Lance Armstrong, flanked by two guys accusing him of nothing. Yet.

For years, of course, Armstrong has been dogged by accusations of cheating with performance-enhancing drugs. In particular, I have for years heard from my colleague Matt Smith, who is SF Weekly's news columnist and a former professional cyclist, that Armstrong was dirty and that because he had been sponsored by a federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service, it would make him vulnerable to exhaustive investigations.

Over the last several years, I have generally maintained confidence in Armstrong's record of negative drug tests. Smith, meanwhile, has always assured me that Armstrong's doomsday was coming.

Lance Armstrong's own website, along with many others watching his comeback, repeatedly refers to January 20 as the big day our hero will return to action.

But we noticed that the Tour Down Under, the Australian stage race Armstrong has chosen for the first leg of his comeback, actually begins with a sort of prequel on Sunday, January 18, a circuit race (usually called a 'criterium' in bike lingo) through the streets of Adelaide.

A couple of days ago, the tour's website referred to this as the "Down Under Classic," and indicated that after it takes place, there would be a day off before the actual stage race begins on January 20.

We wondered if Armstrong would be taking part in the "Classic," so we shot off an e-mail to the race organizers. We got back this reply from the very helpful Michelle Logie: