For so many of us athletes, from Kona to France (and hopefully, back to Kona come October), that’s gonna be the opportunity: a chance to race with Lance Armstrong. Allez-allez, boys and girls. But his return to the roads of tri mean a lot more than just that.

Last fall, our appetites were whetted when not only one of the biggest names in the sporting world lined up at XTERRA Ogden and Maui. It was chaos for the offroad tri crew, and they handled it admirably. But it was just an appetizer.

Today, Lance Armstrong announced his intent to race several Ironman events, with a goal of earning pro points to compete at the Hawaii Ironman World Championship. Au revoir Tour de Suisse, Paris-Nice and Tour de France (seven Tour titles notwithstanding), hello Ironman France, 70.3 Hawaii, Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas, Ironman 70.3 Florida and—this weekend—Ironman 70.3 Panama. And hopefully, aloha, Hawaii Ironman.

Lance availed himself to the industry press this morning before hopping a plane for Sunday’s race in Panama City. On its face, there are two items in play: an opportunity to use his presence in our sport as a fundraising driver for Livestrong, and there’s simply the guy who’s staying race fit—for fun. “I’m definitely excited,” Armstrong said. “I have to be to embark on this.”

But there’s a lot more than that. The press gathering gave us a chance to see what Lance’s move back to tri means, both to him personally and professionally and to our sport. So, what does it mean?

1. He’s a Realist  

I was taken by Armstrong’s position on his expectations; that is, there are none. With the help of his buddy (and former XTERRA World Champ) Jimmy Riccitello, he’s doing his due diligence. He’s scouting the athletes. He’s balancing his efforts. He’s highly concerned about nailing his nutrition. While he was able with his team to control the dynamics in a stage race, a one-day solo effort is a different game—and he knows it.

“The test begins Sunday in Panama,” Armstrong said. “I have to be very conservative; I’ve never done a half before, let alone an Ironman. I don’t think it would be prudent to have huge ambition and goals. I want to feel my way through this.”

At age 40, he’s not being humble; he’s being realistic. Recovery takes a bit longer, and injuries are always a concern. “I’m worried about anything run-related,” he says. “Adding volume and intensity brings injuries. One thing that can derail all this is a nagging injury from running you can’t get over. In golf they talk about ‘drive for show and putt for dough?’ In triathlon you ride for show and run for dough.’ I know it’s damn hard, but I gotta be smart and conservative—I have no predictions.”

2. He’s driven. 

Greg Welch, the 1994 Hawaii Ironman World Champ and a current Ironman event announcer, has had a bit of dialogue with Armstrong recently. As a marketing manager with Oakley as well, he tells us that recently, at Oakley headquarters in Foothills Ranch, Calif., Armstrong got in an 85-miler with a transition run before talking to the crew at Oakley, then hopped a plane for Palm Springs for a golf fundraiser with Bill Clinton, flew home—and was up in time the next day for early morning masters. Not ideal rest and recovery for a pro triathlete, but these are the unique responsibilities a cancer survivor and seven-time Tour champ happily has incumbent upon him—while still managing proper training to take on guys like Lieto and Docherty, who have a routine far less stressful. He won’t use it as an excuse, and as such he won’t half-ass his training.

We’ve seen Lance at his most visceral during his racing days; the miraculous save through the field in Stage 9 of the 2003 Tour de France. The Look, his soul-piercing glance at Jan Ullrich on Alpe d’Huez in 2001. Seven tour titles is proof he was damn serious at his job. We’ll see the same focus in triathlon. He has the mean streak and abhors losing. He ain’t out to finish top five, or top three for that matter.

How he fares against the best athletes in the sport is the question. And we’ll start seeing the answer this weekend, as he goes up against a fine sampling of ‘em. Just this weekend alone he’ll make his debut against a multiple-time Ironman winner (American Chris Lieto), an Olympic medalist headed to London this summer (Bevan Docherty of New Zealand) and the reigning Wildlflower champ (Jesse Thomas). With this being the Latin American 70.3 Championship and with appropriately high Kona points on offer, you can bet they’re not gonna lay down to see Lance off to Kona. Same will be true at 70.3 Florida, his home race at 70.3 Galveston or Ironman France; these guys will be coming at him like a fastball high and inside. “To embark on this, it’s not something you do with medium enthusiasm. It means more training time,” Armstrong says.

Says Welch: “Lance is a competitive person—I expect him to give it a fair shake.”

3. …but he’s gonna have a good time. 

An hour after he crossed the finish line at XTERRA Ogden last fall, Armstrong rolled into a sequestered press room, glanced at me, rolled his eyes, gave a big sigh of exhaustion—and a smile. He was a bit pissed, definitely tired, but happy. He had fun.

Given his penchant toward winning, looking at this from 30,000 feet there’s a simpler way to look at his return to multisport: he’s simply back doing the thing he did as a teen, for fun (well, for a few hundred bucks and a free bike from Dan Empfield too). I’m guessing we’re gonna see more smiles than we did during post-stage interviews. He’ll hit Honu for a bit of heat practice on the course. He’ll head to Nice to race Ironman France on roads he’s more intimately familiar with than defending champ Frederick Van Lierde. “France is one I’ve always wanted to do,” he says. “I lived 10 years of my pro career and road hours and hours on those roads.”

