For more than a decade, Lance Armstrong has denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs. But now, the federal agent who exposed Barry Bonds has the cycling legend in his sights—and against the wall. Here’s a preview of the story from our October issue, on newsstands September 10.
By Bill Gifford
We wanted to believe in him from the beginning. It was July 3, 1999, and the man had suffered testicular cancer and nearly died at 25, but managed to come back and qualify for one of the most physically demanding races on Earth. Now he sat on his bike in the start house for the prologue of that summer’s Tour de France, a five-mile dash around a lame French amusement park called Futuroscope. As he rolled down the start ramp and gained speed, whipping his bike back and forth and sprinting out of the corners, it was clear he was on fire. No American had ever come close to winning the Tour’s prestigious first stage, and yet he won easily, thrillingly. It was the start of something huge.
RELATED: Tom Brokaw Interviews Lance Armstrong
-
Then, as required of every Tour de France stage winner, Armstrong gave a urine sample that afternoon, and it tested positive for a banned substance—corticosteroids, a catabolic agent used by athletes to aid recovery and increase endurance. That might have been it for Armstrong’s Tour and racing season, and it might have cost him his future—no seven Tour wins, no jillions of yellow bracelets. But race officials accepted his word (and doctor’s prescription as evidence) that the steroids in his urine were from a skin cream for saddle sores. And as there was no effective test for erythropoietin, or EPO, a prohibited blood-booster that pro cyclists took like candy in the 1990s, lab technicians failed to find the EPO in Armstrong’s system that day for another six years, and under circumstances that made it possible for him to discredit the finding.
Armstrong, of course, went on to win the 1999 Tour—and six more. Even more incredibly, though he’s been tested at least 200 times for performance-enhancing drugs, he had never been caught and sanctioned for doping even as, one by one, nearly all of his main rivals and several former teammates tested positive, served suspensions, or retired under a cloud of suspicion. Throughout an era of highly sophisticated doping, when the attitude was that if you wanted to win, you had to use drugs, Armstrong’s first and last line of defense against doping allegations was his clean record. If he had doped, the argument went, then why hadn’t he been caught too? But then came this spring’s fresh round of accusations from a former teammate that he did dope—and the possibility that he was simply that much better than everyone else at evading detection and covering up.
In e-mails from his former teammate Floyd Landis to cycling officials, which leaked to the press in late May, Landis claimed that he’d personally witnessed Armstrong and other teammates receiving banned blood transfusions, including on the team bus in 2004, the year Armstrong won his sixth Tour in a row. Landis also said that in 2003 Armstrong himself had given him his first EPO, in six loaded syringes, outside his apartment in Girona, Spain, as Armstrong’s then wife, Kristin, looked on.
RELATED: Floyd Drops the Bomb
-
The revelations added fuel to an ongoing federal investigation led by Jeff Novitzky, the former IRS agent who broke the BALCO steroids case, resulting in criminal charges against Barry Bonds and jail time for sprinter Marion Jones. Within weeks of Landis’s bombs, subpoenas began flying, and in early August, the New York Times reported on an unnamed former teammate who corroborated Landis’s claims that Armstrong knew about—and encouraged—doping on his teams. The investigators contacted Armstrong’s sponsors Nike and Trek, as well as numerous former teammates and even his archnemesis, former Tour de France winner Greg LeMond. LeMond’s decade-long feud with Armstrong—whom LeMond has accused of doping and of sabotaging his bike company—includes a huge lawsuit with Trek bicycles that settled earlier this year. In all, their fights have generated 70,000 documents, which LeMond happily shipped to the Feds in 46 boxes this summer.
At press time no one knew what the precise charges might be, or if the Los Angeles-based grand jury, which convened in early August, would indict anyone, but Novitzky’s team appeared too invested to let it drop. “It strikes me as an investigation in search of a crime,” says one lawyer connected with the case. “They’re devoting so many resources to it that there is pressure to come up with something.”
