Lance Armstrong and Doping in Cycling

Seems like we can’t really avoid this topic.  First there was USADA’s witch hunt, in which they seemed hell bent on bringing down the greatest American cyclist of all time.  And now the UCI has officially stripped Lance of all 7 of his Tour de France victories, has stricken him from the record books, and banned him for life.  Quite a fall for a man who has been an inspiration to millions for how he tirelessly worked to beat cancer and win the Tour de France a record 7 times in a row.  So, what are we supposed to make of all of this?

First, Lance has still never failed a drug test, as far as I know.  He’s been tested hundreds of times throughout his career, and not once has he come up positive and banned because of it.  They’ve had years and years to get him on a test…they show up at all times of day or night, unannounced, to test him…and yet, somehow, he’s remained clean.  So there’s that.  Thus, its become a he said, she said between Lance and his accusers.  Many of his accusers are less than reputable characters…Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton the chief among them…but others are more believable, especially George Hincapie.  These accusations paint a picture of a widespread doping scheme set up by Lance and his teammates throughout his Tour de France run.  One or two guys saying something can be washed away as sour grapes…but 12, 14 people all saying the same thing?  Well, as the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

I think the most damning of witnesses has to be Hincapie, a good friend of Armstrong’s, and widely regarded as a good guy.  What he says on the matter clearly holds some weight.  Among everyone who has testified on the matter, I believe Hincapie has the least reason to lie and throw Lance under the bus.  Thus, I’ll give special weight to his testimony in the matter.

Hincapie testified that it all started in 1995, when he recalled coming home with Armstrong from Milan-San Remo.  He said Armstrong was "very upset" that he was getting beat by others suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs.  "As we drove home Lance said, in substance, that, 'This is bull…people are using stuff,' and 'We are getting killed.'  He said that he did not want to get crushed anymore, and something needed to be done. I understood that he meant the team needed to get on EPO."  At a race in Spain in 2000, Hincapie said Armstrong told him he was "feeling good" and had just taken some "oil," meaning testosterone.  Hincapie also testified that when he heard that drug-testing officials were at the hotel, "I texted Lance to warn him to avoid the place. As a result, Lance dropped out of the race."

This all makes a lot of sense.  If you look at the list of past Tour de France finishes, you’ll see a pattern.

1998:  1^st (Marco Pantani) and 2^nd (Jan Ullrich) have been implicated in doping schemes and banned. 

1999:  1^st (Lance Armstrong), 2^nd (Alex Zulle), 4^th (Laurent Dufaux), 6^th (Abraham Olano), and 8^th (Richard Virenque) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  3^rd (Fernando Escartin) and 5^th (Angel Casero) have been implicated in doping schemes, although not sanctioned. 

2000:  1^st (Armstrong), 2^nd (Ullrich), 4^th (Christophe Moreau), 5^th (Roberto Heras), 6^th (Virenque), and 9^th (Francisco Mancebo) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  3^rd (Joseba Beloki), 7^th (Santiago Botero), and 8^th (Escartin) have all been implicated, although not sanctioned. 

2001:  1^st (Armstrong), 2^nd (Ullrich), 5^th (Igor Gonzalez), and 7^th (Oscar Sevilla) have all been suspended or banned for doping.  3^rd (Beloki), 8^th (Botero), 9^th (Marcos Antonio Serrano), and 10^th (Michael Boogerd) have all been implicated. 

2002:  1^st (Armstrong), 3^rd (Raimondas Rumsas), 5^th (Gonzalez), 7^th (Mancebo), 8^th (Levi Leipheimer), and 9^th (Heras) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  2^nd (Beloki) and 4^th (Botero) have been implicated. 

2003:  1^st (Armstrong), 2^nd (Ullrich), 3^rd (Alexandre Vinokourov), 4^th (Tyler Hamilton), 6^th (Iban Mayo), 7^th (Ivan Basso), 8^th (Moreau), and 10^th (Mancebo) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.

2004: 1^st (Armstrong), 3^rd (Basso), 4^th (Ullrich), 6^th (Mancebo), and 9^th (Leipheimer) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  2^nd (Andreas Kloden), 7^th (Georg Totschnig), and 10^th (Oscar Pereiro) have been implicated. 

2005:  1^st (Armstrong), 2^nd (Basso), 3^rd (Ullrich), 4^th (Mancebo), 5^th (Vinokourov), 6^th(Leipheimer), 7^th (Michael Rasmussen), 9^th (Floyd Landis), 11^th (Moreau) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  10^th (Pereiro) was implicated.  8^th (Cadel Evans) was coached by a known and now banned doping coach…although never implicated or listed anywhere). 

2006:  1^st (Landis) and 8^th (Moreau) have been suspended for doping.  2^nd (Periero), 3^rd (Kloden), 6^th (Denis Menchov), and 10^th (Michael Rogers) have all been implicated.  Cadel Evens was 5^th. 

2007:  1^st (Alberto Contador), 3^rd (Leipheimer), 6^th (Alejandro Valverde) and 9^th (Mikel Astarloza) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  Cadel Evens finished 2^nd.

