Tour de France great Armstrong to divorce

Five time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and his wife have separated and are planning to divorce.

Armstrong, who recovered from testicular cancer to become the world’s greatest cyclist, and wife Kristin separated two weeks ago, soon after they moved back to Austin, Texas, from their Spanish home.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Kristin Armstrong, 32, told an Austin newspaper. “We are making the best of it for the sake of our kids.”

The Armstrongs have been married for five years and separated in January.

The 31-year-old Texan, who grabbed his record-tying fifth straight victory in cycling’s most prestigious race this summer, later agreed to enter counselling in an effort to salvage their marriage.

Armstrong’s wife and children – three-year-old Luke and 22-month-old twins Isabelle and Grace – were with the cyclist in Paris on July 27 to celebrate his Tour victory. They left Paris together and spent time on a family holiday before returning to Austin late last month.

“We both have legal representation, and we’re doing this peacefully,” Armstrong said.

“The craziest thing is, we’re closer now and better friends than ever before. We’re truly committed to maintaining a good relationship, but not a marriage.”

Armstrong, who successfully battled testicular cancer, met his wife in January 1997, just weeks after he had completed intense chemotherapy to treat an advanced stage of the disease. The two started dating in June 1997 and were married 11 months later.

Because Lance’s cancer treatments could have made him sterile, he had banked his sperm before chemotherapy. All three children were born through in vitro fertilisation.

Kristin Armstrong has said several events related to her husband’s celebrity and cancer comeback had strained the marriage. The couple plans to remain in Austin.

“The kids are our first priority,” said the cyclist. “We’re also going to be respectful of each other.

"Neither of us wants to get in the situation where when we drop off the kids, we can’t look at each other.”