Tour de France - Armstrong expecting Tour ban

Eurosport - Sat, 11 Apr 18:37:00 2009

Seven-times Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has said that he expects the French Anti-Doping Agency will prevent him from riding in this year's race.

CYCLING Lance Armstrong - 0

"There is a very high likelihood they will prohibit me from riding on the Tour," the 37-year-old American said on his website.

The AFLD had earlier said Armstrong could face disciplinary action because he "did not respect the obligation to stay under (the) direct and permanent observation" of a drugs tester who came to his southern France residence last month.

Armstrong said he went to shower while Astana team manager Johan Bruyneel was checking the tester's credentials with the International Cycling Union.

"He (the tester) was odd, he was alone. He seemed suspicious," said Armstrong.

The Texan, who fought testicular cancer before coming back in 1998, was asked to provide urine, blood and hair samples when returning from a training ride around Beaulieu-sur-Mer last month.

Any sanction imposed on Armstrong would be valid on French territory only.

"It's too bad. The Tour is something I love dearly, something I wanted to ride, to race in, to be competitive in, either go for a victory or help Albert (Contador) or Levi (Leipheimer) get a victory," he said.

"We shall see. The comeback has been important to me for two main reasons.

"Obviously I have a passion for cycling still, but more importantly I have a passion for the global fight against cancer.

"I wanted to tell that story in France but if we can't do that we can't do that it's their call, it's their country, their event, their rules so we have to play by those."

Armstrong has had a difficult relationship with Tour organisers, the Amaury Sport Organisation, who said last year the 37-year-old's return to the race would be "embarrassing".

In 2005, the French sports daily L'Equipe, owned by ASO's parent company Editions Philippe Amaury, claimed samples of Armstrong's urine from the 1999 race showed traces of the banned blood-boosting substance erythropoietin.

However, Armstrong, who has never tested positive, was cleared by a Dutch investigator appointed by UCI.

AFLD president Pierre Bordry last year invited Armstrong to have his 1999 samples re-tested but the Texan declined, arguing they could have been compromised.

Reuters

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  1. lets get one thing straight about lance armstrong - he­ is unquestionably the most drug tested athlete in the­ history of world sport. Why? Because the authorities­ (The French ones in particular) could not and still­ cannot accept that he has consistently been the best­ rider in the tour de france.
    Test after test after test­ have failed to nail anything on him, but they just will­ not let it go, because he is not french.
    This kind of­ racism is meant to be being forced out of world sport,­ it is simply because of his nationality.
    I don't­ think this kind of treatment would have been allowed to­ continue over so many years if his skin was a different­ colour.
    As one comment in this stream pointed out `he­ only ever rode the tour and not the other big­ races', so what? Every other rider on the circiut­ could have chosen to do the same.
    It's just a shame­ that sporting achievents on such a grand scale these­ days are always tainted by poeples norrow minded poorly­ educated belief that greatness cannot be reached­ without cheating.
    I for one will be watching the race­ because it remains the spectacle which captured my­ interest as a child, I just hope lance is there to­ relight the touchpaper as the sport seems to have­ lacked a real leader on the pedals since his­ retirement.

    From James, on Sat 11 Apr 10:01AM
  2. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    whant to buy some drugS
    CONTACT

    LANCE­ ARMSTRONG
    PROFFESSIONAL CHEAT !!

    From STEVEN W, on Sat 11 Apr 9:54AM

  3. oh ch so no americans coming and am scottish no wonder­ people across the world thinkthe french are arrogant

    From john, on Sat 11 Apr 9:50AM

  4. Ok I cant tell you what my source said as its an­ Invalid comment apparently

    From PeterS, on Sat 11 Apr 9:43AM

  5. "And­ I'll be a whole lotta American tourists­ ­ *won't* be coming to France in July­ either."

    YIPPPEEEE!!!!

