Cycling great Lance Armstrong brought a party of 10 to Piazza Gavi Italian Restaurant in the foothills last Sunday. Armstrong took time to mug for a photo with Roberto Orologio.
When you spend 24 hours on a mountain bike, pedaling around a 17-mile circle over and over again in a tag-team effort with other cyclists, there's nothing like a steaming plate of Italian pasta to restore you.
That must have been what cycling great Lance Armstrong and his party of 10 were thinking when they came into Piazza Gavi Italian Restaurant in February — hours after his team finished the grueling 2017 installment of 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo.
When the group arrived, few people in the foothills restaurant at 5415 N. Kolb Road recognized Armstrong sporting a 5 o'clock shadow and wearing a white v-neck T-shirt. The only hint he gave of his bicycling connection was the ball cap he wore that advertised Armstrong's Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop in Austin.
But Gavi assistant manager Francisco Cubedo knew it was the former professional cyclist; he had called in a reservation.
"He was a really nice person," Cubedo said. "Really respectful."
Armstrong, who was banned from professional cycling in 2012 for life for using illegal performance enhancing drugs, took time out to chat with restaurant staff and diners.
"We met Lance Armstrong at dinner last night! How cool is that?" Tucson personal trainer Jenna Llewellyn wrote on Facebook. "... He is such an inspiration & a hero to many!"
Armstrong, who over his professional career often trained in Tucson, placed third in the 24HOP with his former U.S. Postal teammates George Hincapie, Christian Vande Velde and Dylan Casey, according to Cyclist.
Armstrong won a record seven straight Tour de France races, but was stripped of his titles with his 2012 banishment.
