Sunday, December 8, 2013

Lance who?


Caught The Armstrong Lie @ Landmark Cinema last night. I'd followed the story after it broke, but the film manages to shed light on even more fraud, lies, and insider finagling. Great camera shots from bike cams makes for cool peloton shots. There is a section in the film that explains the terms - peloton - domestique - so that non-cycling viewers can understand the importance of some of The Tour racing strategy.

I followed road racing back in the day. Greg LeMond was an American who just happen to win the Tour de France (officially the only non-European to win) three times and I think we all realize, beyond the shadow of a doubt, did it "clean". For whatever reason, America just wasn't really interested in Greg or The Tour. Lance and LeMond publicly battled - LeMond accused Lance of doping. Armstrong managed to squelch LeMond's bicycling manufacturing contract  (LeMond bikes) with Trek (Trek manufactured LeMond bikes and took Lance's side).  America didn't really get interested in The Tour until Lance came along. The French loved LeMond and hated Armstrong.

Lance seems to continue to dole out the fodder. A recent news article about the "reconciliation" meeting between Lance and Christophe Bassons is a classic Armstrong move; it's not enough to disagree with our critics, we must crush them. Think about this for a moment. If everything Lance said was true, "I do not dope", would it warrant  essentially annihilating the critics' careers and characters? In real life, when you accuse someone of something and they get very angry beyond what is required, it's a sure sign they are guilty. Seeing how Armstrong seemed to go above and beyond what would be a  normal reaction points to someone who was ready to cut the tongue from the witness, least he speak again of the horrors he has seen.

It appears that there is a film in works about Armstrong's life. Sorry, I'm not really interested. I think the person here who deserves a cycling biopic movie is Greg LeMond; this is the stuff of real champions.








1 comment:

Tom Sarmo said...

I agree. LeMond seems to be a real human