France’s biggest annual sporting event starts this Saturday. All eyes are on Monaco for the 96th edition of the Tour de France. The teams were already presented to the public in Monte Carlo yesterday.

He might not be among the clear favourites, but one rider gets all the headlines. French newspaper Le Parisien dedicates five pages to Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner. Armstrong is also the star of Le Parisien’s cartoon by Olivier Ranson.

Le Parisien goes on to explain what the future might look like for the American rider after his sporting career finally finishes. The daily sees “a possible future in politics”, maybe even as the governor of Texas.

France’s sports daily L’Equipe publishes an interview with Armstrong in which he claims to have “won already.” Armstrong is this year competing for the Astana team but is wearing the colours of his cancer charity called Liverstrong.

On its front page, L’Equipe also mentions the possible departure of French football superstar Franck Ribéry from Bayern Munich. His next club could be big-spending Real Madrid.

Away from sport, the French Prime Minister François Fillon’s visit to Baghdad is covered by France’s biggest-selling dailies. Fillon spent 24 hours in Iraq, enough time, according to conservative daily Le Figaro, to start renewing relations between France and Iraq.

Left-wing Libération sees things very differently. According to the daily, Fillon “landed in Iraq with a troop of businessmen.” This trip, Libération believes, was more about business than politics.

The death of Michael Jackson is still making headlines in France. Today, both Le Figaro and Libération publish opinion pieces on the media coverage of the singer’s death. Le Figaro’s François Taillandier believes it is too early to make Michael Jackson a modern icon. Pierre Marcelle, on the other hand, analyses the way Jackson's untimely death overshadowed the rest of the world’s news.