movingtarget said:I thought it was more about Armstrong promising the Giro organisers that he would ride the Giro before he retired. I recall something along those lines.
Partly. Also because he was always seen as a Tour champion and that's it. Whereas all the greats of the sport did at least one Giro-Tour double during their careers.
Initially he was planing to ride the Giro to go for a win, as a kind of closing an account with the past, then he broke his collarbone and had to reasses his ambitions. The money sealed the deal.