Using performance-enhancing drugs is not a crime in the U.S., and, as one of Armstrong’s lawyers, Tim Herman, points out, all of the Landis-alleged doping took place in Europe. But it’s unlikely the Feds would attempt to convict him of using or trafficking in banned substances, and, instead, try to catch Armstrong lying about them—or profiting from their use. Lawyers close to the case suggest that the grand jury might come down with white-collar charges like fraud, perjury, obstruction of justice, or even racketeering.
RELATED: The Best Energy Supplement Ever?
-
The stakes couldn’t be much higher. If a court hears Landis’s accusations and decides that Armstrong took banned substances to win the Tour de France, earn millions in endorsements and charitable donations, and become something close to a secular saint, his heroic comeback—and even his anti-cancer crusade—will be diminished forever. Which is why, on some level, nobody wants the allegations to be true.
Read the full article in MJ’s October issue, on newsstands September 10…
Print this article
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:26 pm
why do we constantly build up our fellow men, put them up on a legendary pedestal… only to tear them down a short while later. lance armstrong won seven consecutive tour de france titles. he is still one of the greatest athletes in all of human history, purely by virtue of his dedication alone, dope or no dope. does our government not have more pressing issues to deal with anyway?
“ken”
[Reply]
Jennifer Reply:
September 11th, 2010 at 8:27 am
LA built himself up and now he tearing himself down. He has no one to blame but himself.
[Reply]
September 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Sorry Ken, let me help you with the accuracy of your post – Lance cheated and used EPO and other PED”s to win his 7 TDF titles. Before 99 he finished middle of the pack in the TDF. The record is there for anyone to see, Instead of standing up for clean cycling Lance did just the opposite and tried to destroy anyone who said anything about drugs in pro cycling even if it had nothing to do with him. Kind of an odd position for someone who was clean all those years? And yes the government should be going after people who become famous for lying to millions of cancer patients for years about using drugs to win TDF. Hopefully, Lance will go to jail or worse will have to apologize to each and every kid with cancer who looked up to him for 15 years.
[Reply]
Mike Reply:
September 4th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Sorry Nik but as of right now there is no proof that he ever doped. Instead of accusing him of doping you should be realizing what he has done for the cancer world. When most athletes are out using there stardom for the own personal gain, Lance is giving back to the world. And if that means that he had to dope to put him in the position where he is now and bringing a voice to the 28 MILLION people with cancer than so be it.
[Reply]
Andy Reply:
September 10th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
@Mike: “When most athletes are out using there stardom for the own personal gain, Lance is giving back to the world.”
Do you follow professional sports very closely? A large number of athletes work for some charitable cause. Many of them just don’t call attention to themselves while doing it. For example, Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Armstrong’s who was suspended twice for doping violations, has done a lot of wonderful work on behalf of patients with multiple sclerosis. If he had not doped, he probably would not have accomplished nearly as much in bike racing as he did (e.g., 2d in the Giro, first in LBL, Olympic Gold Medal–the last most definitely accomplished while blood doping), and if he had not accomplished as much as a racer, he could not have attracted so much support for MS. So are you saying the charitable work excuses the doping? That it’s all right to dope if the fame it helps you access is used part of the time to advance some charitable cause?
As for “using stardom for personal gain”, if you think Armstrong has not done that, you aren’t very familiar with his lifestyle–multiple mansions, expensive cars, private plane, Hollywood celebrities, etc. I’m sure his work for cancer is sincere, but it’s not all that difficult for a multi-millionaire to jet around the globe, free, to ask people to contribute to his cause. He is not about to sacrifice his extravagant lifestyle in the slightest on that behalf.
[Reply]
September 5th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Mike,
You obviously have not read much about this case, if you had you would not say “there is no proof” – The fact that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs to win the TDF is no longer in question. There is a laundry list of proof – but the latest is that at least 2 other teammates from Postal BESIDES FLOYD have said there was systematic doping on that team.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/sports/cycling/05armstrong.html
What “he has done for the Cancer world” is create a monumental lie that no parent ever wants to ever explain to their young child who looks up to Lance as a hero. And what a terrible role model lying to everyone for 11 years?
