So, Floyd Landis has come out and accused Lance Armstrong of being a drug cheat.
You’d think by now no one would care as Armstrong has been accused so many times before and it’s never gone anywhere. Either Armstrong is clean or he’s the best drug cheat on the planet seeing as he keeps getting away with it. Landis is pointing the finger at everyone in the U.S. Postal Service team, including George Hincapie who I’ve always liked, as well as cycling officials both American and international.
The thing is, why now? Why wait nearly four years after being stripped of a Tour de France win and fighting the charges for so long before making these accusations? Wouldn’t it have been better to said all this in 2006 when his voice would’ve still had some weight and to a degree been believable. By waiting so long and taking a line of “deny, deny, deny, deny” he’s destroyed his credibility. It’s very difficult to believe someone who swore black and blue he wasn’t doping and set up a foundation for donations to use for his various court cases. People donated a substantial amount of money and he used it in an attempt to clear his name even though he knew he was lying. How can you believe someone who was willing to do that?
I’m not sure why this is bothering me so much when Armstrong has been accused so many time before. I didn’t really know who Landis was before he won the 2006 Tour de France and I’m sure I’m not the only one. He came out of nowhere to win the most prestigious cycling race in the world. I wasn’t really surprised when he tested positive.
I suppose it’s the timing of it that’s bothering me and the way he’s going about it. It has the feel of a man who knows he’s going down and has decided to take everyone down with him. It’s very hard to believe him because I feel he destroyed his credibility by sitting on his accusation for so long while maintaining his innocence.
The other thing is that I really don’t want Armstrong to be a drug cheat. I want him to be clean because for him to be a drug cheat would utterly diminish everything he achieved. I’ve always admired him even though I know he’s a bit of an arsehole. For someone who should be dead, he’s achieved amazing things. If Landis is right and Armstrong is a cheat, it’s all been a huge con.