As referenced in the 2012 V-Moment of the year article and ensuing discussion, it was a most Vawesome year for cycling. It’s been hypothesized here and on cycling sites with more integrity that the fantastic racing of 2012 may be, at least in part, attributed to a cleaner peloton. Unless you watched the Tour de France you’d think the days of foregone conclusions and three week coronations are quickly becoming a thing of the past. It is in this vein we bring to you the Anti-V Moment of 2012: Lance Armstrong’s ceasing to fight the charges against him.
Now usually, we try our best not to delve into the seedy side of cycling. There is just way too much cool about our sport to focus our collective energy and attention on asshats. Besides, we’ve got bikes to ride. But the COTHO’s public announcement that he would no longer fight, er, defend himself against allegations of systematic doping, money laundering, blackmail, intimidation, and international douchebaggery has to be the biggest Anti-V moment of the year, if not in the history of pro cycling.
The COTHO could have feasibly taken one of three tacks as the winds of pressure, evidence, and public opinion continued to blow against his house of cards. Tack one would have been to continue lying, bribing, and digging an ever deepening hole as he steadfastly proclaimed his innocence. This obviously hadn’t been working for the past 10-odd years but at least it allowed him to maintain his base of supporters. Even as it became more difficult for him to maintain the façade he still had a sizable group of survivors, apologists, journalists, and mis-guided cycling fans who believed.
Tack two would have been to come clean (pardon the pun) and admit to the whole sordid mess he created but he didn’t have the ball to do this either. Who knows what his reasons are for not being honest? Best guesses are he’s rationalizing a set of excuses ranging from mitigating his financial liability, evading criminal implications, and blaming the corruptness of the sport. Maybe he’s trying to save face in some twisted way. But for as cliché as Tyler Hamilton even admitted in his tell-all; the truth will set you free. The COTHO could have stood in front of those microphones and cameras and said “Hey, you know what, I doped. I made some poor choices and lied to everybody and for that I’m deeply sorry.” Had he done so his detractors would probably still be his detractors and he would have given his supporters a legitimate reason to continue supporting him but at least everybody could say he fessed up and there is some integrity in doing that.
Alas, he took the Anti-V tack. He stopped defending himself, er, lying without admitting to anything and seems to be hoping to just fade into the background. In essence, he’s taking his toys and going home. What’s striking about this is that it is contrary to what we’ve come to understand about the guy. If anything, we’ve come to know him as a fighter, both in life and on the road. But this latest, and hopefully last maneuver was just plain weak. (Notice I’ve added the categories of “Evanescent Riders” and “In Memoriam” to this article in addition to “Awards”. The first two are much more fitting.)
Perhaps it belies the true nature of the man. A nature that involves intimidation, serial emotional and physical aggression and even violence. A nature that includes socially isolating his victims, arguing them into submission, and propagating rumors, gossip, and lies about them to sway public opinion in his favor. A nature that involves amplifying the mistakes of others in order to strengthen his own self-image. A nature whereby there are many innocent bystanders who are too fearful of repercussions to come forward themselves. The nature of a man who may be trying to compensate for his own insecurities and feed his own narcissism and megalomania. The nature of a simple bully who ultimately shows himself to be a big pussy.
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@Marcus
Sums up the whole thing for me. loved watching Lance race at the time some of his riding was amazing even if it was drug fueled but he has poisoned the sport to where I will find it very hard to ever believe again!
@Deakus
VSP Tour Down Under? Just kidding Keepers, I know VSPs are a crap ton of work.
@Marko
Yep, that's the redeeming part of a crappy soft interview....at least his COTHO standing is accepted by all.
@Deakus
The Science in Sport blog addressed this a while back, and from memory concluded that the power to weight outputs were in the reasonable range, the speeds were lower and the course this year suited Wiggles better than anyone else - see the long ITTs and the first "hill"top stage. The blog also noted that while the power to weight numbers were believable it doesn't indicate a lack of doping and that micro dosing that wouldn't show up on the Biological passport was still possible. So if they were doping, at least it wasn't the outrageous doping of the past (riders having to brake going uphill into hairpins on mountain stages, etc.) And for all the fuckers slagging it off as boring, it's what the cleanest tour in years has looked like (I think Cuddles won clean but beat dopers to do it). Personally I think they should cap the stages at 200km, triple the number of rest days during the tour and force the riders to get their blood alcohol over what could reasonably be considered "hammered" at least once during the race.
@Adrian
This.
PS I avoided pro road racing completely while LA was racing. Boring, predictable and I didn't believe in it one bit. Loved Ulrich, enjoyed Sastre's win, but pretty much everything in the middle can get fucked. No way Contador was clean for his ins either.
@minion
You think? I'll preface this by saying that I'm not a fan of his off the bike style, but I can't help but admire his panache in the hills.
I was chatting up a buddy today that's older and been following the sport longer than I've been alive, and neither of us is entirely convinced the evidence stands up. It was such a trace amount of something that has no huge benefit to that kind of performance.
But then, maybe he's doing something they "don't test for yet". I don't know, but trying to be a pro cycling fan boy is going to give me a ulcer.
@Buck Rogers
A-Fucking-Merckx!
@minion
They may not be far from the last one as it is now.
Today I read an interview from a few months ago with Taylor Phinney. Caffeine pills, strong painkillers and other legal drugs are widely used and may even be responsible for some of the weird crashes that occasionally happen at the end of races, right after riders have thrown down a final 5km cocktail of strong pills.
http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/13076/Taylor-Phinney-Interview-Getting-the-pill-culture-out-of-the-sport.aspx
I'm just gonna throw this out there...any chance we can shut this convo down?
I'm so sick of talking about Armstrong to non cycling friends & having to explain it all...now while we're on a much higher level of understanding, there's so much more to enjoy than whether the pro's are doping or not.
It has no bearing on how good it feels to be out there with good friends slogging up a climb or hearing a complete stranger pull you aside & say "That was Fucking Awesome" after the descent to finish a Cogal...that's what we ride for & long may it continue.
@Mikael Liddy
Why... it's off-season and we've got nothing else to talk about, and it is probably one of the biggest things that has happened in sport in the last 10 years, certainly in cycling. Every country has their legendary sporting cheats but the Hand of God probably means nothing to anyone outside England, and the Chicago Black Sox would hardly register with most of the world. Barry Bonds, who ? Maybe Marion Jones gets on the radar, but Armstrong takes his place in the pantheon alongside Ben Johnson as a truly global cheat on an epic scale.
To not talk about it would be slightly bizarre when many of us spend a lot of time watching, analysing and discussing pro-cycling. Do we stop talking about all elite cycling, or continue but just pretend Armstrong didn't happen - take the McQuaid option ?
As for whether it has a bearing on other levels, you only have to look at the number of people who say they were inspired by Armstrong to cycle, do triathlon and so on to realise it does have a wider implication. There has certainly been a halo effect in the UK after Cavendish, Wiggins and the Olympic success. That sort of legacy is threatened if people don't see the sport as having any credibility. Maybe it isn't credible, but that's a valid subject for discussion I think.