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=2669
[Reply]
Ian Jones Reply:
January 20th, 2011 at 2:35 am
OldSchoolNik, It would seem to me that any you made your mind up before any evidence was published. I like to see the good that comes from people like Lance, not the passion that others have to destroy great stars.
Sadly your Proof is still un-proven or tested in a court or sporting tribunal. Go Lance
[Reply]
September 5th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Even if the investigation more-or-less vindicates Armstrong, I still don’t think he’s someone to look up to for winning 7 TdFs.
Even if he’s shown to be the biggest doper in the world, I still think his story of surviving cancer and returning to peak fitness is an inspiration.
Even if all pro cyclists are doping, cycling is still pretty good.
[Reply]
September 10th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Why do we care about doping? Sending people to prison over this is effing insane. Tou took drugs, you ran fast, you lied, go to prison.
What the?!
Let them all pop, snort, shoot and smoke whatever they want. Oh, but the games will then be impure? Yeah right, that ship sailed long, long ago.
And, except for Tim Wakefield I’m pretty certain every athlete is juiced up on something. Sure, Wakefield has fanned 2,000…but you all know it’s like watching an accountant pitch.
I want to see the 110 mph fast ball, the 500 foot home run hit 9 times a night, the boxer on speed, linemen on smack, bikers on coke, the 8 second 100 yd dash. Freakin awesome!…who cares… it’s all entirely entertainment anyway.
Oh no I forgot, what kind of an example would it be for our kids… right. Because an athlete has so much sway over a young child’s mental, moral and ethical development. Never mind the drunks watching the game sitting next impressionable johnny in the center field bleacher seats….that’s fine. Or Jane’s dad knockin back 8 pints on a Sunday afternoon.
Oh and market the hell out of booze and beer during athletic events – no problem. The kids won’t really pay attention.
Of course we would have to put away the pedestals…
discontinue our hero worship of athletes… oh booiiee, then who would we look up to? Musicians and movie stars?
Whatever… open the medicine chest and play ball boys and girls.
At least it would be honest fun.
[Reply]
Mark Reply:
October 20th, 2010 at 6:11 am
About time someone put this in perspective. Cyclists have been doping ever since the first TDF, and athletes from other disciplines, since from who knows when. If you want to win, you have to dope, be it 1903, 1967 or 2010. So what? So you want to destroy someone who knows that in order to win they have to dope? Or because they sold you a lie? Give me a break. Doping in sport is far more widespread than acknowledged publicly, officials can not contain it. If everyones doing it then the only ones being cheated are the non participants. Cycling will continue, as will doping, as will ignorance and crucifixions. Bless those righteous souls.
[Reply]
September 11th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
I expect that Men’s Journal will print “The Case for Lance Armstrong” in their next issue, as a strong defense. That would be the fair thing to do.
[Reply]
Justin Reply:
September 13th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Agreed. Shame on Mens Journal for publishing a half-truth article.
[Reply]
September 12th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
In 1999 Armstrong was doped, the documentation provided by the French newspaper “L’Equipe” has been validated by the UCI. Yes, it’s important by the UCI.
Armstrong has never been suspended because his doping with EPO was discovered too late in 2005, the limitation period was 3 years old, but it was doped with EPO, it is the truth.
I give you the link.
http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?source=SiteSearch&id=NDU4Mg&MenuId=15217&CharValList=628%253B611%253B&CharTextList=&CharFromList=&CharToList=&txtSiteSearch=&SelChar214=628&SelChar208=611&LangId=1
All the cheaters have been suspended, Vinokourov, Basso, Valverde … except Armstrong. In my opinion, the most dishonest that cycling has ever known.
