No regrets as Armstrong bids adieu
Source: Agencies |
July 27, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
LANCE Armstrong didn't want to go out this way.
In his final Tour de France, the seven-time champion popped a tire, crashed and struggled up the mountains. Worse, he seems to be the target of a US federal doping investigation, accused of cheating while a cyclist on the US Postal team midway through his seven-year reign of Tour domination.
One Tour too many? Maybe.
But in classic Armstrong style, he said that he has no regrets, and will remember the positives of this 2010 edition - his 13th Tour - one day down the road.
During the Tour, newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post published details about an investigation led by Jeff Novitzky, a special agent with the Food and Drug Administration, into claims about Armstrong and doping by former teammate Floyd Landis.
The reports threatened what Armstrong had hoped would be a glorious and possibly victorious ride into his cycling career sunset. Several former riders who race with Armstrong have reportedly been subpoenaed.
Armstrong faced questions about those reports at the Tour. He said he had not been subpoenaed or contacted by Novitzky himself.
Armstrong blamed Landis for trying to clear his conscience and attempting "to incriminate a half-dozen other people... To me, that doesn't add up."
"That's just somebody who's trying to ruin the lives of others," Armstrong had said.
He insisted the revelations didn't ruin his last Tour.
"I wouldn't say that it's ruined," Armstrong said. "In 10 years, when I look back on the 2010 Tour, it won't be the memory that I have. Obviously I won't have a yellow jersey to remember - I'll remember the team, digging deep to win the team GC (general classification). It's significant for us and the sponsor.
"I'll remember having my son here for a week at the Tour," he said of 10-year-old Luke. "I'll remember the bad luck, certainly the crashes. But that won't be the thing that I'll take away."
His imprint will remain on the sport in the use of earpiece radios for riders, training regimens, diet and race strategies, among other things. His success helped convert what was mostly a summertime passion in Europe into a 21st-century business fanning interest from Canada to China.
When he came back from a four-year retirement from the Tour to massive hoopla in 2009, and a rivalry with teammate Alberto Contador, he thought he'd be good then but even better this year. It turned out to be the opposite.
Last year, Armstrong finished third, came within one second of the yellow jersey he knows so well, and warmed the hearts of French fans who once despised him for his methodical "American" drive to victory above all else.
This year, he was but a mere 23rd, nearly 40 minutes behind Contador, and his best single showing was arguably in the prologue in Rotterdam, where he placed fourth. From then on, it was all downhill.
In his final Tour de France, the seven-time champion popped a tire, crashed and struggled up the mountains. Worse, he seems to be the target of a US federal doping investigation, accused of cheating while a cyclist on the US Postal team midway through his seven-year reign of Tour domination.
One Tour too many? Maybe.
But in classic Armstrong style, he said that he has no regrets, and will remember the positives of this 2010 edition - his 13th Tour - one day down the road.
During the Tour, newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post published details about an investigation led by Jeff Novitzky, a special agent with the Food and Drug Administration, into claims about Armstrong and doping by former teammate Floyd Landis.
The reports threatened what Armstrong had hoped would be a glorious and possibly victorious ride into his cycling career sunset. Several former riders who race with Armstrong have reportedly been subpoenaed.
Armstrong faced questions about those reports at the Tour. He said he had not been subpoenaed or contacted by Novitzky himself.
Armstrong blamed Landis for trying to clear his conscience and attempting "to incriminate a half-dozen other people... To me, that doesn't add up."
"That's just somebody who's trying to ruin the lives of others," Armstrong had said.
He insisted the revelations didn't ruin his last Tour.
"I wouldn't say that it's ruined," Armstrong said. "In 10 years, when I look back on the 2010 Tour, it won't be the memory that I have. Obviously I won't have a yellow jersey to remember - I'll remember the team, digging deep to win the team GC (general classification). It's significant for us and the sponsor.
"I'll remember having my son here for a week at the Tour," he said of 10-year-old Luke. "I'll remember the bad luck, certainly the crashes. But that won't be the thing that I'll take away."
His imprint will remain on the sport in the use of earpiece radios for riders, training regimens, diet and race strategies, among other things. His success helped convert what was mostly a summertime passion in Europe into a 21st-century business fanning interest from Canada to China.
When he came back from a four-year retirement from the Tour to massive hoopla in 2009, and a rivalry with teammate Alberto Contador, he thought he'd be good then but even better this year. It turned out to be the opposite.
Last year, Armstrong finished third, came within one second of the yellow jersey he knows so well, and warmed the hearts of French fans who once despised him for his methodical "American" drive to victory above all else.
This year, he was but a mere 23rd, nearly 40 minutes behind Contador, and his best single showing was arguably in the prologue in Rotterdam, where he placed fourth. From then on, it was all downhill.
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