On December 18th of 2008 I posted a blog titled “Lance Armstrong: Best of the Best…Regardless”
http://tomsbicycleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/lance-armstrong-best-of-bestregardless.html
Looks like I was wrong when I speculated that the 2009 Tour de France should be one of the cleanest tours in the last two decades. I wrote, “Why would he come back if he didn’t intend to race clean? Why would he risk his legacy when he has nothing to gain, and everything to lose?”
It’s starting to look like he didn’t win, and he did have everything to lose. Returning to the limelight and drawing attention to himself did not help Lance Armstrong.
My opinion of Lance Armstrong and his achievements remains the same. Regardless of the final outcome, I think that he is still the greatest Tour de France rider of all time, and my reasons for this are outlined in my 2008 post.
Things are getting very ugly for Armstrong. Tyler Hamilton is certainly not viewed as credible, but it will be devastating if rumors about Hincapie’s testimony are true. Armstrong may be stripped of his tour wins and will go down as the biggest sporting fraud in history. Cancer survivors will be devastated. Not everyone will be upset. Yes, many people perceive him as arrogant. Many of his fellow riders have described him as cocky.
At least the French will be happy.
1 comment:
It may look like they are really targeting Armstrong, but I think there is something else going on. If they take down the best known rider, all of the other dominoes may fall as well.
I think it is likely that Armstrong doped in some way in every tour he rode, as did everyone else who finished in the top 10. Top 50? Top 100?
The sad thing is that even if everyone were to admit past participation in doping, it won't stop it from happening in the future. As long as the doping doctors stay ahead of the testing agencies, people will dope to win the big races.
Tyler Hamilton testified to a grand jury. That's a lot different than lying to a reporter. Anyone who lies to a grand jury can wind up in jail. That is why it's different this time.
They should either make doping legal and transparent or impose criminal penalties on those caught. Fear of going to jail will make anyone think twice.
Just my two cents.
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