The Cycliste Moderne, August 26, 2005

Le Dopage

There could only be one topic for this Friday’s Cycliste Moderne. The latest allegations that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs were made this week by French sports daily “L’Equipe.” The paper has long had an adversarial relationship with Armstrong. What is most troubling is Armstrong’s complete inability to rebut the latest allegations.

L’Equipe has reported that urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France have been subjected to the urine test for EPO developed prior to the 2000 Olympics and indicate that twelve tests were positive for EPO. Of those twelve, L’Equipe purports to possess the documentation necessary to identify six as being from Armstrong. L’Equipe has so far not reported who the other six positive tests belonged to nor has L’Equipe identified how it obtained the information linking the tests to specific riders, information that was to be confidential. Additional L’Equipe reports on Thursday indicated that French Police staked out Armstrong’s hotel on two occasions during the last Tour waiting for a man that was believed to be delivering performance enhancing drugs to the team.

The scrutiny that Armstrong has been placed under has been intense. Much more intense than the scrutiny endured by Alex Zulle and Richard Virenque, who were at the center of the 1998 Festina Scandal. What the Festina Scandal proved is that teammates will roll on teammates given enough motivation.

If any rider in the peleton had teammates that would likely not preserve the secrecy of the peleton, it would be Armstrong and his many former teammates. Armstrong’s alienation of his teammates is well documented. Many teammates have left his employ because they tired of his “all for one demands.” Many personal and team employees have left his service as well. He has endured a divorce. With the trail of relationship damage that has followed Armstrong throughout his career, if he were using drugs, there certainly would be those that would have tried to harm him by publicizing their accounts.

A prime example is Cedric Vasseur. Vasseur captured the hearts of the French in 1998 when he got the yellow jersey after a long breakaway and defended it valiantly while racing for the GAN team. Vasseur joined US Postal Service in 2000 on a two year contract. He raced that year’s Tour but was subsequently relegated to the status of a pariah on the team and was left off the 2001 Tour team. Upon leaving US Postal Service, Vasseur joined Cofidis where he has had some modest results. After he left, it became known that Armstrong had paid Vasseur a smaller bonus than the other riders on the team after his 2000 victory. Vasseur was clearly bitter about that and has expressed his resentment over never being able to race for his own results while at US Postal.

Vasseur found himself at the center of the Cofidis doping scandal where he was implicated by a teammate and spent considerable time in police custody before being exonerated. Certainly if there was a rider who knew the inner workings of the team, who had an ax to grind and who would suffer no negative publicity for coming forward with an account of Armstrong’s drug use, then it would be Vasseur. However, for all of Vasseur’s criticism of Armstrong, he has never implicated Armstrong in doping.

Similarly, Jonathon Vaughters has left the sport and is running his own domestic Under 23 development squad in Colorado, TIAA-CREF. Vaughters has been highly critical of doping in the sport and was on that 1999 Tour team when Armstrong won his first Tour. Vaughters had the misfortune of crashing on the Passage du Gois early in the Tour which resulted in a broken jaw and his withdrawal from the race. However, Vaughters has rejected claims of doping at US Postal in 1999.

What is most interesting is the response of those that would be expected to be the most crticial of Armstrong but who have expressed concern over the truthfulness of the L’Equipe story and the sensational nature of it. French sporting officials, WADA testing officials and others have raised their concerns over the validity of the tests and the legality of utilizing a sample that cannot be retested or verified to claim a rider doped. They have also criticized L’Equipe for only naming Armstrong and not the others who purportedly had EPO in their systems.

The problem for Armstrong is proving a negative. To most Americans it does not matter. These latest allegations will have no effect on the perception that Americans have of Armstrong. The average American’s interest with the Tour de France ended when Armstrong rode up the Champs-Elysees for the last time in July. To most Americans, Armstrong is that guy that beat the French up at their sport, dates a rock star and sold them their yellow Livestrong band.

For me it has been incredible watching Armstrong over the last seven Tours de France. To a certain extent his teams have been a lot like the New England Patriots. Armstrong’s teams certainly have not had the best individual talent, but they have been far and away the best team and had the best tactical direction. Each year Armstrong’s preparation has been the same and his strategy has been the same. His team has been much more cohesive than the others. Most years he has been significantly better than his opponents. No one has been able to challenge him. Most importantly he won five consecutive Tours after regular urine tests for EPO were introduced in 2000.

The allegations of doping have haunted him since he won his first Tour de France in 1999. He has been hounded by the media, investigated by French magistrates, and accused by fans. At the end of the day, however, the European media cannot deny that Armstrong won seven Tours by working harder and working smarter than his opponents. Drugs alone could not produce the consistent dominating performances that he has demonstrated.

Lance Armstrong has been an example of courage and hard work. However, that does not mean I want my kids to grow up and be like him, even if he never took drugs.