With time out for World War I, Firmin Lamot was, by cycling standards, an ancient 36 years old when he pedaled to his second and last Tour de France victory in 1922.

For going on 87 years now, the late Belgian saddlemaker has held the distinction of being the oldest winner — some would say survivor — of sport's most grueling race.

Which makes what 37-year-old Lance Armstrong is attempting all the more remarkable.

Perhaps, by now, we should cease to be amazed at anything Armstrong sets his heart upon and gives chase to. Here is, after all, someone who roared back from testicular cancer and won a record seven Tours before riding off into the sunset in 2005.

Only now, after a nearly four-year layoff, not to mention being four months removed from a broken collarbone, Armstrong is back.

Entering this morning's stage he was running in second place, a split second out of the lead, while contending for an eighth title as the second-oldest in the 180-man field.

A pursuit that five-time champion Bernard Hinault dismissed to the media out of hand, saying, "He cannot win it again."

Of course, Hinault, the last Frenchman to win (1985), also doesn't want him to, saying, "I hope (Alberto) Contador gives him a beating."

In that Hinault is no doubt speaking for many in a land where polls have said 70 percent didn't want Armstrong back in the race. And where a barrage of new books, including, "La Grande Imposture" (the Great Imposter), have renewed long-running doping allegations.

As if history and local sentiment weren't hurdles enough, there is also the matter of the 2,141-mile, 21-stage course. One that is spiced by dashes through the Pyrenees and Alps and back-loaded with mega challenges.

Thrown in for the penultimate stage, for example, is 6,261-foot Mont Ventoux, the imposing "Tour of the Moon" as it has been dubbed for its barren, windswept landscape. Armstrong has never won a stage across it and that could be the decider, especially at his age, if the race is running neck-and-neck toward the Champs-Elysees. Perhaps that's what organizers had in mind.

The neck that Hinault and oddsmakers have favored belongs to Contador of Spain, the 2007 Tour winner. And, as an added touch of potential friction and drama, Armstrong's teammate on the Astana squad.

Contador, strong and skillful at age 26, is viewed by many as the present — and future — of the Tour.

As for Armstrong, he's older, damned by notoriety and faces a host of challenges. But would you really want to bet against him?