Prove it, or Armstrong is folk hero still
THEY have retaken his seven Tour de France titles and his right to join bike races. But have they also retaken his sanity?
The sanity’s intact and that’s what matters in the end.
“It’s time to move on,” said Lance Armstrong. “For years, I had been trying hard to deal with it.”
Lance Armstrong had won an unprecedented seven straight Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005.
Years later, the United States AntiDoping Agency (Usada) started questioning his achievements.
Sadly, if not pathetically, unsupported by factual results, Usada kept alleging that Armstrong used drugs to win those seven titles.
Armstrong kept denying the allegations. Usada would not listen. Without lab results to back its claims, Usada gave Armstrong this week an ultimatum: Come to us and dispute our allegations, otherwise, we will strip you of your seven titles and impose a lifetime ban from joining bike races.
When Armstrong stood his ground, Usada fulfilled its threat.
Funny, but Armstrong lost his prized possessions on mere allegations.
Funny, too, that it was Armstrong’s own country that disgraced him. Not France, which owns Tour de France. Not the UCI (Union Cyliste Internacionale), which sanctions the Tour de France.
Funny, too, that Usada would deprive Armstrong of his inherent right to ride and race—again, on mere allegations he doped his way to Tour de France victory seven straight years. What’s happening? Armstrong is a C survivor, licking testicular cancer before proceeding to produce the most wondrous feat in cycling history.
Who could ever do 7 straight Tour de France victories again?
But you will say his feat was laced with lies—meaning he might have done it with the aid of drugs? But that’s being judgmental. Allegations are allegations. If not proven, they remain just that—allegations.
Meanwhile, in a stunning development amid Armstrong’s decision to quit arbitration proceedings with Usada, donations to his Cancer Foundation, now with $500 million in bank deposits, tripled in just a matter of days.
Indeed, if you have the folk by your side, let the rest rage in the night.