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Mixed welcome as Lance Armstrong rides Tour de France route

Disgraced cyclist joins fellow cancer survivor Geoff Thomas, whose ride has so far raised £600k for charity

Lance Armstrong is today undertaking the second of the two stages of the route of this year’s Tour de France with former England footballer Geoff Thomas – the ride has  raised more than £600,000 for charity, but the disgraced cyclist’s presence is continuing to cause controversy.

The 43-year-old yesterday rode the route of Stage 13 from Muret to Rodez, which the peloton will tackle today, as part of Thomas’s One Day Ahead charity ride, which aims to raise £1 million for the charity Cure Leukaemia.

The former Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers player, whose ride has so far raised more than £600,000 on Just Giving, credits Armstrong’s recovery from cancer as helping inspire him to win his own battle with leukaemia.

Yesterday, after completing the 198.5km stage, Armstrong tweeted: “Incredible first day w/ the @TdF1DayAhead crew. Hot & hilly but gr8 time. And a big thanks/merci to the French people for the warm welcome.”

 

 

But not everyone has welcomed him with open arms, with UCI president Brian Cookson repeating his view that the Texan should not be anywhere near the race he won seven times, only to be stripped of those titles in 2012.

In a statement emailed to The New York Times, Cookson said: “I know that Geoff Thomas is very genuine in his charitable work. But I continue to believe that Lance Armstrong’s involvement in this ride is inappropriate.”

Armstrong, who was joined by 11 other riders yesterday, told AFP: “Brian Cookson needs to worry about other things.

“It’s one thing if I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to go to the race and I want to stand around at the start.’ I’m not asking that, you know,” he insisted.

“I understand there is sensitivity around that, but here helping a group of people in a great cause, I’m going to do that forever.”

Tour de France leader Chris Froome said that Armstrong taking part on Thomas’s ride was a “non-event” as far as the riders taking part in the 102nd edition of the race are concerned.

“He’s not on the start line with us or anything like that,” reflected the Team Sky rider prior to the beginning of yesterday’s Stage 12 in Lannemezan, 60 or so miles away.

“You’ve got to look at what he’s doing, which is Geoff Thomas’s cause to raise money for blood cancer research.

“As I’ve said earlier I support his cause, it’s a cause that’s very close to my heart. I wish Geoff Thomas and the guys all the best in raising as much money as they can.

“But about Lance he’s not on the line with us, we’re not going to see him, it’s a non-event for us.”

However Froome’s team mate Geraint Thomas was rather more forthright in his opinion, saying that today’s riders are “paying the price” for Armstrong’s doping – the Texan himself has acknowledged that his own actions in cheating his way to seven Tour de France victories play a large part in the questions about doping that are invariably fired in Froome’s direction.

Thomas said: “I couldn’t care less what he’s doing to be honest. He has done enough harm.

“But whatever, we are just in our own little world here having a laugh and doing what we’re doing and Lance and all them can do what they want.”

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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17 comments

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Airzound | 8 years ago
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Given the hounding of and vitriol toward Armstrong one could be forgiven for thinking that he was the last of the dopers. No chance. Pro cyclists are still at it today, the ones who think they can get away with it or who are just thick to think they won't get caught. Armstrong wasn't the first and most definitely isn't the last which has been proved.

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LesHearn | 8 years ago
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Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. Good if some money is raised for charity.
Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know how many winners of the Tour have been undoped?

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skippy | 8 years ago
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SAD to see that Lance can only manage 2 etappes ?

Had Officialdom let well enough alone , then his passing through could have gone unnoticed !

Are they going to claim credit when Geoff reaches the 1 Million?

Publicity Stunt that WORKED !

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crikey | 8 years ago
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Give over you sad dick.

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CountrysideWobbler | 8 years ago
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What's the big deal with this guy - I've got just as many Tour de France wins as he has!

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daddyELVIS replied to CountrysideWobbler | 8 years ago
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CountrysideWobbler wrote:

What's the big deal with this guy - I've got just as many Tour de France wins as he has!

...and many other dopers have more than he has!

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Legin | 8 years ago
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But the point he makes is valid. Armstrong has been singled out and vilified for his cheating yet it was the cheating of a whole generation of riders that damaged the sport. Armstrong's error was being the most successful rider in the most important event during that era. Unfortunately we will never know if Armstrong would have been as successful if there had been a level playing field.

