Thursday August 23rd 2012 will be noted on a lot of calendars for years to come. Some will call it the coming out party of Lance Armstrong, others will mourn the loss of a hero.
I spent the evening and following morning trying to get a handle on what was actually happening and now more than 24 hours later I’m still not sure what landed and exploded in the middle of the sport of cycling. There are certainly lots of opinions about it. From lots of very reliable sources. It just feels like there a real shortage of facts and everyone’s going over the same limited material to try to get something more out of it.
And that includes me.
I was on a BC radio station early in the day commenting about how the USADA hadn’t released facts about their case and that Armstrong hasn’t been stripped of his wins despite the statements USADA has made. That’s still to be decided.
Around noon I was on CTV TV and the opening line was about how Armstrong had been stripped of his TdF titles. I resisted the urge to correct the anchor (my nerves told me to behave) but I did try to make the point again that the facts aren’t on the table yet. There is no asterisk beside his name as of today (although I did suggest that there has always been an asterisk there… the controversy has been there as long as his TdF streak).
I’ve been unhappy with what I’ve read and heard so far so I decided to write my own opinions down and share them. You can find them on PedalMag.com along with a second opinion piece by John Connors. Let me know what you think…
 |
| 2004 Paris |