Here’s a link of the website “L’Equipe” which describes the investigation that was published in the newspaper “L’Equipe” of Thursday, August 23, 2005.
http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/DOPAGE_ARMSTRONG_2.html
[Reply]
September 15th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Well done.
The only thing wrong with the article is the quote from the fake Bono-Twitter account.
If you read Lance’s testimony from the Tailwind v. SCA case he had the opportunity to speak the truth and was evasive and unclear.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/31833754/Lance-Armstrong-Testimony
[Reply]
September 17th, 2010 at 9:21 am
After seeing Lance on the cover of Men’s Journal so many times over the years, I was surprised to see how one sided this article was. No Lance did not finish on the podium this year, but it might have been because he crashed three times, and then rode for a teammate. I wonder about the value (at this point) of these continued investigations. What will it accomplish to continue to drag Lance’s name through the mud? If (and this is a big if) anything comes from these allegations by Landis (you broke our hearts Floyd – high testosterone from Jack Daniels, really?), then Lance’s legacy will certainly be tarnished but I can’t see any Tour victories being taken away. The testing issues from 1999 are there but it is still accurate to say that the same organization who has banned so many riders over the years (top riders) have never reported a positive test for Lance. If Lance’s legacy is tarnished, then his foundation will surely suffer, and I’m just not sure how that helps.
[Reply]
September 19th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
I have worked with Lance on several occasions when shooting commercials. He is very charming and nice-when the cameras are on. He is a complete ass when they are off. Before I worked with him I held in high regard, after I could care less about him. To be fair, many celebs and athletes I have worked with are the same.
BD.
[Reply]
September 20th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
What this article fails to focus on is the fact that Floyd Landis has completely destroyed his credibility by denying the drug charges for so long, and then admitted that he’d been lying. OldSchoolNik, yes, there have been a couple former teammates of Lance’s cooperating with this investigation, but there are hundreds more backing him up and supporting him. Also, these supposed former teammates accusing Lance have still gone unnamed. If they’re so confident in their facts, why don’t they openly accuse Lance and the other riders? Did anyone know Landis has also accused his own friend, Dave Zabriskie, of doping as well as Lance?
Why would a cancer survivor risk his health for which he strongly fought by doping? The Anti-Doping Agency made unexpected and random visits to his home to test him for drugs, and still he hasn’t failed a single test.
The investigators must be very desperate if they’re contacting Greg Lemond for information regarding Lance. They might as well talk to the French authorities-I’m sure they’d love to discredit Lance.
Other riders trying to give Lance a hard time are just jealous of his success, and can’t find anything better to do than attempt to tarnish his reputation. To those riders, I say get a life and focus on your own problems because you clearly have some if you’re condemning someone who has used his success to devote so much effort to the fight against cancer. The author of this post needs to check his facts, and also needs to publish the whole truth.
[Reply]
September 23rd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Men’s Journal loves to use Lance — put him on the cover when he’s on top, and then begin to trash im as he ends his racing career. You even edited a photo of him on your cover. What a cheap shot! Who needs this trashy little tabloid of pseudo-testosterone? I’m more than happy to cancel my subscription.
[Reply]
September 24th, 2010 at 7:29 am
Wow, reading all the little hollow cries from the Lance Armstrong jock-sucking trolls makes me want to laugh – before I puke, that is.
However, after years of providing evidence about Armstrong’s PED use, finally Bill Gifford saunters into view and pretends he is actually writing something new.
What an interesting juxtaposition: the fawning pro-Lance turdballs vs. “it’s in vogue to trash Lance Armstrong” mainstream writer/disinformation agent whose sole purpose is to sway the public into facing whatever direction the wind blows.
Wonderful.
Now all we need is for no-sports knowing blowhard Matt Taibbi to interject a few snark-filled, anti-Lance invectives which, in the 2010 version of White America’s ever-flagging collective intellect passes for an “insider’s perspective.”
Clowns.
[Reply]
September 30th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Say it ain’t so Lance, Flyoud, Alberto, ect. ad nauseum.
[Reply]