clipped from www.bloomberg.com

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France comeback looks good after he pushed into second place. Now he’s working with Damien Hirst, the U.K. artist known for pieces including a diamond-encrusted skull, to get his bike in shape.

Armstrong, just off the pace after five of 21 stages, wrote on his Twitter social-networking feed he was “speechless” after seeing Hirst’s design on the bike’s frame. He didn’t give details. The artwork features butterflies, according to Hirst’s business manager Frank Dunphy.

The bike will be used for the final stage of the race, which ends July 26 in Paris, Dunphy said.

Damien Hirst, who raised 111.5 million pounds ($178 million) selling his works at Sotheby’s London in September, joined an investment group in 2007 that bought his platinum, diamond-crusted skull for $100 million.