Milan - The Milan-San Remo cycling race that starts on Saturday is being held for the 100th time and for the anniversary a special guest will be competing: Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France winner, who last year announced that he would be staging a comeback after retiring at the end of the 2005 season, has so far this year participated in the Tour Down Under in Australia and the Tour of California.

The one day Milan-San Remo race over 298 kilometres will be the first time that the 37-year-old races in Europe since announcing his come-back.

Armstrong's participation has created huge interest for the race called "la classica di Primavera" (the Spring classic) and Gazzetta dello Sport headlined: "The cowboy is coming to Milan."

Is is very doubtful though that Armstrong will be amongst the challengers at the end, as he considers his participation in the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia to be his main focus for the year.

Unlike France, where Armstrong is not always welcomed by all fans, the American is assured of having cycling fans behind him in Italy and the Astana rider, who has long been linked to doping without having ever failed a doping test, is looking forward to racing in Italy.

"I believe I have a good relationship with Italians," he said recently.

The usual suspects head the list of favourites for Saturday's sprinters' classic: former world champion Tom Boonen, local heroes and former winners Paolo Bettini (2003) and Alessandro Petacchi (2005), as well as sprint expert Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish, who rides for the Columbia team, is not under any pressure though. "It is the first time that he will be riding in the race and we want him to gain experience how to race Milan-San Remo," Columbia Sporting Director Valerio Piva said.

Two other favourites though, will be missing.

The defending champion Fabian Cancellara from Switzerland will not be starting as he suffered a death in the family recently, while Italian road world champion Alessandro Ballan is missing due to an infection. (dpa)