The French Still Trying To Ensnare Cyclist Lance Armstrong In Drugs Scandal…

Is Lance Armstrong a legitimate sports hero or a cycling dope fiend who used his cocktail of cancer drugs to mask the illegal drugs he took to juice his body through 7 consecutive victories in the Tour de France?

Lance, buddy, say it ain’t so….

In fact, Armstrong has repeatedly denied doping accusations and has even spewed sanctimonious scorn on those who questioned his sports ethics. Yet, an intriguing subplot of this (did he or didn’t he) mystery has been the nature of Armstrong’s relationship with his perennial accuser, Greg Lemond. Lemond, of course, is heralded as the first American to win the Tour (in 1989). But instead of being a mentor to Armstrong, as one might expect, Lemond has been his principal accuser.

I was never sure, however, whether to believe the allegations because Lemond was an indisputable cycling purist who, apparently, resented informed suspicions that illegal drugs instead of natural ability were beginning to determine winners in the sport he loved; or whether to dismiss them because Lemond seemed like a self-righteous and vainglorious jerk who was raining on the parade of a fellow American.

Nevertheless, whenever these doping charges resurfaced (invariably on the eve of the annual Tour), I always gave Armstrong the benefit of the doubt because, despite Lemond’s integrity, Armstrong never failed a drug test! Or so I thought….

Michel Dalloni, editor of L’Equipe (and France’s new inspector Javert) shows off a copy of his newspaper which ran the most comprehensive investigative expose on Lance’s alleged doping secret…

Now comes an accuser who claims to have far more than professional suspicions about Armstrong’s cheating. Indeed, Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc became the lead singer in the chorus of Armstrong myth busters overnight by making the most damning allegation to date. And, it was published on Tuesday – exciting national schadenfreude – below sensational headlines in French newspapers all proclaiming, voila, ‘Le Mensonge Armstrong’ (The Armstrong Lie)!

In the national sports daily L’Equipe – whose editor has dogged Armstrong with these allegations like inspector Javert chasing Jean Valjean – Leblanc is quoted as saying that he is shocked but now convinced, by the incontrovertible evidence Dalloni discovered, that Armstrong tested positive numerous times for the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO) before his first Tour win in 1999.

Specifically, Leblanc claims that

For the first time – and these are no longer rumors, or insinuations, these are proven scientific facts – someone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body….The ball is now in his court. Why, how, by whom? He owes explanations to us and to everyone who follows the tour. Today, what L’Equipe revealed shows me that I was fooled. We were all fooled.

Naturally, Armstrong would like his legions of cancer-surviving, yellow-band wearing and Cheryl Crowe-loving fans to dismiss these drug allegations with a chorus of their own: consider the source.

After all, the French are as notorious for their congenital envy as they are for whining sour grapes. Beyond this, however, j’accuse Dallino of L’Equipe of an obsessive witch hunt and challenge him to examine his journalism ethics by answering the following questions:

Why all the fuss about results from urine samples taken in 1999, when it’s entirely possible that the drugs prescribed to treat Armstrong’s testicular cancer might have contributed to a false positive outcome? (And, trust me, I can find even a French chemist to testify accordingly.)

Alas, in your guise as a sports writer and not a doping inspector, don’t you think you owe it to your readers to finally celebrate Armstrong’s remarkable athletic performances instead of continuing with this (Les Miserable) pursuit to incriminate him?

But, as Armstrong lamented during his 7th Tour victory speech last month, some people just refuse to believe that extraordinary sporting feats – such as his – can be achieved by the ordinary means of hard work, organization and iron will. And just yesterday, he felt compelled to reply to Dallino’s latest gotcha publication as follows:

It doesn’t surprise me at all that they have samples. Clearly they tested all of my samples since then [1999] to the highest degree. But when I gave those samples there was not EPO in those samples. I guarantee that….Obviously this is great business for them [L’Equipe]. Unfortunately, I’m caught in the cross-hairs.

I believe!

But, if Armstrong turns out to be another Rafael Palmeiro, then I’m sure his cycle of bad karma will soon render the one testicle he has left utterly useless….

For now though, he deserves to rest on his laurels and continue his mission as an untarnished role-model for cancer survivors (and living hero for the rest of us). And, it seems that leisurely bike rides with the President of the United States – pictured below leading Armstrong on the Tour de Crawford last weekend on his ranch in Texas – are just a part of that mission:

LIVESTRONG!

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