McQuaid hopes Armstrong will stay one more year

LA GRANDE MOTTE, France (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong's comeback has boosted media coverage of cycling and it would be great if he would stay around for another year, the president of the International Cycling Union said on Monday.

"He brings more media interest, regardless of people's opinion on what he has done or not done -- which was not proven," Pat McQuaid told Reuters by telephone as the Tour peloton was riding the third stage from Marseille to La Grande Motte.

The seven-times Tour de France champion, back on the saddle after 3-1/2 years in retirement, has received a warm welcome from French crowds, with whom he had a difficult relationship during his prime.

McQuaid, who was in Monaco until the start of the world's greatest cycling race, said Armstrong's presence on an event he dominated from 1999 to 2005 was a good thing for the sport.

"There was a huge, mad media...in Monaco. It is good for the Tour de France and it is good for cycling," he said.

In 2005, the French sports daily L'Equipe, owned by Tour organisers ASO's parent company EPA (Editions Philippe Amaury), claimed samples of Armstrong's urine from the 1999 race showed traces of the banned blood-boosting substance erythropoietin.

However, Armstrong, who has never tested positive, was cleared by a Dutch investigator appointed by the UCI.

"I would like him to stay one more year. It would mean (from now), 18 more months of media interest," said McQuaid.

"I think his image has improved in France."