Lance Armstrong last raced through the streets of Nevada City nearly 18 years ago.

But the seven-time Tour de France champion showed just how well he remembered the experience, easily recalling the 1.1-mile course that so many cyclists consider one of the most challenging single-day races in the country.

“I remember a steep, hard climb up and then a flatter section on the top that's not very long and then just a raging downhill, a hard left, another hard left and then you're climbing again,”

Armstrong said by phone from Colorado Thursday afternoon.

“And I remember there being a great turnout from the locals, just a lot of people from the area coming out for the race.”

Armstrong and his Astana teammate Levi Leipheimer, the three-time defending Tour of California champion, confirmed via the social network Twitter earlier this week that they would race in Sunday's 49th annual Nevada City Classic.

For more on this story, see Friday's edition of The Union