Cycling News Extra for July 19, 2004

Edited by John Stevenson

Armstrong still on the retirement fence

Lance Armstrong rides in stage 14
Photo: © Roberto Bettini

Will he or won't he? When it comes to his retirement, Lance Armstrong is still keeping everyone guessing, including the many riders who'd like a clear shot at a future Tour.

"I first need to finish this Tour before thinking about it," Armstrong told French radio station Europe 1. "Not so long ago, I was convinced I would end my career after a sixth victory but now it is tough for me to think I might soon retire," he continued. "It's difficult for me to think I could not be in a team which is going to last three more seasons with a new sponsor."

No doubt that new sponsor - Discovery Channel, which takes over from US Postal on the team's livery next year - would be delighted to have a six-time Tour winner heading its roster. But Armstrong has to win this Tour first, and he says it's not as easy as it might look.

"I must say that in the Tour, experience is essential," he said. "I know that some people think I don't suffer but of course I do. This year less than in 2003 but more than in 2001."

Armstrong also addressed the doping allegations that constantly surround cycling in general and himself in particular.

"To some extent I understand their point," he said. "The guy nearly died from cancer and it's impossible that he could win the toughest race in the world. Yet I'm telling you there is no secret. The sport changed a lot after 1998 and the Festina scandal. It's a good thing that the pressure on cycling has led to new rules and more controls.

"But it's a bad thing that it should attract journalists only looking for sensational headlines. They say I'm the biggest cheater and nobody likes to be treated this way. But I know better and in 10 or 15 years, nobody will remember what was written in that newspaper or in that book that just came out. Everybody will remember that I won five or six Tours de France. I'm convinced everybody will know then that I was clean."

Hinault joins LeMond/Armstrong fray

The last Frenchman to win five Tours de France, Bernard Hinault, is not impressed with Greg LeMond's insinuations that Lance Armstrong has achieved his five Tour victories with a little help. Speaking to Newsweek before the race hit the Pyrenees, Hinault said of LeMond's comments, "This is something that keeps coming back, and I think that some of it may be linked to LeMond's jealousy of Armstrong. The fact is that Armstrong has never tested positive. And as long as you don't have evidence I don't see how you can accuse him."

Despite their rivalry while both were racing for La Vie Claire in 1986 and Hinault apparently attacked LeMond even though the team's goal was to have LeMond win the Tour that year, Hinault was sanguine about LeMond's comment that Armstrong's six victories on the Tour wouldn't be worth Hinault's five victories.

"You cannot compare what's not comparable," said Hinault. "If Eddy Merckx had competed only in the Tour de France, he would have won it 15 times. The problem with cyclists these days is that they do what they're told to do because the media pressure and the expectations are so huge that the only thing that matters is winning. If you don't wear yourself out by running other races during the year and you concentrate on competing only two months a year, then you have a big advantage over everybody else. And that's what Armstrong does."

Since retiring in 1986, Hinault has owned and run a farm in his native Brittany, but returns to the Tour de France every year as a PR man for the race. What did he think explained the importance of the Tour? "It's a combination of things," said Hinault. "You get all the best champions, it's the summer, people are on holidays and all the media are there. If you have media, you have sponsors, and if you have sponsors, you have money."

Eadie camp considers legal action

Australian track sprinter Sean Eadie is considering legal action against the Australian Olympic Committee if his court defence against drug-trafficking allegations is successful today.

Eadie was served with an infraction notice by Cycling Australia last week after the Australian Customs Service notified CA that it had intercepted a package of anterior pituitary peptides, a form of human growth hormone, addressed to Eadie back in 1999. Eadie's nomination to the Australian Olympic team was subsequently withdrawn.

Eadie maintains he did not order the peptides, and is understood to plan to present his credit card records at this afternoon's hearing at the Court of Arbitration in Sport in Sydney.

If he successfully defends the infraction notice, Eadie is expected to appeal his removal from the Olympic squad, and his agent Kerry Ruffels says he will also consider his options for legal recovery of lost sponsorship opportunities.

Cycling Australia is waiting for the award ruling of the CAS hearing - and then Eadie's likely appeal - before deciding whether to send his nominated replacement Ben Kersten to Buttgen, Germany to train with the other members of the sprint track squad.

Cyclingnews' coverage of the French affair

• July 16, 2004: Dajka cleared by Customs
• July 14, 2004: Eadie out, Kersten in, pending appeal
• July 13, 2004: Eadie lodges appeal
• July 12, 2004: Eadie hit with doping notice - from 1999; French saga rolls on
• July 10, 2004: AOC 'withholds' Dajka from Australian Olympic team
• July 9, 2004: Pound comments 'ill-informed', says ASC
• July 2, 2004: Anderson report clears named riders; full Australian Olympics cycling team nominations
• July 1, 2004: The high cost of controversy
• June 26, 2004: Accused rider hits back: 'I was never in Adelaide'
• June 25, 2004: One week for French inquiry
• June 24, 2004: Mark French makes statement
• June 23, 2004: Pound weighs in
• June 22, 2004: Cycling Australia welcomes inquiry; Riders deny involvement in doping
• June 22, 2004: French gets life, but still offers to assist new enquiry
• June 21, 2004: Lifetime Olympic ban for French
• June 19, 2004: French faces blowtorch from sports authorities
• June 18, 2004: Opposition calls for inquiry into AIS track cycling program
• June 9, 2004: French suspended two years

People Cycle for Abitibi and Ireland

People Cycle has announced its team rosters for the upcoming Tour de l'Abitibi (July 19 - 25) and Junior Tour of Ireland (August 3 - 8). Racing under the banner of People Cycle-Coast to Coast Development-KAM, the team will be led by Toby Marzot and Alex Ferrero and will also include Ben Zawacki, Michael Wickman, Isaac Howe, and Jay Hawranik.

The team will travel to Ireland on July 27 and will feature Alex Ferrero, Isaac Howe, Toby Marzot, and Ben Zawacki. Returning to the states on August 10, the team will wrap up its season at the Green Mountain Stage Race in September.

East Point Velodrome gets grant

The East Point Velodrome Association (EPVA) has announced that the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has awarded it an $87,000 grant to help restore the Dick Lane Velodrome, in East Point, Georgia.

The grant brings the EPVA extremely close to the total funds needed to restore the velodrome and resume its community programs. Since the grant must make up a percentage of the money used in the project, the EPVA is now engaged in a final push to raise the money for the remaining amount (estimated to be around $30,000).

For more information on racing, volunteering, community programs, or corporate sponsorship, see the EPVA's website at www.savedlv.org.

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