The bottom line is he is a cheat that is vilified when many other cheats aren't. Why should that be so? The cheats all lied, they all cheated; most never apologised and many are making a healthy living out of cycling.

The continuing vilification of Armstrong is rank hypocrisy of the highest order; vilify them all or vilify none. There has to be a point where we all put this crap to bed; this won't happen until we accept the past and stop whinging on about it.

The only people who have a right to whinge are those riders who were cheated out of a career. The rest of us were either entertained, gained publicity from the successes or earned money from being employed in the sport. We all had our value and the benefit of it at the time; by definition subsequent revelations cannot diminish that.

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bicirapidos replied to Legin | 8 years ago
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I couldn't agree with your comments more. It's way past the time that those who have jumped on the anti - Armstrong bandwagon woke up. The reality is that, common as PEDs were in sport, the pathetic custodians of morality have a responsibility for applying justice fairly.

If Armstrong has his TdF wins erased from the record books, is the UCI et al going to strip Coppi and Anquetil among others, who openly admitted to taking PEDs, from their titles also? Try explaining that to the Italian and French people and see what the reaction will be.

Whatever the issue of taking PEDs in sport is, it is totally separate to the historical facts. Lance Armstrong IS a 7 times winner of the TdF. It's happened Messer’s UCI, WADA et al, move on, you’re not GOD you can't change history.

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hsiaolc replied to Legin | 8 years ago
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Legin wrote:

But the point he makes is valid. Armstrong has been singled out and vilified for his cheating yet it was the cheating of a whole generation of riders that damaged the sport. Armstrong's error was being the most successful rider in the most important event during that era. Unfortunately we will never know if Armstrong would have been as successful if there had been a level playing field.

The bottom line is he is a cheat that is vilified when many other cheats aren't. Why should that be so? The cheats all lied, they all cheated; most never apologised and many are making a healthy living out of cycling.

The continuing vilification of Armstrong is rank hypocrisy of the highest order; vilify them all or vilify none. There has to be a point where we all put this crap to bed; this won't happen until we accept the past and stop whinging on about it.

The only people who have a right to whinge are those riders who were cheated out of a career. The rest of us were either entertained, gained publicity from the successes or earned money from being employed in the sport. We all had our value and the benefit of it at the time; by definition subsequent revelations cannot diminish that.

Nicely put and I couldn't agree with you more.

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Gkam84 | 8 years ago
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Talking with one of the riders on the ride. There has been alot of positivity from the road side, both before and during Armstrong's participation.

I was initially one of the haters and couldn't see why Thomas would invite him at all, but you just have to look at the publicity it has gotten because of this, long may it continue and long may the pounds roll in for the charity.

Whatever you think of Armstrong, he is supporting a charity, as he has always done with anything involving cancer, so that can only be seen as good.

Armstrong certainly played a part in casting doubt on riders like Froome today, but so did WADA, the UCI and to some what, they teams themselves. If everything was see through and public, no-one would have a need to doubt things, everything is hidden away from scrutiny, which always gives rise to conspiracy's.

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Jimbomitch | 8 years ago
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The BBC called him cycling's Voldermort, always lurking in the shadows. I like that analogy.

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oliverjames | 8 years ago
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Never let it be said that he has no balls.

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Kadinkski | 8 years ago
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From what I've been reading he's been treated really well by the press & public (not so much from the officialdom). He's also getting a lot of new publicity for the charity - good stuff.

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Chuck | 8 years ago
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He's not competing so the bottom line is surely that he can do what he wants, and I guess it's up to other people if they want to get upset about it.

Otherwise it starts to look like rather absurd, arbitrary, and pointless hounding IMO.

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PaulBox | 8 years ago
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I wish the attention seeking prick would just piss off...

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Leviathan replied to PaulBox | 8 years ago
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PaulBox wrote:

I wish the attention seeking prick would just piss off...

And in the end, no one was that bothered (except Paul maybe) just don't give him your attention next time.

Why is he standing beside a bread sign?

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kwi replied to Leviathan | 8 years ago
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bikeboy76 wrote:

Why is he standing beside a bread sign?

He's not standing, he's loafing!  35

(I'll get my coat....)

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