco Chicchi winning the bunch sprint to take the stage. Allan Davis finished safely behind him to keep the leader's ochre jersey and claim the overall win.

The weekend's two stages witnessed the largest crowds of the week, 115,000 packing Willunga Hill on Saturday – which Armstrong described as "Tour de France-esque" – and 143,000 lining the 5km city centre circuit today. These figures represent a vast increase on the previous 10 editions of this race, and they owed almost entirely to the presence of Armstrong, who was mobbed at stage starts and finishes in a manner more befitting a rock star.

Sean Yates, the assistant director of Armstrong's Astana team, claimed that Madonna, on a previous visit, had requested of the Adelaide authorities the kind of VIP treatment afforded Armstrong – a full police escort when he was out in the city, traffic lights changing to green as he approached while on training rides, and two bodyguards – but she was turned down.

Despite the security bubble, Armstrong was, by general consent, more open and accessible to the media than he was towards the end of his period of dominance at the Tour de France, when his relationship with the media – particularly with those who persistently levelled allegations of doping against him – deteriorated.

At yesterday's finish it was put to him that his personality has undergone a "metamorphosis" since 2005, when he retired after his seventh Tour win. "I think if you're away from the sport you have the opportunity to look at things from an objective standpoint," replied Armstrong. "I can look at my career, at my relationship with the press, my relationship with the fans, with the peloton, and you reassess those.

"You think, 'If I could do it again I'd do this, this and this; I'd change some things'." His relationship with the media, he added, "is a two-way street." The 2009 version is a new, "softer Lance", he joked at one point. But, as he also acknowledged, the Tour Down Under is not the Tour de France. The real test, on the road as well as in his dealings with the media, will come in July.

Tour Down Under results

Leading final positions after stage six (Adelaide City Council Circuit, 90km): 1 Francesco Chicchi (Ita) Liquigas 1hr 42mins, 2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Team Katusha at same time, 3 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank at same time, 4 Gregory Henderson (NZl) Team Columbia - High Road at same time, 5 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at same time, 6 Tom Leezer (Ned) Rabobank at same time, 7 Willem Stroetinga (Ned) Team Milram at same time, 8 Guillaume Blot (Fra) Cofidis at same time, 9 Jacopo Guanieri (Ita) Liquigas at same time, 10 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 11 Chris Sutton (Aus) Garmin-Slipstream at same time, 12 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank at same time, 13 Mathieu Drujon (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne at same time, 14 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C at same time, 15 Rony Martias (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom at same time

General classification after stage six: 1 Allan Davis (Aus) Quick Step 19hrs 26mins 59secs, 2 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team Saxo Bank at 0.25, 3 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at 0.30, 4 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale at same time, 5 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Francaise Des Jeux at 0.37, 6 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - High Road at 0.38, 7 Matthew Wilson (Aus) UniSA at 0.39, 8 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre - N.G.C at 0.40, 9 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux at same time, 10 Mickael Cherel (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux at same time, 11 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Slipstream at same time, 12 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne at same time, 13 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - High Road at same time, 14 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale at 0.44, 15 Mathieu Perget (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne at same time