Re: Tour De France 2007
thedancingbaby wrote:
Thanks
I was also told to back Robbie McEwan for the Green Jersey - dont even know if thats for King of the Mountains or sprints but if it makes me money I wont care - thoughts ??
It’s sprints. He certainly has a great chance, not sure what the odds are or truth be told not really sure who is main rivals would be.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Moreau is 40/1. Kasheckin and him were the two I backed a few weeks back. Moreau will probably struggle over a long tour though and is probably more likely to get a stage or two than feature as a GC contender. Mcewen is 6/4. He has dominated sprinting in tour for the last couple of years. He had a very poor Giro though so could be past his past. Tom Boonen would be seen as his main rival at 3/1.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Interesting comments from Roche below. There is doubt over the Astanta teams participation now which would rule out Vino, Kloden and Kash. As an aside does anyone know how popular ESPN is in America? I am going over to Maui for a month and Le Tour is on ESPN. I am wondering what are my chances of catching the race.
Tour de France - Tour Countdown: Roche hails UCI
Eurosport - Tue, 03 Jul 11:06:00 2007
Former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche has praised the International Cycling Union for its efforts to clean up cycling with the introduction of the UCI charter.
More StoriesTour de France: Q&A
As the riders prepare for the start of the Tour de France in London on Saturday, cycling has been hit by another doping scandal with Joerg Jaksche claiming that doping is widespread among the peloton.
Ironically the the 30-year-old German was one of 56 riders implicated in the Operacion Puerto scandal that broke on the eve of last year’s Tour de France.
The charter has received mixed support from the ProTour teams and riders, though the Irishman insists that dramatic action was needed to restore the sport’s reputation.
“Since the Festina affair in 1998, we’ve been talking about making all kinds of efforts to rid sport, not just cycling, of cheats,” Roche told eurosport.yahoo.com.
"At some stage they had to put their foot down and take dramatic action. The reaction from (UCI chief) Pat McQuaid is dramatic, but at the same time we’ve been caressing people on the back all the time. We’re finding all kinds of excuses for everybody and the sport was going downhill rapidly.
"It’s dramatic, but at the same time we’ve been wasting our breath for the last ten years. It’s time now to go forward otherwise we’re only going to go back.
“It’s my attitude, and unfortunately some riders might think of it as being a hard attitude, but at the same time I think that if you’re clean, you say you’re clean.”
The document has received the support of the T-Mobile, Gerolsteiner, Credit Agricole, Agritubel and Cofidis teams, though the Italian professional cyclists association has opposed it, labelling it “unfair” on riders, and claiming that it discriminates against cyclists in relation to athletes from other sports.
The Spanish teams have also been slow to lend their support to the document, with only three members of the Saunier Duval squad and no members of the Euskaltel squad having yet signed. Roche believes one of the benefits of the document is that it leaves riders who have been involved in underhand practices with nowhere to hide.
“It has been more or less pointed out and justified by results that there are strange things happening in Italy and Spain,” he added.
"Pat McQuaid, as president of the UCI, has written to the different federations saying ‘there is something not right about your athletes. Please do something about it’, and [the reply is] ‘no that’s an exaggeration. No problem down here’.
"McQuaid now has given them the opportunity of showing how clean they really are. And they’re saying ‘well this charter doesn’t appeal to us and it’s not legal’. If they’re clean then why don’t they come out and sign it?
“I think it’s a very good thing that Pat has the chart up on the internet now and that any rider who signs up has their name in there. It means that of the 600 riders who are on the professional list, if there’s only 550 of them there, then the other 50 are obviously hiding something, otherwise they would sign up immediately.”
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has already stated his plans to prevent any riders who refuse to sign the charter from starting the race, and with only five days remaining until the Grand Depart in London, all eyes are likely to be on the sizeable gaps that remain on the list of riders on the UCI’s website.
Michael FitzGerald
Re: Tour De France 2007
I’d pay more attention to what Roche had to say on the issue if he clarified his role in the Dr Ferrari doping scandal in Italy. It’s all very well him pontificating about modern ridings coming clean but frankly it smacks of hypocrisy.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Vinokourov defends Ferrari link
Tour de France favourite Alexander Vinokourov insists he has nothing to hide about his relationship with trainer Dr Michele Ferrari.
Vinokourov has been training with the Italian, who has been linked with drugs allegations but had a suspended prison sentence reversed.
“Ferrari has never offered me any medicine. He is only in charge of my physical preparation,” the Kazakh said.
“I know the way he works and I know I have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Vinokourov is considered one of the leading lights for this year’s race, which starts with the opening time trial in London on Saturday.
His best finish in Le Tour was third overall in 2003 but several leading names from the last few years, including last year’s winner Floyd Landis, are absent because of drug allegations.
Vinokourov, who also came fifth in 2005, was one of last year’s favourites but Astana had to withdraw after several of the team were implicated in the Operation Puerto doping scandal.
“Vino”, who two months later won the Tour of Spain, was not involved himself but was left without enough team-mates to compete.
Ferrari has worked in the past with seven-times Tour winner Lance Armstrong - who defended the relationship in similar fashion - and Vinokourov’s manager Tony Rominger.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Big debate: is it possible to stop doping in the Tour de France?
Luuc Eisenga and Pierre Ballester argue over the issue of whether it is possible to stop doping in cycling’s annual showpiece.
The Guardian
July 4, 2007 12:45 AM
Yes - Luuc Eisenga, Technical director for T-Mobile team
You can never be 100% sure that every rider will be drug-free. We already have heavy penalties for people who do cheat but, for example, there are countries where the death penalty is in force yet terrible crimes are still committed. But in an ideal world it will be possible to eradicate doping. And if we did not believe that was so we would walk away from the sport. That is why T-Mobile is calling for a better control system and for riders, teams and organisers to take on the responsibility of taking steps to create a new world in cycling. We genuinely believe that we can succeed.
There is evidently a doping problem or else we would not need to change anything. In the past year alone we have seen fallout from allegations surrounding the Operacin Puerto investigation in Spain and the positive drugs test by last year’s champion, Floyd Landis, and more admissions of doping.
We need to restore credibility to the sport. That is is one of the most important considerations in terms of sponsorship and marketing. We cannot fool around with the audience. We have a responsibility to the riders who want to compete in a clean and fair way, to organisers and journalists, and especially to the general public who deserve to be able to trust in the credibility of the competition.
That is not to say it is not a painful process at times. T-Mobile has restructured its management team; the former Tour winner Jan Ullrich, Oscar Sevilla and a team manager, Rudi Pevenage have been removed over alleged links to Operacin Puerto; two doctors no longer work for the team; the Ukrainian rider Serhiy Honchar was released before this year’s Tour after blood tests showed abnormalities; and several former riders confessed to doping. But it is a process that I would refer to as consolidation - one that will take place throughout cycling. Some teams will not be around in three or four years because they have to make a choice of which direction to go in. Not everyone will make the same choice as T-Mobile. There is a situation within cycling that is not right and everyone involved in the sport needs to understand that has to be resolved.
T-Mobile have a zero tolerance policy on drugs. Before a rider can be under contract he undergoes a thorough vetting process. We assess performance levels and analyse blood samples to ensure he wants to race on our terms, and Bob Stapleton, our general manager, will also have conversations with riders that leave them in no doubt over our ethical stance. If riders choose not to be part of our team we have no problem at all. We don’t want riders to come to our team for the wrong reason.
Once under contract, we give riders every tool for success, excellent training facilities and coaching, and ensure they have the right people around them so they have no reason to go down another route. In terms of drug testing we have a team of experts come in to carry out the tests rather than do them in-house. People can see the process is transparent.
It is possible to argue that every other professional cycling team needs to adopt a similar policy to ourselves to bring about a drug-free environment but that is part of the process of change. We should never be led in the wrong direction because others may be cheating. I would rather come second in a fair way than win unfairly.
No - Pierre Ballester, Journalist and co-author of L.A. Confidentiel: les secrets de Lance Armstrong
There is a big change sweeping cycling at the moment, with Christian Prudhomme , the director of the Tour de France, taking responsibility for eliminating drugs from the sport, the first time that somebody has taken such a stand against doping. But I am still quite pessimistic because the problem is inherent in cycling. It got into these bad habits a long time ago. I think the stance by Prudhomme has come too late. I want the best for his efforts but, having spoken to him, he knows how difficult his task will be.
In France there has been an acute awareness of doping since the Festina affair 10 years ago. In the beginning the many confessions came only from French riders. When the French then complained that they were the only ones taking the fight against doping seriously, people said they were jealous because they were not good enough to win races. Since then the extent of doping has become clear as guys from Spain, Germany and Italy have admitted to it. Despite that, however, doping remains a taboo subject and it is still difficult for riders to come forward.
And the real question is whether anyone in the sport really wants it to be free from drugs. In whose interests is it? The sponsors? Do they care or are they interested only in winners and having their brand associated with the Tour? Most team directors and riders simply want to be left in peace to do their jobs.
And the public? The public in France are certainly aware of the problem but their opinion is that the show must go on.
We also have former professional tour riders who doped who are now in positions of legitimacy where they are responsible for condemning riders for doing so. And there is an ambiguity over the role of team doctors. They are responsible for looking after the welfare of riders but also prepare them to win events such as the Tour de France. These should be distinctive functions.
Up to the end of the 1980s, doping focused on testosterone and amphetamines but since the mid-80s it has been about blood doping, erythropoietin and its substitutes. This works in a different way so whereas before it was easy to spot the questionable performances, the one stand-out guy who then disappeared, since then many ordinary guys have become very good.
And the science of doping is increasingly sophisticated. The race between doctors and those who try to prevent doping will last forever. Every professional sport has a doping problem at a high level because money is involved. Everyone is human and if they can cheat and lie to win then it will happen.
The conclusion from this is terrifying: we cannot get rid of it. Doping is the cancer of our sport . It has been like an exorcism recently with people pushed to admit involvement. There have been so many recent allegations and confessions surrounding Cofidis, the 1996 champion Bjarne Riis, Ivan Basso - it seems as if the sport is surrounded by doping. Now riders are being asked to sign an ethical document condemning doping in order to take part in the Tour but that fails to acknowledge the mentality of a professional cyclist. However, the document also requires them to undertake that they will surrender a year’s salary for anti-doping violations, and money is the reason for doping, so hitting the wallet is an astute move.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Posted that before I’d read it but it’s a fair enough debate.
Obviously it’s nearly impossible to eradicate doping in any sport and cycling is no different.
However from a culture of acceptance cycling is certainly changing and for the better. Ballester says that the sponsors don’t care about doping which is ridiculous:
Sponsors don’t like seeing their names tarnished. What I do agree with him on though is the fact that so many riders who were part of the doping culture are now involved in the media and in the administration of the sport. Some like Riis confess to their past (despite little pressure for him to do so) and that can only be healthy.
Others refuse to admit that they did wrong so how can they help clean the sport now? In particular our Irish heroes might look at their own involvement.
Re: Tour De France 2007
therock67 wrote:
Posted that before I’d read it but it’s a fair enough debate.
Obviously it’s nearly impossible to eradicate doping in any sport and cycling is no different.
However from a culture of acceptance cycling is certainly changing and for the better. Ballester says that the sponsors don’t care about doping which is ridiculous:
Sponsors don’t like seeing their names tarnished. What I do agree with him on though is the fact that so many riders who were part of the doping culture are now involved in the media and in the administration of the sport. Some like Riis confess to their past (despite little pressure for him to do so) and that can only be healthy.
Others refuse to admit that they did wrong so how can they help clean the sport now? In particular our Irish heroes might look at their own involvement.
Agree totally on sponsors concerns about doping. It is very bad for them to have their name tarnished. As you say Discovery are leaving and T Mobile were considering pulling out but have now got a zero tolerance sort of attitude to doping. The fear I have for cycling is that people won’t have patience with the efforts to clean up the sport. Because of better controls, more testing and a different attitude to doping within the sport more and more scandals are likely to emerge. This in turn will lead to media outcry that cycling is a drug ridden sport that has no value. In some ways the efforts to clean the sport up might lead to its downfall. Lets hope not.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Piper - can you post the Greg Le Mond interview from the Sunday Times last week. I think it’s at this link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/tour_de_france/article2010066.ece but I can’t see it in work so can’t be certain.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Here you go. PiperSnr told me it was a good read. Look forward to reading it later.
Paul Kimmage
Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford): I could have been better. I could have broken every record in the book.
Iris Gaines (Glenn Close): And then?
Roy Hobbs: And then? And then when I walked down the street people wouldve looked and they wouldve said, There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game. The Natural
It is a hot Monday afternoon in July 1986 and I am sitting in a white van with my friend Andre Chappuis, driving south to the Alpine city of Grenoble, France. We have spent the night in Paris, celebrating the end of the Tour de France. The smiling face of the winner, Greg LeMond, adorns the front page of LEquipe, the French sports newspaper.
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What does it say about us? Andre asks with a grin.
Its a scandal, I reply. Theyve written four pages on LeMond and ignored us completely . . . No, Im wrong: were listed in the results: Chappuis, 118th, at 2hr 17min 19sec [behind LeMond]; Kimmage, 131st, at 2hr 44min 36sec.
Our place in history, Andre says with a smile. Dont knock it.
Sure, but Id rather be Greg LeMond right now, I say. Can you imagine how good that must feel? To win the Tour de France! To be the first American to do it! Imagine the fame, the glory, the money hes going to make. They say hes flying back to the US for a reception with Reagan at the White House this week.
Well, I can tell you what he wont be doing, Andre says, and thats sweating his bollocks off in a van with no air-conditioning for the next six hours.
Too right. I laugh. Have you ever spoken to him? No, I reply. Me neither, but he always comes across as a pretty decent guy. And de Dieu! What a bike rider!
Yeah. In my next life I want to come back as LeMond, I observe. I want to be born in California with legs like Eddie Merckx and looks like Robert Redford.
Yes, Andre says, some guys get it all. But what did we know? What do we ever know?
GREG LEMOND is sitting in the kitchen of his splendid home in Medina, Minnesota. An interview that started with a question about his memories of the last time the Tour visited Britain in 1994, which turned out to be his final race as a professional has entered its fourth hour. We have been weaving our way gently through the peaks and valleys of life: his debut as a young professional in 1981; his first world title in 1983; his first Tour win and titanic battle with the great Frenchman Bernard Hinault in 1986; the hunting accident that almost killed him in 1987; his incredible return after two years in the doldrums to the Tour in 1989; his third and final triumph in the race a year later.
Still on the agenda are the sports doping problem, some dubious mutual acquaintances and his much-publicised spats with his countrymen Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong. He is starting to tire (perhaps the first time in his life he has struggled to keep pace with me) and apologises again for the tendency to wander, which has afflicted him since childhood. Im sorry, he says. What was the question again?
It was an observation about your life, I say. Does it feel extraordinary to you? Do you feel like you have led an extraordinary life?
I feel very fortunate in many ways, he replies, but if you knew my whole story, it has been a heartache too . . .
He pauses and his eyes suddenly well with tears. His wife Kathy, who has been sitting at his side for the duration of the interview, places a comforting hand on his arm. He tries to compose himself and resumes, his voice breaking.
It appears extraordinary, you know . . . It appeared that everything was always perfect in my life, but its been far from perfect. I am fortunate where I am today and I am fortunate that I have been able to look at myself in the mirror and address the stuff that I was never able to address . . . But I can tell you, compared to what Ive been through in the past three or four years, the Tour de France is easy.
Youll have to explain that, I say. Well, what I mean is the whole . . . Its very narcissistic. Racing is a very selfish, self-centred, self-glorifying thing. My wifes life for 14 years was centred around me. It was all about me. It was all for my ego . . . I read somewhere recently that [the former Italian rider Claudio] Chiappucci lived with his mom until he was 30 and I thought, God! When are we going to grow up? Okay, so you can look at what we did and say, Well, thats what it takes to be successful, but is it healthy? Is it really healthy?
There are a lot of unhealthy people that are driven to sports and they are driven by their own demons, their own past. You see it in business too; Ive known some very successful, wealthy people and they are the most unhappy people you will ever meet. They cant ever get enough money. They cant ever get enough glory. They cant ever fill the hole.
There was a part of me with a hole that I could never fill and it almost destroyed me, but I have been able to work through a lot of those difficulties and it feels so empowering now that nobody can hold anything over me. I dont give a shit what people say, because it really doesnt matter. My life is about my wife, my kids and the few friends that I have.
He smiles at Kathy and pulls the ring on a can of Dr Pepper.
What was the hole? I ask. IT IS A warm Monday morning in July 1989 and Greg LeMond is staring at the bedroom ceiling of a plush hotel in Paris on the morning after his second triumph in the Tour de France. The night has been short. He has not slept well. He never sleeps well. The elation he felt on the Champs-Elysees has abated. He is wondering about the hole. Will this second Tour victory fulfil him? It didnt in 1986.
He glances at the phone. When is he going to call? The shadow has not lifted.
The hours have been hectic since they applauded him on the podium: so many hands to shake and commitments to fulfil; so many cameras and microphones stretching to record his words. He will be front-page news around the globe this morning; the nuts and bolts of LeMond explained in the four corners of Le Monde.
The story of how the boy from Lakewood, California, swaps his passion of skiing for cycling and is immediately acclaimed as a natural. The story of his parents, Bob and Bertha, and his two sporting sisters and the genes bestowed on them. The story of his first trip to Europe in 1978 and the wonder that envelopes him when he sees the Tour de France. The story of the objectives he lists that summer on a yellow pad:
Place well for experience in the 1978 junior world championships. (He finishes ninth.)
Win the 1979 junior world championships. (He wins.)
Win the 1980 Olympic road race in Moscow. (America boycotts the Games.)
Win the world professional championships by the age of 22 or 23. (He finishes second in 1982, when he is 21, and wins in 1983.)
Win a first Tour de France by the age of 24 or 25. (He finishes second in 1985, at 24, and wins in 1986.)
The story of the hunting accident in 1987 when he comes within 20 minutes of bleeding to death after being shot by his brother-in-law. The story of the 37 lead pellets that remain in his body, two in the lining of his heart. The story of his emergency appendectomy a few months later.
The story of his return to racing in 1988, when he struggles among the also-rans and is sidelined from the Tour with injury. The story his return to form in 1989 when he wins the Tour by eight seconds with a brilliant performance in the final stage of the race, a time trial through the streets of Paris. The story of a champion. The story of what happens now and where he races next. The story of Greg LeMond. But not the story. There will be no mention of the secret that continues to haunt his life.
GREGORY JAMES LEMOND is 13 years old. His father is a real-estate broker. His mother is a mom. Home is a house shared with his sisters, Kathy and Karen, in Washoe Valley, Nevada. It is ranch country and the boy enjoys the outdoor life; flyfishing for brook trout in the stream behind their home; hunting and trapshooting and backpacking in summer; downhill skiing in winter. He is Gregory James LeMond, wholesome as apple pie. What would it take to blow a hole in this boys life?
Meet Ron from Lake Tahoe. Ron has been a friend of the family since 1969. They go hunting and fishing and skiing together. Ron is a stand-up guy, and when Bob and Berthas marriage begins to creak, Ron is there to fill the void. He is plying Greg with attention and preparing him for manhood. He is manipulating his mind with books and magazines and sexual talk that the boy finds strangely stimulating. And then . . .
LeMond is not sure how long he was subjected to the abuse it might have been three months or a year and three months but remembers that it ended in April or May of 1975. His parents had stopped arguing and were getting on well again. He thinks they must have noticed the change in his behaviour, but the abuse was never discussed. A few months later, at a ski camp near Vancouver, Canada, he was informed that cycling was an ideal complement to skiing in the off-season.
He earned $130 cutting logs, bought a Raleigh Grand Prix and took it for a ride. A few days later, his father went to the bike shop and they were soon training regularly together and travelling as a family to races. It was the door to a new life.
Cycling was a way for me to reinvent myself, he says. It was the first time I really had my dad in my life. It united my parents, united my family, and I think thats what really drove me. It felt so good to feel good about yourself and do something that my parents were proud of.
He started making lists and ticking off his targets. He dreamt every night about the worlds great racers and the cols (mountain passes) of the Tour de France. His life unfolded like a wondrous fairy tale. By the age of 25 he had it all: a great wife, a beautiful son, the rainbow jersey of world champion, le maillot jaune of the Tour de France champion. But the shadow of Ron never left him.
I wanted to be seen as a good person, LeMond says, and never wanted to let people down, but I found it hard to handle the fame or adulation. I didnt feel worthy of it. I was ashamed by who I thought I was because I felt partly responsible [for the abuse] and I was never able to enjoy the stuff I should have been able to enjoy. My first thought when I won the Tour was: My God, Im going to be famous, and then I thought, Hes going to call. I was always waiting for that phone call. I lived in fear that anyone would ever find out.
And finally they did. Six weeks ago he was driving with Kathy to a hotel in Malibu, California, on the eve of his appearance as a witness for the US AntiDoping Agency at an arbitration hearing into alleged doping by Landis, last years Tour winner, when his phone rang; odd accent, southern twang.
Hello. Greg? Yeah, this is Greg. Hi Greg, this is your uncle. My uncle?!? he exclaimed, confused. This is your uncle. Do you remember me?
Who is this? This is your uncle and Im going to be there tomorrow and we can talk about how we used to play hide the weenie.
Who the f*** is this? The line went dead. LeMond exploded with rage.
He couldnt stop shaking, Kathy recalls. I didnt think he would be able to testify. Our lawyer sat up in the lobby with me until one in the morning; Greg was so shook up, he could not fill out the police report. I was worried about him.
The next day LeMond showed the court his phone and the number of the person who had called him. It belonged to Will Geoghegan, Landiss friend and business manager. He was sacked on the spot.
LeMond was front-page news again.
THE MONTH is July 2001. Seven seasons have passed since LeMonds last bike race and he is about to be replaced as Americas pre-eminent cyclist by Lance Armstrong. LeMond has never been close to the Texan and he finds himself at the centre of a storm when he is informed by a journalist that Armstrong has been working with Michele Ferrari, an Italian sports doctor who was about to stand trial on doping charges. Ferrari was eventually cleared last year.
The only thing I said about Lance was that I was disappointed he was seeing Ferrari, LeMond explains. I mean, who wouldnt be? Were talking about a sport that had been brought to its knees [by the Festina doping scandal three years earlier]. Why would you associate with someone like that if you wanted to portray an image that the sport was trying to change?
Two weeks later Armstrong phoned him and an angry spat ensued.
Greg, this is Lance. Hi, Lance, what are you doing? Im in New York. Ah, okay. Greg, I thought we were friends. I thought we were friends. Why did you say what you said? About Ferrari? Well, I have a problem with Ferrari. Im disappointed you are seeing someone like Ferrari. I have a personal issue with Ferrari and doctors like him. I feel my career was cut short. I saw a teammate die. I saw the devastation of innocent riders losing their careers. I dont like what has become of our sport.
The fallout was massive. Fans who had once venerated LeMond wrote angry blogs accusing him of sour grapes. A couple of prominent businessmen he regarded as friends phoned and advised him to stay on-side. And then he received a call from John Burke, the chief executive of Trek, the company with a licensing agreement with LeMond to manufacture, market and distribute LeMond Racing Cycles.
Burke was in a difficult position. Trek also sponsored Armstrong and his US Postal team. Criticism of the great cancer survivor was not good for business. LeMond was reminded of the clause in his contract with the company that invalidated the contract if he damaged Treks interests. Armstrongs people were insisting on an apology. LeMond tried to resist, but eventually caved in. In August 2001 an apology to Armstrong was issued. LeMond read it and wept.
The two years that followed were the worst of his life. Ron was still lurking on his shoulder. He still hadnt told Kathy or anyone about the abuse and he began smoking and drinking and became severely depressed. I got so drunk one night where I wanted to tell my wife, because I knew that if I didnt, something was going to happen, he says. I couldnt do it. I said, Ill tell you on my death bed. I just ran.
I left home and ran from my family. I felt I needed to lose everything: my wife, my kids, my house, every cent I had. I thought that if I put myself in the gutter, I would find myself. I did some stuff against my wife I wasnt proud of. Kathy knew instantly what was going on. My wife is an angel; Ive always felt that I didnt deserve her, but it was only when I felt I might lose her that I came home and broke down and told her everything.
She begged me to see a therapist. I read a couple of books by Alice Miller The Drama Of The Gifted Child and The Truth Will Set You Free and cried the whole way though them. It was me. I went through a period where I needed to coast and get stronger, and the last four years has been the proudest period of my life. Im holding people accountable now. Ive hired an investigator to find the guy who abused me, to get him on a [paedophile] list. Nobody is going to take advantage of me. Im not taking shit from anybody.
THE CONVERSATION has returned to the Tour de France in 1994, the last time the race visited Britain and his last race as a professional.
The end is rarely easy for any professional sportsman and he left Europe and returned to the US with few fond memories of his last three seasons. There was talk of a new drug, EPO, fuelling the peloton and LeMond could no longer compete.
I went to Europe with a dream, he says, and I know there was doping in the 80s and Im certain a lot of riders were doing stuff and that cortisone was a drug of choice, but I was always able to perform and win races against those guys. At 19 years old I finished third in the Dauphine [Frances second-biggest stage race]; at 20 I won the Tour de LAvenir by 10 minutes and finished second in the worlds [championships]. I was fortunate I was successful right away and didnt get drawn into that.
By 1993 I was just so fatigued and I dont know if it was because everybody was on EPO, I really dont, but I was checked out for every possible problem there could be health-wise. I went to see a sports doctor and he said, Greg, there is nothing wrong with you; if you want to race well, you go to [Dr X], you need to contact him, because if youre not on EPO, you dont have a chance.
And did you? I ask. No. You never considered it? I had already won three Tours and I dont know if this is on the record but I dont think I could have survived a positive drug test. Im talking psychologically. Why do you not want that on the record? I ask.
Because it has to do with my sexual abuse.
I think you can put that on the record, says Kathy. Everybody knows what happened.
Her husbands eyes well with tears. I know, he counters, but its something I wasnt prepared to come out with until I was forced to, until that phone call [from Geoghegan] . . . Ive dealt with a lot of therapy on this and . . .
He pauses to compose himself. Weve done a lot of talking about this, Kathy says. Why wouldnt Greg have gone to [Dr X]? Why not? I think Greg was carrying such a load of shame that, like he said, he couldnt have survived a positive drug test, he probably couldnt. He had to have something to hold on to that was pure and good about himself, and cycling was that.
I wasnt prepared for what happened with the Floyd Landis thing, LeMond continues. I met his family last year at the Tour of Georgia and they seemed such a nice family. I even suspended belief when he won that stage [in last years Tour, Landis mounted a spectacular breakaway in a stage to Morzine the day after he had lost eight minutes to his nearest rivals]; I thought there was a chance that this could be a cleaner Tour. But then he tests positive and I instantly get about 20 calls from journalists, and having a muzzle is no fun, so I tell them what I think.
And then you get a call from Floyd? I thought it was a prank call at first. I kept saying, Come on, who is this? It took me about five minutes before I realised it was him. So he says, Im trying to find out where youre coming from. I said, What do you mean? He said, Why are you speaking out like this? I said, I hate to say this, Floyd, but youve got an A and a B positive [riders urine samples are tested a second time if a positive outcome is returned in the first test] for synthetic testosterone; I dont think youre going to get out of this.
So Im telling him, Dont do what Tyler Hamilton did [the American cyclist was caught doping and banned from the sport, but has always denied using drugs], because you might get away with it, but if you have any conscience, its going to kill you in the end. If you can come clean, you could be the one person that saves the sport. The sport is already dying, but you could change it. But if you dont, you are going to be known as the Ben Johnson of cycling the first Tour de France winner that has ever been stripped of the title, and I dont know, but I couldnt survive that. And that was when I went into my story and the secret that nearly destroyed me.
It was a pretty frank admission, I suggest.
Because Floyd wasnt angry, he says. He was like a deer in the headlights. I think he was really calling to ask, What should I do? This was a phone call looking for guidance. He will deny that now, but I can tell you, its true.
I told him my story. I said, Im telling it to you because by keeping it a secret it nearly killed me. He said, Greg, if I come clean, I would destroy all of my friends and hurt so many people. I said, Floyd, Im 15 years older than you. Do you think your friends in cycling are your friends? Theyre just acquaintances. You think your whole life is cycling, but its just a small part of it. There is so much more beyond that.
And thats how we finished the deal. He asked me to keep the conversation between us, and that suited me fine. I had no intention of going public with the abuse.
But things turn ugly, I say. Yeah, somebody told Floyd that I had been speaking to Wada [the world antidoping body] and he posted this stuff about me on his website [ The facts that he (LeMond) divulged to me would damage his character severely and I would rather not do what has been done to me. However, if he ever opens his mouth again and the word Floyd comes out, I will tell you all some things that you will wish you didnt know.] He never apologised and never took it down. I decided I would testify about the conversation wed had.
On the eve of your appearance you get the call from Will Geoghegan?
Yeah. What effect did that have on you? It was one of the most emotionally disturbing things that has ever happened to me and Im hoping that the LA police and the DA [district attorney] are going to charge both Floyd and Will, because under his testimony, Floyd essentially admitted he was right there with Will all the way through. How else would he get the number?
The exact involvement of Landis in the making of the call has yet to be determined.
The thing that really bugs me, Kathy says, is that he has never apologised. He knew damn well how traumatic this is for Greg.
He actually said under testimony that what I had told him had traumatised him! LeMond snorts. I just hope the DA goes after him. The whole thing is sick the cover-up, the threats its just sick. This sport needs to bleed to death before it can rebuild. And even then, I dont know . . . AS THE interview draws to a close, the first shadows of evening have descended on LeMonds lawns. Almost nine hours have passed since we began this morning and I am feeling almost as tired as when we used to race as he escorts me to my car. We have both started riding our bikes again, pale shadows of our former selves. I have always felt comfortable with my shadow. LeMond, at last, feels comfortable with his.
Ride to glory: the life and times of Greg LeMond
The Californian was named to the 1980 Olympic cycling team as a 19-year-old but was unable to compete due to the US boycott of the Moscow Games
He proved to be a forceful one-day rider with a silver medal at the 1982 world championships and became the first American to win the title the following year
He rode his first Tour de France in 1984, finishing third and the next year, under team orders, he was second behind Bernard Hinault, the last truly great French rider, who won five Tours and was nicknamed the Badger for his cunning
In 1986 LeMond became the first American cyclist to win the Tour after an epic duel with his teammate Hinault, who shadowed his every move
The following year he was shot and seriously injured by his brother-in-law in a hunting accident and almost bled to death. He returned in 1989, when, with 37 shotgun pellets remaining in his body, including some in the lining of his heart, he beat the Frenchman Laurent Fignon by just eight seconds, the narrowest margin in the history of the race, after a storming final-day time trial through the streets of Paris
When he took the title again in 1990, he became one of only eight cyclists to have won the Tour de France three or more times. He retired in 1994
Re: Tour De France 2007
First class article that. What an absolute prick Landis is.
Re: Tour De France 2007
That’s a smashing read. Flandis is utter filth. Kimmage writes some absolutely belting feature pieces.
Re: Tour De France 2007
We should get him to write on here from time to time.
Really destroys any credibility or sympathy Landis might have claimed doesn’t it?
Re: Tour De France 2007
Yeah it kills any ounce of credibility Landis was trying to cling on to and it also shows him to be a despicable human being. LeMond comes across as a gent. I’ll give Kimmage a shout over the next few days and extend the invite. Hope he doesn’t have an exclusivity clause with The Sunday Times.
Re: Tour De France 2007
Any signing from a Murdoch paper and piedpiper will be no more!
Re: Tour De France 2007
I’ve a small interest e/w in Moreau at 40/1 to win outright and another little something on Sastre at 12/1 e/w.
Also backing Valverde at 15/8 to not win a stage.
Tour De France 2007 Preview
This thread discusses the Content article: [url=http://www.thefreekick.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&Itemid=69&id=70]Tour De France 2007 Preview
Very good article Piper.
Agreed fully on the doping - catching people and banning them should be seen as progression for the sport and should be positively highlighted in the media. It’s actually incredible to see the number of changes that have been introduced and how they are driven by the sport itself and not by external parties. Other sports (soccer, golf, cricket etc.) have to be dragged kicking and screaming into testing. Cycling is going way ahead of them with the year’s salary forfeit in particular being an extremely welcome move.
Regarding the race it’s very hard to know who’ll win. I don’t really like Vino or Kloden and I don’t like the team - it smacks of dodginess. They’re the most rounded competitors though but they’ve both had opportunities in the past that they didn’t really take. I like Sastre as a rider and his time trialling is obviously a huge problem for him but I just hope that he can do enough in the mountains to take it. Astana will probably be too strong for that but you never know.
Moreau hadn’t a brilliant prologue today - I hope he’s not still suffering from the Dauphine.
Re:Tour De France 2007 Preview
Kloden might be out after crashing today and fracturing his tailbone. Not confirmed yet but he looked in pain apparently and if a scan reveals a fracture then he’s out.
Vino also crashed, less severely but he lost 80 seconds to the peleton including Cancerella in yellow.
Some small mountains coming up on Saturday with bigger stuff on Sunday and Monday.
Re:Tour De France 2007 Preview
therock67 wrote:
Kloden might be out after crashing today and fracturing his tailbone. Not confirmed yet but he looked in pain apparently and if a scan reveals a fracture then he’s out.
I’d imagine that’s quite a sore one.
Re:Tour De France 2007 Preview
Yeah not one you’d be keen on continuing cycling with either.