"Mellow Johnny's Aviation" has touched down in Adelaide for the first time, bringing its much-anticipated passenger.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong arrived with his partner Anna Hansen and their seven-month-old son Max ahead of next week's Tour Down Under.
Mellow Johnny is one of Armstrong's nicknames and it is a take on maillot jaune, which is French for yellow jersey - the Tour de France famous leader's jersey.
Armstrong and his entourage flew into Adelaide on his private jet and the Mellow Johnny's Aviation logo was visible inside the plane door.
He also has the Mellow Johnny's bike shop in his home city of Austin, Texas.
Armstrong's first comment was about the Adelaide weather - after several days of scorching 40-plus temperature, it is much milder this week.
"This weather - how about this!," he said. "I kept hearing about the heatwave that was here and of course, last year was hot.”
"But really the highlight for us is it's great to be back... the run-up has been almost identical, I spent two-and-a-half weeks in Hawaii."
Armstrong launched his cycling comeback at last year's Tour Down Under and it was a big success.
Team debut
This time, his new RadioShack team will make their debut at the race.
"We bring a whole different outfit now, it's not the same team as last year so we're excited to get results for the new team and sponsors," he said.
"The group we have is a good group ... this will be our first experience in a race together.”
"It's important, not to put too much pressure on us, but the fact of the matter is that the entire executive of RadioShack is flying over from Texas for our first race.”
"We all know that and we all understand this is a big commitment on their part - not just for this race but for the whole year."
Armstrong also trained in Hawaii before last year's Tour Down Under and he says he is fitter than a year ago.
But his main goal this year will be July's Tour de France, not the January 17-24 Tour, so he is nowhere near peak fitness in Adelaide and is not expecting personal results.
Rather, he will work for the team's Belgian sprinter, Gert Steegmans.
"I feel good, I mean I'm a little tired now because it's a long day, but physically (I'm) a little better than last year.”
"The indications we had in training, based on being on the same roads I was on just before the Tour Down Under last year, the condition is better.”
"But we'll see how the race unfolds - there's other guys who are big, big favourites here."
Armstrong has three other children by his ex-wife Kristin - Luke and twins Grace and Isabelle - but they are in school and so did not make the trip.
He noted Max has already seen plenty of the world.
"He has the Bahamas, France, Mexico and now he has Australia (on his passport)- he's only seven months old," Armstrong said.
