A lot of people said that Lance was guilty of doping. One of the primary logic drivers behind this was that so many Tour riders had already been found guilty of doping in that period (1995-2010) - how was it possible that a cancer survivor could beat all of them (the dopers)...seven times in a row? That's where there was a large disconnect for many people.
Personally I'm pissed off with Lance. I've read his books. My wife even bought me a pair of black socks once. I never wore the yellow bracelet - but I immediately identified cyclists in a crowd as they wore it and I had no problem with it. Lance inspired people all over the world. In his books he will tell you that he was a fighter. His Texan attitude meant that he would scrap. If people said slow down, he would pedal harder. If people said "we don't do that here", Lance would challenge that. And he wanted to win. Through his books I was convinced that he had trained hard and that his pure hunger and drive were the factors behind his many Tour victories.
Having read Jim Collins' book Good to Great (a book about why certain corporates just outstripped their competitors), I was interested to read about how many of the leaders of those great companies had suffered a deep personal anguish or suffering of sorts. There seems to be a watershed moment in the human psyche that is triggered when the chips are down and there seems to be no return. You hit base level. All the prejudice, bias, hatred, and jealousy is stripped away from you and, as you come to terms with your possible non-existence, you find some sense of inner peace. Not to say that this is scientifically proven, but there seems to be a strong body of evidence that suggests when your life lift hits the ground floor and you're due to check out, you see things in a different light.
I was convinced that this new dawn had happened to Lance. He most certainly did have cancer. He was definitely close to death. But it was this near-death experience that hardened him up. Lance called it "survivorship".
Lance in hospital during his chemotherapy sessions. Not the face of a future champion....
In Its not about the bike, Lance tells us that after he had been through his various treatments he decided, in 1997, to get back to racing. Here was a cancer survivor who wanted to get back into professional cycling. Cofidis, the team that Lance was racing for when he was diagnosed with cancer, opted not to renew his contract. He was on a fairly substantial insurance package though (one that was fought for - Cofidis initially said that he didn't have health insurance cover): $20,000 per month for 5 years (a $1,5m deal). But this was nowhere near what he could earn if he was racing - and winning - professionally.
In 1997 Lance held a press conference and said he was ready to return to racing. Cofidis had ejected him and, for a mere $500,000, Lance would be prepared to ride for any team. No offers were forthcoming. Its no secret that Lance was not happy about this. And then - enter the US Postal Service team. A newly-founded all American funded and sponsored outfit. The initial cash offered was low and should Lance have accepted any offer, then his insurance funding would be forfeited. You can imagine being in his position, weighing up the financial offers on the table...could he afford to sacrifice it all? So his agent (Bill Stapleton) accepts a base salary offer of $215,000, with a bunch of incentives built in. In other words: perform well, and the cash will come. A deal was struck and, as if to celebrate the new beginning, Lance proposed to his girlfriend at the time (Kik). Talk about adding some pressure!
So Lance and his new team (and fiancee) head to Europe to start training. But it didn't go too well. Lance admits that it was tough. "Deep down", he says. "I wasn't ready. Had I understood more about survivorship, I would've recognised that my comeback attempt would be fraught with psychological problems. If I had a bad day, I had a tendency to say, "Well, I've been through too much. I've been through three surgeries, three months of chemo, and a year from hell"... Sounds desperate to me. In his second comeback race (The Paris-Nice 8-day stage race) Lance pulled out. He threw in the towel. "I quit. I'm not racing anymore. I'm going home", he had said. Back in the States Lance went into a state of limbo - golfing (that's already serious trouble!); TV; Mexican food....no riding. His support council argued (successfully) that he should end in style and go out by winning the odd race in the States. That way, they reasoned, the American public would remember Lance as a cancer survivor and champion. So Lance agrees and heads off to a small town to get in some training before some local US races. Now obviously it doesn't say so in the book - but I'm reckoning that this is where he tangles with some chemicals.
He goes there in a poor state of mind, his bike full of dust. His training destination: Boone. "That little hippie town in North Carolina" is how Lance describes it. While he's there he has this revelation moment as he climbs Beech Mountain. You can read the passage out of his book. I swear its scripted for a Disney movie....the dejected has-been gets on the bike; he thinks about when he was bullied in the playground (fast pedalling); he thinks about getting over cancer (faster pedalling); crowds at the various races (sweat now pouring down his face - breathing heavy); he's thinking about contracts and corporates and dollars; past failures; being teased for having one testicle - all the while he's getting madder but faster and his baggage is falling off and behind him like the decorations on a newly-weds car (by now the support driver is whooping with joy as our once fallen outcast is now mashing the pedals and flying up the mountain - passing motorbikes and camper-vans and eagles and all those necessary props!)....and at the summit we are faced with a stone-faced Lance who looks across at the beaming agent/support rider and says "I'm ready now". Wow! Just like that. The support driver just smiles and looks at his stopwatch....
Next thing he's in training, breaking odometers with his power (yep - its in the book: "I pedalled so hard I blew out the odometer. I spun the machine so fast Chris couldn't get a digital readout"). Well, sounds to me like Lance discovered some serious shit out there in that Hippie town - and it probably went straight into his bloodstream.
That year Lance didn't do the Tour de France. He reckons he wasn't ready. So he went across to do some commentary and the like. And what happens? The French cops raid the teams and find "trunkloads of EPO and anabolic steroids" and that "cyclists were furious at the tactics used by the authorities" (sounds odd though - if the authorities find the stuff, how can the cyclists be furious at the tactics used to find illegal substances?) Lance then pins his colours to the mast with this: "Doping is an unfortunate fact of life in cycling...Inevitably, some teams and riders feel it's like nuclear weapons - they have to do it to stay competitive within the peloton. I never felt that way, and certainly after chemo the idea of putting anything foreign in my body was especially repulsive". Oh for fuck sakes.
I reckon Lance was just checking out the modus operandi of the authorities: when they search, how they search.....
We all know the rest of the story. I think this is an appropriate place to end off. He goes on to win SEVEN Tour de France titles. In a row. Unheard of. Its the stuff of heroes. He is tested hundreds of times for doping and is never found guilty. But then the wheels start coming off. Accusations fly over the years that Lance had been doping...but nothing formal ever appears. Talks of UCI sponsorships and cover ups and attorneys letters do the rounds - but then the witnesses start coming forward and the evidence starts to mount.
In August 2012 the United States Anti-Doping Agency publicly announces a lifetime sanction of ineligibility and disqualification of competitive results against Lance.
Now this is what I don't understand - Lance decides to NOT challenge this. Like that Paris-Nice race, he quits. "No more fighting", I almost hear. That is very un-Lance like. What happened to the cowboy spirit; the fighter; the survivor? Unless this seemed a mountain too steep to climb. Here are some extracts from the report that was issued by the USADA:
Extract One from the USADA report
Extract Two
The charges now brought against Lance Armstrong et al.
So Lance - we are pissed off at you. More for the hollow victory that you just rolled over and let this happen. At least put up a bloody fight!
But evidently its not about the bike. Its about the dope.
