PARIS – Stopped only by world wars since its debut in 1903, the Tour de France has grown from a newspaperman's marketing campaign into a global sporting event with few equals. After nearly a century of routing cyclists through vineyards and over mountaintops, it wouldn't be so bad if race organizers simply relied on tradition.

But complacency? It won't happen this year.

The 96th Tour de France begins today in Monaco, with a wickedly designed course and tweaked rules. And among a dozen other cycling hors d'oeuvre subplots, a seven-time champion will return after a four-year absence. His name is Lance Armstrong.

The 2,175-mile route will begin with a 9.6-mile afternoon individual time trial, advance clockwise through six countries and end with one sustained tradition. The July 26 finale will consist of a flat 70-mile ride into Paris and then eight laps around the cobblestoned Champs-Elysees.

Aside from Armstrong, who won his last Tour title in 2005, defending champion Carlos Sastre of Spain and his compatriot winners, Alberto Contador (2007) and Oscar Pereiro (2006), are entered.

Six other Americans will participate: Santa Rosa's Levi Leipheimer, Armstrong's Astana teammate; Garmin-Slipstream riders Christian Vande Velde (Lemont, Ill.), Danny Pate (Colorado Springs, Colo.), David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City) and Tyler Farrar (Wenatchee, Wash.); and George Hincapie (Greenville, S.C.), who rides for Team Columbia-HTC and will compete in the Tour for the 14th time.

The three-week race will include a team time trial for the first time since 2005 in Stage 4, but its individual time-trial total mileage will be the race's shortest since 1967.

For the second consecutive year, stage bonus times have been eliminated, with organizers commenting: "Official time remains the absolute reference." And organizers also will experiment in two stages by – in a return to former ways – not allowing teams to communicate via radio.

But the race's biggest change is the addition of a mountaintop finish on the next-to-last day. As with other renowned French ascents, the climb to Mont Ventoux (elevation 6,261 feet) is long and steep. Its common, severe winds can exceed 100 mph and have eliminated all vegetation. Mont Ventoux often is called "Barren Mountain" or "Tour of the Moon," and the 20th stage will provide drama, if not determine the race winner.

"There are possibly harder mountains earlier in the Tour, and there's one stage when we climb all day," said Farrar, a sprinting specialist and the only U.S. rider competing for the first time.

"For the GC (overall) riders, it will be decisive. For the rest of us, it will just be hard, sheer difficulty."

It's Armstrong, respected by French fans but taunted by race organizers and the French media, who is expected to attract as much attention as the rest of the 180-rider, 20-team field combined.

Since he unretired in September, Armstrong has returned to a more prominent spotlight than enveloped him during his first post-cancer career.

After returning to competition in January in Australia, Armstrong dealt with the theft of his one-of-a-kind time-trial bike after he raced in February's Tour of California prologue in Sacramento. He broke his collarbone early in a Spanish stage race in March. A physician shaved Armstrong's head during a surprise drug-test visit in April.

Armstrong then competed in the Giro d'Italia for the first time in May, and he and girlfriend Anna Hansen became parents of a boy (Armstrong's fourth child) in June.

Although he won a few unheralded time trials in Texas soon after beginning his comeback, Armstrong, 37, had his first substantial victory this year on Father's Day, when he lapped the field in the Nevada City Bicycle Classic.

Whatever he has done on and off the bike, Armstrong has discussed, however succinctly, with the public and media via the social-networking Web site Twitter. When he made his U.S. comeback debut in the Tour of California, Armstrong had about 50,000 followers. His Twitter legion is now about 1.3 million.

But Armstrong's comeback preamble is complete. Although he doesn't have a salary, Armstrong competes for a Kazakhstan-financed squad that until recently hadn't paid its riders and staff for several months. Nevertheless, it arguably is the strongest team in cycling history.

Contador, 26, has won his last three grand tours. Leipheimer, 35, has won the past three Tours of California and finished third in the 2007 Tour de France. Andreas Klöden, 34, of Germany is a two-time Tour de France runner-up.

As such, will Armstrong return to the Tour de France as a fourth title contender from one team? Or will he ride in support of his strongest teammate?

"We could all see that he got better in the Giro," said Leipheimer, who finished sixth overall while Armstrong placed 12th. "In the beginning of the first mountain stages, he was a few minutes behind of whatever it was. And then toward the end of the race, he was with the front group, the favorites.

"It was obvious he got better. But then, from me being around him, I could see that he got physically better. He's much leaner, and he's gotten a lot smaller. His body is coming back to what it was four years ago."

But whether Armstrong will race well in the Tour de France and whether the other Astana contenders will mesh or clash is unknown.

"Let's not forget there's Cadel Evans, Sastre and (Denis) Menchov," Leipheimer said of title favorites. "These guys are who will decide. Yes, we (Astana) have three or four guys who can win the Tour. But they're going to decide if we even have one. The competition is certainly strong enough that it can weed out who's going to be the strongest on our team."