Originally Posted by skinjob
oh i am FUMING!! i feel a post cycle rant steaming in.
I posted on this subject before. Anyone who has a clue about how utterly gruelling cycling is would never make such a glib and populist statement (dirtybrit55)
EPO Armstrong what a load of rubbish. i spend 1 week of every month in france. my father-in-law is a champion french cyclist who now works for campagnolo. my family and i socialise with a lot people in cycling and have been involved in the sport for most of my life. DRUGS are a part of EVERY endurance sport these and have been for days. Are you forgetting how our own Tommy Simpson died of heart failure on Mont Ventoux wired off his tits? That was in the sixties
Dont try to cast aspersions on the French or on Armstrong. Armstrong is one of the most popular foreign winners of the Tour since the Roche era. His struggle against enormous personal dds and his superb acheivements in the Tour championed across Europe. I am sick of hearing snyde anti-french statements that are gleaned from two snotty articles when the vast majority of french people clearly respect the acheivements of this fine sportsman. EVERY pro and ex pro i know in cycling has nothing but admiration for this man. He is loved. The french were rightly elated when Virenque won the Bastille Day stage on top of the mountain at St Claire. This never took anything away from their admiration for Armstrong who is a true master of all the main disciplines (he won SIX stages which is a lot for a present day winner eg. look at Indurains record)
Note the doping/armstrong nonsense surfaced BEFORE the tour in A BOOK ABOUT ARMSTRONG.
2. US POSTAL team sought legal action against the publisher seeking to have a note placed in everY inner cover of the book stating that Armstrong had never taken drugs despite testing positive (all cyclists test + from time to time for all sorts of stuff).
The US Postal team were unable to prove that Armstrong uses or has used drugs. Two cycling papers - Le Equipe and another one (i forget which) ran stories about the CONTROVERSY not the actual matter of did he or did he not.
Jean Marie Leblanc, the directeur sportif of the tour was aware of the book and said it had no bearing on Armstrongs admission into the tour. IF Armstrong was hated by the French he would never have made it into the Tour as the Tour is HEAVILY politicised.
On L'Alpe D'Huez" Leblanc denounced some moroccan spectators who were harassing the peleton "There were lots of aggressive fans surrounding the riders and I even saw two idiots spit at Lance Armstrong." Needless to say they were dealt with accordingly!
2. Also prior to the tour David Millar, a Scottish cyclist who is hte UKs Number 1 cyclist has been held up in the UK as a tour stage contender tested + and he along with his Cofidis team were excluded from ENTRY into the Tour. The french love the Scot but it aint the point!
from the Guardian: "As reigning individual world time-trial champion and a three-times stage winner in the Tour de France, Millar has become cycling's most high-profile casualty of a police drugs investigation since the Festina scandal of 1998. He is also the first Briton to fall from grace in the current wave of investigations within cycling."
Not a single paper in the UK suggested that the french were out to get him (they were not!) - its simply that he took gear, tested + and got CAUGHT VERY PUBLICLY!
ROCHE,HINAULT,FIGNON,LEMOND,DELGADO,INDURAIN,KELLY THE LIST GOES ON. THEY ALL TESTED + MANY TIMES.
BUT
NO AMOUNT OF DRUGS WILL TURN THE WHEELS BY THEMSELVES!!!! EVERY TEAM HAS ITS OWN PEOPLE. ARMSTRONG IS A TRUE CHAMPION AND THAT IS WHAT CYCLISTS AND THE FRENCH THINK OF HIM. SO DO I!!!
why bother ranting? well i love the sport of cycling and i love armstrong! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
