The director of the Tour de France says that doping was so rampant during the Lance Armstrong era that probably no one would be awarded those 7 championships.
“When you read the USADA report, you can’t be indifferent. .. It depicts an era and a system which are forever soiled. The best solution is to say that there should be no (Tour) winner those years,” Christian Prudhomme told the Reuters news agency.
“The best solution is to say that there should be no (Tour) winner those years.”
The best way to understand what Prudhomme is saying is to check out a chart by the New York Times shows the top 10 finishers at the Tour de France from 1998 to 2012; about half are filled by cyclists who have been sanctioned or admitted to doping at one time or another.
Notable are Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, who finished in 2nd or 3rd place in many of those years that Armstrong won the Tour between 1999 and 2005.
Other news from the world of doping:
CyclingNews: Armstrong attorney Tim Herman, in talking about the possibilities that Armstrong could take a lie detector test, said: “…His name is never going to be clear with anyone beyond what it is today. People are fans, most of the people that I’ve talked to, this is their opinion, it is: ‘We don’t care whether he did or he didn’t’.”
I think he needs to talk with different fans of pro cycling.
VeloNews: Betsy Andreu, wife of Armstrong teammate Frankie Andreu, told the London Daily Mail she was the subject of smear campaign by Armstrong. He was upset that she started passing along information about doping that Armstrong told his doctors when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
“Lance waged a war against me and I fought back quietly and smartly. … Every time he said something untrue about me, it just empowered me more. The more he called me a liar, the more I was going to fight. No way was I going to let somebody lie about me.”
Johan Bruyneel
Bicycling.com: Johan Bruyneel has left his position as manager of the Radio Shack-Nissan pro cycling team. The Belgian had managed all seven of Armstrong’s winning teams and was implicated throughout the testimony in the USADA’s report. Unlike Armstrong, Bruyneel plans to challenge those charges.
“In light of these testimonies [in the USADA report], both parties feel it is necessary to make this decision since Johan Bruyneel can no longer direct the team in an efficient and comfortable way. His departure is desirable to ensure the serenity and cohesiveness within the Team.”
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