It’s a sad day for cycling with the legendary Lance Armstrong throwing in the towel in his fight against US anti-doping authorities, who have banned him for life and also wish to strip him of his record seven Tour de France titles.
The pity is all the more as the champion, who refused to contest charges of using blood-boosting EPO, steroids and other substances, had been a role model as a sportsman. After recovering from life-threatening cancer, Armstrong boosted a sport that was always considered a travelling drug test laboratory. The Tour’s rigours are such it is almost impossible to win it unless you are a mobile pharmacist with minute knowledge of doping and anti-drug test procedures. In fact, if the cycling federation strips Armstrong of his medals, it will be hard to name winners retrospectively as so many cyclists have been caught doping.
Lending further mystery to this tale of triumph and tragedy is that Armstrong had been through around 600 dope tests without once being caught. There are many who believe the whole thing is a conspiracy against the Tour winner between 1999 and 2005, unquestionably the world’s greatest pedaller.
We’ll now never know the entire truth as samples in the USADA’s possession will never be tested to establish if indeed Armstrong was ingesting a cocktail of drugs that boost endurance. Questions remain on how clean the sport is now that it has new champions who have avowedly sworn off drugs. They must indeed be supermen!