You Could See This One Coming

Lance Armstrong has stated that he feels he will suffer a personal attack whilst taking part in the 2009 Tour De France. I have to be honest and say I'm a little surprised by his making public this paranoia regarding this, in particular his comments regarding the other teams managers.

There is a fair amount of ill feeling towards Armstrong in the sport, nobody is doubting his achievements in the past - although non cycling fans are frequently surprised when cycling fans tell them that Eddie Mercx is the greatest ever cyclist and not Armstrong - the slight doubt, and for some it is more than a slight nagging doubt, concerns Armstrong's reluctance to allow his sample from the 1999 Tour to be retested following allegations by L'Equipe that Armstrong was using the banned substance EPO at the time of his victory. Of course an innocent man shouldn't have to prove his innocence, the problem here is that we are talking about a sport which attracts the most cynical attitude from other sports fans with regards to drug abuse.

When Armstrong announced his intention, during the running of this years Tour of Britain, to return to the Tour De France next year the overwhelming response from old team mates, old foes and future adversaries was, "Well I hope he's doing it for the right reasons." The word from the States was that he is bored, that he wants to use the race to promote his cancer charity which is undoubtedly a good cause and that he wants to see if 'he still has it.' Lance Armstrong overcame serious illness to compete at the highest level and win at the highest level, I don't know why he feels the need to make a comeback, only he does, but it does seem rather naive of him to believe that everybody will welcome him back with open arms whilst there still remains a scintilla of doubt regarding that test.