    No bl**dy Americans

    From H C, on Sat 11 Apr 9:39AM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    The man is a cheat pure and simple........maybe all the­ great riders were?I don't know enough about all of­ them to say, but I do know(or at least have very­ reliable evidence) that lance's urine samples from­ previous years all show that he was using drugs to gain­ an advantage.........they just could not detect those­ drugs until after more recently.........

    If he was­ only using the same drugs as his opponents then fair­ enough he is great, but if as I suspect he was given a­ chemical advantage, well then his victories say more­ about the quality of the drugs than him

    From PeterS, on Sat 11 Apr 9:34AM

  7. lets hope sense provails the man made the tour for­ the french.

    From Thomas C, on Sat 11 Apr 9:17AM

  8. Lance, you don't need this - Let them race without­ you, viewing figures will go through the floor without­ you - ride the Vuelta and let this event take the­ viewing figures...

    From Catherine, on Sat 11 Apr 8:46AM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    i'm so bored of lance armstrong, who really cares­ other than those from the usa

    From Anna, on Sat 11 Apr 8:14AM

  10. Clever these French aren't they. They've tried­ for years to get Lance and now they'll do it on a­ technicality...v.clever.
    Lance is mentally strong so I­ hope he just ignores the TdF and takes his cancer fight­ to the Vuelta instead.

    From keithrussell473, on Sat 11 Apr 7:52AM

  11. People only criticise through fear or jealousy.Lance­ Armstrong is head and shoulders above any of thes­ officials.

    From Michael, on Sat 11 Apr 5:26AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    this guy's an arrogant @rse. The main reason he won­ all those Tours, is that he ONLY rode in the TdF, none­ of the other races, that most pro cyclists ride­ in.

    Get over yourself.

    From pegez, on Sat 11 Apr 4:28AM

  13. miguel b it seems as if your boy's over in Spain­ are where all the dope goes you ignuranus.

    From chad, on Sat 11 Apr 3:53AM

  14. Since when have they installed showers in French­ houses?

    From mikeg, on Sat 11 Apr 2:25AM

  15. You don't need all this Lance.Forget the TDF,if you­ are fit enough after the crash ride the Giro,if not the­ Vuelta.You showed us all how great you are by winning­ 7.You don't need 8.As for all you lot who insist he­ didn't ride clean shame on you.Why can't you­ believe & leave him alone.

    From jacreesy, on Fri 10 Apr 11:37PM

  16. The French are a funny lot at the best of times. They­ have made it obvious over the lasat decade that they­ don't want their race won by any one but a­ Frenchman.(It must have upet them when Induran won)­ Such a shame that Mr Armstrong, an American, has won it­ seven times on the trot and recovered from cancer along­ the way! It would appear that the French will go to any­ lengths to ensure that Mr Armstrong doesn't even­ have the chance to win an eigth tour. I am not an­ American I am British and keep hoping one of our­ cyclists do well enough to win,come on Mr Millar...­ We.ll thats me done on this.

    From David, on Fri 10 Apr 11:22PM
  17. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    What a whiner! Each time this guy opens his mouth he­ complains about the French. He must have had a love­ affair with a girl from here which did not end well. I­ think he's a great champion. But the problem with­ him is that he has never accepted to comply to the­ French rules. Precisely because they are more severe­ than the UCI rules. He is a little paranoäc too. He­ believes the rules are made against him. But as he said­ this is our country and our race and we're not­ going to let a champion, even an american champion -in­ general one should not annoy american champions, this­ is very bad - make a big joke out of it. If some say­ they won't watch the Tour then fair enough.­ We're not very bothered.

    From Lisle-Boisseau, on Fri 10 Apr 11:02PM

  18. It seems the French authorities don't want Lance­ back in their race.
    What difference would going for a­ shower make to a dope test anyway?
    If he is banned I­ won't be watching.

    From M, on Fri 10 Apr 10:40PM

  19. miguel, don,t write sutch @#$% you know nothing about­ cycling at all, so keep off

    From tumgeshpower, on Fri 10 Apr 10:36PM

  20. mercurycu don't watch the Tour then. Who cares?

    From Lisle-Boisseau, on Fri 10 Apr 10:31PM
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