Says Welch: “When he started as a 15-year-old with something, he was passionate about, but then left to race, and we all know how well that worked out for him. Now he’s come back to something he loves.”

Lance said as much today. “I got a small taste of it at Ogden and a bigger taste in Maui (at XTERRA World Championships).”

4. Cancer Research Scores New Eyes 

“It’s such a wonderful partnership,” Welch said of the union between Ironman, Livestrong and the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which was also announced today. “Ironman has given millions back through the Ironman Foundation and the Janus Charity Challenge. This is just a great venue for Livestrong as well. It’s a win-win.”

Lance has raised hundreds of millions toward cancer research, and triathlon is simply a new venue to promote awareness and the fundraising for it. And while there are far less triathletes than cyclists, with his presence, there will be more coming. Count on it. Triathletes that comes from the couch. From a collection of soccer moms. From families affected by cancer, seeking a venue to show their own human potential. Team in Training has done a fine job using triathlon as a vehicle to raise funds for Leukemia research. And with Lance’s new Team Livestrong ($1,500 raised plus race entry fees get you onto the squad) showing up at the Ironman and 70.3 events Lance is doing, I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more athletes in Livestrong yellow to compliment the amount of TnT’ers in purple out at the races.

“(Ironman) made a sizeable contribution to my foundation, and are allotting 250 spots to those races as a part of Team Livestrong,” Armstrong says. On top of that, Armstrong says that Ironman is making four lottery spots available for auction in 2012 and 2013, with Livestrong as the beneficiary.

5. Triathlon Wins 

This one’s pretty simple: Lance has over 3 million Twitter followers, placing him among the top 100 globally, and more than Time, ESPN and Facebook. Pile all the celebs that have crossed our path and in turn helped promote multisport with their participation—Will Ferrell, Robin Williams, Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Lopez, and Lance’s buddy Matthew McConaughey—and it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the promotional power Lance brings.

Triathlon’s mainstream street cred just went through the roof. His racing triathlon brings new eyes to the sport, and with that the potential for new, bigger opportunities that want a part of those eyeballs. The hope is to introduce triathlon beyond the endemic goal-driven athletes that find the sport from swimming, biking or running, and in the process make multisport attractive to soccer moms, young athletes seeking a sport outlet, and inspired cancer fighters. Sponsorship, viewership, participation, you name it—throughout both Ironman and triathlon in general, from events to bike manufacturers, can all benefit. And if the existing pros were looking for an opportunity to make greater money, it landed in their lap today.

“It’s a massive, massive step for Ironman and triathlon in general to have Lance back in the sport and competitive,” Welch says. “I expect great things. Maybe sponsorship will be better, and the social media side of things will go through the roof. There will certainly be a lot of interest with what goes on in Panama, and with a huge field—I mean, you have Bevan Docherty coming over, and you have Chris Lieto and Rasmus Henning racing this weekend, and that’s not even talking about an unbelievably deep women field. What Lance brings is an added factor.”

6. We (Age Groupers) Win 

Circling back to my opening, where Honu is on Lance’s—and my—race slate: this is just what makes our sport so special. It’s one amazing thing to see Chris Lieto, Macca, Rinny, Matty Reed, and Kelly Williamson running past on the course, and to holler encouragement. It’s something I never tire of it, and those of us in the sport know who they are and how amazing they are as pros. But those out of the sport wouldn’t know Craig Alexander, Ironman’s reigning world champ, if he walked into them on the streets of New York.

But we’ve all heard of Lance Armstrong. And we now know his race slate. For anyone to line up with one of the biggest icons in the history of sport is like a sparring round with Ali, a round of golf with Arnold Palmer—it’s going to be a rare claim. A chat with Ironman officials confirmed that just hours into the announcement, 70.3 Honu is nearly sold out. For a chance to race with one of the best in history? It’s worth looking into signing up to compete with him at one of his scheduled events. I’m glad I’ve got myself in for one of ‘em.

And as we saw at XTERRA Ogden, he certainly digs the low-key environment along a triathlon race course as opposed to the frothing final 3k up, say, Alpe d’Huez. Yay for us.

So will today’s announcement have any impact? We’re gonna go out on a limb and say yes. The kid from Plano High is coming back for all the right reasons, not just to show some new results beyond his 1989 Coca-Cola Sprint Triathlon Championships title. He’s done battling Mike Pigg, Mark Allen, Tinley, Dave Scott and Miles Stewart. This weekend, it’ll be Docherty, Lieto, and Rasmus Henning, Paul Amey and Matty Reed, scrapping for points to get to Kona and Vegas. Come October, the battle will be with Crowie, Andy Raelert, and Pete Jacobs. And should Lance make the journey to the big dance in Kona this October, no doubt it’s gonna be a madhouse—which is all good. The sport in all its facilities will certainly enjoy it. And in talking to him today, it sounds as though Lance is gonna have a good time as well.

Read more clips from our chat with Lance here.