Lance Armstrong announced at Interbike that he will race the Amgen Tour of California in February with Astana. The news comes on the heels of Wednesday that he was in fact racing with Astana next season.

Wednesday night Armstrong raced CrossVegas, where he finished 22nd, right before former teammate Tony Cruz.

“I got beat up a little bit last night, which felt great after a long day,” he said. “But most importantly I though it was essential that we be here at the trade show to announce the comeback.”

“There have been a couple of updates since yesterday. I’ve changed my mind,” he joked. “It crossed my mind about 20 minutes into CrossVegas. I was like, ‘are you sure you want to do this?’ Just kidding. The one update from yesterday is that I will now be doing the Tour of California. I will start at the Tour Down Under, then head to training camp, then do the Tour of California.”

Tour of California boss Andrew Messick was on hand for the announcement.

“Having Lance in our race is going to be great for our race, it’s going to be great for cycling, and it’s going to be great for all the cancer initiatives that we’re doing through Amgen and the Breakaway from Cancer,” Messick said. “We have a great confluence of cycling in America. Having Lance in the race brings cycling to a much bigger audience. You get out of the core cycling guys, and it puts us in a position where we can talk about our race, cancer and the state of California to a much bigger audience.”

Armstrong also discussed his decision to race with Astana.

“It was a natural fit to go to Astana because Johan [Bruyneel] was there, Trek was there,” he said. “The main infrastructure of the team that I had before was there. So it was mainly out of loyalty to those two.”

At the show, the industry was buzzing with the news. SRAM’s global communications manager David Zimberoff was one of many excited with the prospect of Armstrong racing next season, especially as Astana is SRAM-sponsored.

“We couldn’t be happier,” Zimberoff said. “It’s a big change for Lance. He was on Shimano for over a decade. A few months ago, when he was thinking about his comeback, he tested it out and was pleasantly surprised.”

As he did in New York, Armstrong took the stage with Taylor Phinney and anti-doping scientist Don Catlin. Catlin said all Armstrong’s physiological data will be posted online for anyone to see.

“Because we know there are always questions in and around cycling and in and around performance, we wanted to make sure that this go round, we would eliminate any and all doubts on the off chance that I would be able to ride fast again,” Armstrong said of Catlin. “I really tried to seek out the most credible anti-doping crusader in the United States.”

Phinney said he was excited to race with the Trek under-23 development team that Axel Merckx would direct. As to potential teammates and race schedule for next year, Phinney said it was a work in progress.

“It’s still in the making; the idea just came about three weeks ago,” said Phinney, adding the Armstrong reached out to his parents, Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter about the team.

Armstrong downplayed potential conflicts of leadership with Astana’s Alberto Contador — who has won the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España in less than two years — and Levi Leipheimer.

“I never raced on the same team with Alberto,” Armstrong said. “I raced in the same peloton. I would tell Alberto that after four years off the bike, I don’t know if I can be nearly as competitive as I was before. It isn’t about that. I think he is the best bike rider in the world right now. I don’t know how events will unfold. I certainly hope he stays with the team. I certainly think he’s a great rider and a good guy. I’m sure he’ll be asked a lot about it over the next week, months”

“I am looking forward not only to being reunited with Johan and the rest of the gang that I knew before, but also to new faces like Alberto,” Armstrong said.

As to whether Astana would be allowed into the 2009 Tour de France, Armstrong was confident.

“I have not spoken to (Christian Prudhomme), but I saw in the press that Astana is welcome to come to (the Tour de France),” Armstrong said.