CYCLING TOUR DE FRANCE:THIS IS how Lance Armstrong likes it. Riding on the shoulder of an enemy, ready to pounce, keeping him guessing. Once it was Marco Pantani and Jan Ullrich. Now the enemy is his own team-mate. And Alberto Contador can be sure that, some time in the next 12 days, the attack from within will come. But he cannot know when or where.
That is one Lance Armstrong: the man who claimed victory in a record seven Tours de France while surrounded by suspicion concerning his training methods, none of it supported by hard evidence. This is the arrogant Texan whose exploits, since his days as a junior triathlete, have been fuelled by anger and resentment and are based on a desire not just to win, but to crush opponents.
On his comeback to the race with which he is identified, Armstrong is again the focus of attention. As one of his 179 rivals said, “There’s one camera on him and one on the rest of us.” And while presenting a genial, equable front, he is leaving no doubt his killer instinct remains active. Whether it remains potent enough to propel a 37-year-old body towards a reprise of the great feats of its earlier incarnation, an apprehensive Castilian is about to discover.
The other Armstrong is the man who came back from radical surgery and debilitating chemotherapy to launch a cancer campaign and who became through his two best-selling books and his public appearances, nothing less than an inspiration to fellow sufferers. The total sale of his Livestrong charity’s yellow rubber wristbands at a dollar (or a euro) apiece has reached 75 million, and those who buy them during this year’s Tour are assured by Armstrong the proceeds will go to local cancer organisations.
How could anyone criticise an activist in such an impeccable cause? Even here, however, it is possible for those who dislike the way Armstrong’s presence overshadows the race to accuse him of exploiting the Tour’s history for his own purposes. The appropriation of the colour yellow is debatable, and in other ways the race has become an Armstrong vehicle.
One cherished Tour tradition is the fans’ habit of covering the roads with hand-painted exhortations to their heroes. This year four black and yellow Livestrong vans are travelling ahead, selling the wristbands and promoting the charity while stencilling the course, a kilometre at a time, with messages from Armstrong’s supporters: “Get a goal and reach further”, “Enjoy living not just life”, “It’s about hope, not the bike”.
Meanwhile, Armstrong rides on, accepting the adulation from his old position just behind the front of the peloton, lying third in the general classification, a negligible nine seconds behind Rinaldo Nocentini and two seconds behind Contador, and as much in charge as he was in his glory days.
He has also become adroit at sending out conflicting messages. In almost the same breath as announcing it is now “war” between him and his team-mate, he explained his lack of response to Contador’s surprise attack in Andorra last Friday by saying he had been following team orders. “When Alberto went, there was nothing I could do,” he said. “A lot has been made about the team politics but he is my team-mate, and I can’t chase him.”
If the same thing were to happen in the mountain-top finish in Verbier on Sunday, or on the Mont Ventoux on the Tour’s penultimate day, he added, he would have no choice but to do the same.
For Contador and the rest of the field, the bad news is Armstrong will not be finished with the Tour when it ends in Paris on July 26th. “Maybe one more,” he said on Sunday. After that he will return with a team of his own, run with his long-time team director, Johan Bruyneel, supported by Nike and promoting Livestrong.
And running his own team, what then for Armstrong? The speculation is he will run for high political office. This is not a joke. He is a political animal. His public work for cancer and the polishing of his defence against those who accuse him of doping have made him an accomplished performer. He charms world leaders and puts the stiletto into enemies in the peloton with equal efficiency.
Bradley Wiggins gave an interesting view of Armstrong’s rivalry with Contador yesterday. “There could come a point at which they get off the bikes and start fighting each other.”
- Guardian Service
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