Tour de Lance: First cycling hero Armstrong dated Owen Wilson's ex Sheryl Crow...now he's snared the actor's last love Kate Hudson

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Tangled: Lance Armstrong with Sheryl Crow a former love of Owen Wilson's, he's now dating Wilson's most-recent ex Kate Hudson

The news will be wearily familiar for film star Owen Wilson, Miss Hudson's ex-boyfriend. He had previously had a three-year romance with singer Sheryl Crow – only to see Armstrong move in after they split and get engaged to the pop star.

Armstrong, 36, may have a tough time explaining himself to Wilson – the fellow Texans are, or were, close friends.

Nor is it clear how badly Wilson will take the news. After Miss Hudson split from Wilson, 39, last summer, the devastated star of the Starsky & Hutch movie made a suicide attempt shortly after she was spotted kissing another actor.

They rekindled their relationship briefly in March this year but now Miss Hudson, 29, has clearly moved on again.

On Friday, Miss Hudson, the daughter of Goldie Hawn, flew to join new boyfriend Lance at his home in Austin, Texas, for a romantic weekend together.

A source said: "Kate and Lance have been dating for a couple of weeks. She thought it was funny when people were writing recently that she was engaged to Owen because the reality was that they had split again and she was secretly seeing Lance.

"She and Lance are both physical, passionate people – she's never been happier."

Miss Hudson started dating Armstrong after sparks flew at a private New York dinner party.

The source said: "They have known each other for a while and Lance is one of Owen's good friends.

"When Kate was with Owen, she got to know Lance really well but they hooked up again recently at a dinner party thrown by a mutual friend and that's when the romance began. They have both been keeping it very quiet."

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Wilson and Hudson recently split for the second time, she has now moved on to Armstrong

Miss Hudson's marriage to singer Chris Robinson, by whom she has a five-year-old son Ryder, broke down in 2006 after she had filmed You, Me And Dupree with Wilson and sparks flew between them. They had a relationship which ended last June with reports that she had grown tired of his lack of commitment.

But after pictures of Miss Hudson kissing Dax Shephard emerged in gossip magazines, the story took a chilling turn when Wilson was discovered with a bottle of pills and slashed wrists at his Los Angeles home. Miss Hudson was devastated and supported Wilson, even rekindling their romance briefly in March.

Wilson spoke gloomily about his lack of success with women after he split up from Sheryl Crow in 2002: "I was lucky enough to find a great girl, and because of my lack of, I don't know, focus, the relationship went south.

"The complaints of my girlfriends sound a lot like the comments I used to get from my teachers: 'Owen is lacking in seriousness. He's not working up to his potential.'"

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Ex factor : Owen split from singer Sheryl in 2002

The contrast with Armstrong is notable. The cyclist, born only a few miles from Wilson, is in many ways the definition of focused.

He beat testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and lungs in 1996, going on to win by almost superhuman effort the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive times.

Miss Crow put her career on hold to support Armstrong's bid for global cycling supremacy. She followed him around the world for races, joining him on the podium after he won his seventh Tour victory in 2005. When he retired from the sport, Armstrong helped boost the singer's career by turning up for her concerts and TV appearances.

But then, in February 2006, they split up. Armstrong is believed not to have wanted more children (he had three from his earlier marriage, formally ended in 2003, using sperm frozen before his gruelling chemotherapy treatment). Miss Crow adopted a baby boy a year later.

 

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