French Unfair To Lance Armstrong

There is little doubt that the greatest cyclist of modern times is Lance Armstrong. He has won the Tour De France bicycle race seven times in a row (1999 thru 2005) -- a feat no other racer has accomplished. This seems to have upset French officials -- probably because their greatest rider was only able to accomplish that feat five times.

They just can't accept the fact that the king of the Tour is not French, or even a European, but a rider from Texas. French officials seem to be convinced that somehow he cheated, and they have had their drug agency (AFLD) test him a ridiculous number of times. But even though he has been tested for drugs more than any other rider, they have never been able to find even a trace of drugs in his system.

When Lance said he was coming out of retirement to race once more, they resumed the testing and were sure they would find something this time. In fact, since last September they have tested him a total of 24 times (that's nearly four times a month and doesn't count the tests he took during races).

This last time, they took blood, urine and hair samples (even though hair samples are not sanctioned by cycling). Once again he tested clean. So now they are claiming there were irregularities during the testing, and they released that to the media like it meant he had somehow cheated.

It turns out that while his assistants were verifying the tester's credentials, Lance went inside and took a shower -- with the tester's permission. When he came back, he took the tests and remained in view of the tester until the tester had completed everything and left. The AFLD is claiming the shower was a violation of protocol, and are threatening to sanction him.

This is ridiculous. It is nothing but French pettiness. They are just jealous because Lance is so much better than their own riders (who aren't tested nearly as often).

Even the head of world-wide cycling doesn't believe Lance is being treated fairly by the AFLD. UCI president PatMcQuaid said, "I would have to say that the French are not acting very professionally in this case.” He said the tests are supposed to be kept confidential and questions why this was leaked to the press.

Lance believes this is just the prelude to banning him from racing in the Tour De France. His tests were negative, so they had to come up with some reason to keep him out of the race.

The whole thing is just sad. I used to believe the Tour was one of the world's greatest sporting events. Now it looks like the French are determined to make it little more than a joke.