2008:  3^rd (Bernhard Kohl), 5^th (Christian Vande Velde), 6^th (Frank Schleck), 9^th (Valverde), and 10^th (Tadej Valjavec) have all been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  4^th (Menchov) was implicated.  Cadel Evans finished 2^nd. 

2009:  1^st (Contador), 3^rd (Armstrong), 5^th (Schleck), and 8^th (Vande Velde) all have been sanctioned, suspended, or banned for doping.  6^th (Kloden) has been implicated. 

I’ll stop there, but as you can see, doping seems to have been pretty wide spread throughout this era of cycling.  So, for Lance and his teammates to do what they did…at least to me, its understandable.  Doesn’t make it right, but I’m not about to sit here on my high horse and pass judgment on them, being as I’ve never competed at the highest level of anything, and thus have never had such temptations thrown my way.  Who’s to say I wouldn’t have done the same thing to keep pace with everyone else.

That said, you can’t let him off the hook for this.  If he truly was doping, and I believe he was, then he should face the consequences.  Just like everyone else should.  Equally.  I believe Lance is taking the brunt of all of this because he is the biggest name in the sport.  Success, for some reason, is villified these days.  Those at the top are constantly targeted and torn down, like we take some sort of glee in seeing those who have things better than us chopped down.  This was apparent in the USADA's entire case, who's motive was questioned by the US Courts, and also in the UCI's statement when accepting USADA's findings and stripping Lance of his titles.  This quote from the ICU’s president sickens me:

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling, and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," said Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union. "This is a landmark day for cycling."

Does he forget that the only reason anyone is even listening to what he has to say right now is because of Lance Armstrong?  Without Lance, cycling is still a niche European sport.  Lance brought in American sponsors, American television dollars, American fans, and worldwide attention.  For whatever else he is, Armstrong built up cycling into something worth following and caring about.  That definitely isn’t worth forgetting.

Also, its completely irresponsible to forget about the other side of Armstrong as well.  If ICU really wants to clean up cycling, and rid it of doping, it needs to NOT forget about Lance Armstrong.  It needs to focus on him…show everyone that even the greatest of icons a sport has to offer is not above the rule of sport, above fair play.  Thank Lance for his service, for what he’s brought the sport, but then move on…and use this as a jumping off point for the next era of cycling, one that is hopefully clean.  To throw out venomous statements about how Lance deserves to be forgotten is short-sighted and indicative of the problem.  Don’t turn a blind eye to the issue anymore, and don’t forget about the past.  Learn from the past, use it to make your sport stronger, and move on.

For another perspective on this, I went to my dad, the biggest cycling fan I know, for his thoughts on this situation.  He threw in the following two cents: 

“I still love Lance, and what he did for cycling. If they were almost all "cheaters," and evidence is that they were, then he was still the best of them all. You can take him out if the book, but you can't take away the fact. 

And why is it he never got caught, never failed a test, and he gets the most severe sanction ever, while others who were caught get a couple year suspension? Maybe if cycling had its act together 15-20 years ago and nipped this in the bud, no one would have been in a situation where the only way to win is to do what everyone else was doing. You can (rightfully) say "Lance cheated," but I blame the sport for it. The sport set the environment that made it essentially impossible to do otherwise and succeed. That's why they want to close the book and forget - they know it is, in the end, their fault.”

Pretty much have to agree here.  And it’s a good point about Lance, who’s never failed a drug test, not just being targeted with unseen fervor, but getting the most severe sanctions ever!  Its absurd.  Why the cycling community hates him so much, a man who’s done so much for cancer research and the sport of cycling itself, is baffling.  

On that note, I want to finish with one last quote from George Hincapie about Lance Armstrong:

"I have witnessed many important things that Lance has done for his fellow man through battling cancer and being a role model for many.  My testimony is not intended to take away from or diminish those things."

Lance is going to get battered by the media, by the common man, by everyone.  He’s lost all his endorsements.  And like a true pack of wolves, people are going to try and take advantage of the situation with civil lawsuits and the like.  This is ridiculous.  Whatever Lance did, he did it in the confines of a sport in an era in which was far from alone in this.  The fact still remains that, in an era in which everyone was doping, he was still the best.  Compare it to Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire…they were the best of an era in which, by most accounts, over 50% of all ballplayers were using some sort of PED.  And the percentage is much higher, it seems, in cycling.  And Lance was famous for his work he did for cancer…the millions of dollars he’s raised, and the countless people he’s inspired with his story, and more importantly with his actions away from the races.  And, to those who may forget, is the main reason the Tour de France actually means anything in the USA, actually pulls in American advertising dollars, and why anyone actually gives a shit about cycling at all.  With the good comes the bad. It is irresponsible to only focus on one or the other.

Lance Armstrong may be a cheater and a liar…but he is also one of the most important figures in cycling history, and more importantly, one of the most important figures in promoting the search for a cure for cancer.  And no sanctioning body can ever take that away from him.