Armstrong’s decorated bike

SEVEN-TIMES Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong will cross the line in Paris at the end of this year’s race on a bike decorated by Damien Hirst with hundreds of dead butterflies.

The American is taking part in the race after a three-year break and has been riding custom-painted bikes to raise awareness of his cancer-fighting foundation.

As he rides down the Champs-Elysees tomorrow, his Trek Madone bike will shimmer and glisten as the sunlight catches the insects’ wings arranged all over its frame and wheel rims.

Hirst was invited to adapt the ride as part of a campaign to raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and the bike will be auctioned in New York later this year.