Tour de France - No extra security for Armstrong

Eurosport - Fri, 19 Dec 08:20:00 2008

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme has said no special security measures will be put in place for Lance Armstrong's return in 2009.

CYCLING 2008 Tour de France Armstrong Prudhomme - 0

American Armstrong, who announced in September he was coming out of a three-year retirement, confirmed on Monday he would take part in the world's greatest stage race next year despite having expressed concerns over his personal safety on the French roads.

"There are 3,500 kms of roads, 10 million people watching along the road. There will be no particular security measures, Prudhomme told reporters at his office just outside Paris.

Prudhomme said he was not surprised Armstrong was returning to the Tour.

"We were more surprised when he announced he was returning to cycling in September," he said. "It ends a media game but it is, after all, all but logical that he comes back to the Tour.

"He built his whole career on the Tour de France," added Prudhomme, who briefly met Armstrong at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport last week along with the tour organisers ASO.

"We just took note of his desire to come on the Tour.

"He did a lot for the popularity of the Tour in the Anglo-Saxon countries but the Tour is a monument in itself, it is (more than) 100 years old.

"The riders' achievements would not be what they are if they were not made on the Tour."

Armstrong has had a difficult relationship with the Tour organisers. After his seventh consecutive win in 2005, the French sports daily L'Equipe, who belong to ASO's parent company EPA, claimed they had evidence the Texan used the banned blood-booster EPO in 1999.

However, Armstrong was cleared by an independent committee although then World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound called the decision "surprising".

Prudhomme said he did not doubt the quality of L'Equipe's investigation but added there was an eight-year statute of limitations on doping offences.

"At the time there was no possible way to follow up on this," he said.

"Some will see his return as a fantastic comeback, others will only see a remembrance of the past."

Armstrong will hold a news conference in Tenerife, Spain, where his Astana team are training, on Thursday.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 15 of 15

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  1. heil Lance

    From amir B, on Sun 15 Feb 10:08AM

  2. Americans so readily jump to the defence of Armstrong.­ Their nationalistic pride blinkers them to the facts.­ Armstrong has close ties to the doping doctor Michelle­ Ferrari who "prepared" him for racing, most­ of his US postal team mates have tested positive or­ admitted to taking drugs while riding with Armstrong,­ the absence of a positive test does not prove he­ doesn't dope (read up on David Miller as an­ example, who incidentally is a friend of Armstrong and­ has had his support).

    If Armstrong doesn't dope,­ then why is he such a strong believer in the omerta?­ Why does he not come out in support of stronger­ anti-doping measures?

    There is a torrent of evidence­ against Armstrong. Just because no one has found the­ "smoking gun" yet shouldn't remove him­ from suspicion.

    And even if he doesn’t dope, look at­ his attitude towards whistle blowers like Simeoni and­ Bassons. He is clearly a @#$%.

    From nickbattrick, on Fri 2 Jan 9:03AM

  3. Christian Prudhommme seems to have failed to notice­ that the Italians are actually excited about­ Lance's return and I am sure the same would be said­ for the Spanish if he rode the Vuelta.

    Before Lance­ even finished his first Tour win in 1999 the French­ press had started their insinuations, without any­ foundation apart from a dominant performance which in­ their eyes could only have been drug fuelled.

    It is­ shame on the French that they have failed to celebrate­ one of the greatest athlete's ever, there is no­ doubt that if he had been French it would have been a­ different story.

    Everyone seems to forget he was a­ major force in cycling before his cancer, World No. 1­ and the youngest ever World Road Champion were just two­ of his achievements.

    From jbandbetsymac, on Mon 22 Dec 7:45AM

  4. Prudolt speaks with forked tongue! Prudolt is not­ happy that Armstrong will once again be the main focus­ of attention in "his" race! Prudolt is an­ old world weazel jealous of Armstrong's dominance­ in cycling in his own backyard.

    From tallmdman, on Sat 6 Dec 9:20PM

  5. Thanks for trying to clear this up bikeriderFrance. The­ United States is made up of dozen's of different­ Nationality's So to try and sum it up by calling­ this an Anglo Saxon country is not even close to what­ this country is made up of. In fact if anything English­ descendents have now become the minority. Hope­ everything well in France can't wait for the new­ year to begin. VIVE LE TOUR
    2009 is shaping up to be­ one of the best Tour's in year's hope it it­ lives up to the billing.

    From tallmdman, on Fri 5 Dec 1:42AM

  6. What is this Anglo-Saxon @#$%. We are called­ American's. hi there this is a french term which­ some french academics call "ENGLISH" ie the­ language,, thegovernment in france do not like the­ word "english" when talking about the­ language,, so anglo saxon was and is used by a very­ minority of french people. bon courage.

    From bikeriderfrance, on Wed 3 Dec 9:54PM

  7. Its ony a good thing that a rider like lance is in the­ tour, set examples to idiots like R.Ricco.

    From chriswae45, on Wed 3 Dec 2:28PM

  8. Prudhomme = prude + homme = pedant/ killjoy +­ man.
    '
    France is a lovely country and the TdF is­ the greatest. Don't let the inhabitants spoil it­ for us! Vive Lance.

    From p, on Wed 3 Dec 2:23PM

  9. Yep Ulrich cheated, Basso cheated Vino cheated only­ Armostrong was pure and put them 5 minutes in every TDF­ :). It's not a good thing to offense Prudhome like­ that he's doing he's best to rebuild the TDF­ after all the problems. And Armstrong is back to try­ and win the tour without doping this time. He­ want's to prove it to himself. I don't really­ think that cancer is his motivation.

    From lubvezenkov, on Wed 3 Dec 11:42AM

  10. What is this Anglo-Saxon @#$%. We are called­ American's. It's funny how people can say­ whatever they want about American's but if you are­ American and say something about another nationality or­ stereo-type someone you are called a racist. I­ don't think Prudhomme should stereo-type and put­ nationality into a category this set's bad­ prescedence. This is an
    Acadian statement that­ read's like vinegar. It just show's how he­ think's and watch out if he does not like your­ nationality he could try to find fault with you for­ something you didn't do.

    From tallmdman, on Wed 3 Dec 3:29AM

  11. Regardless of who the rider is, it's pure stupidity­ to announce that no extra security measures are in­ place at suhc a large event. Would have been much­ better to simply state that they never comment on­ security measures.

    From PatrickB, on Wed 3 Dec 2:19AM

  12. What a graceless,charmless,twisted, grudging French­ prat ! How can someone who gets up off his death-bed­ to win the toughest sporting event in the world, 7­ times, be anything other than a hero!

    Perhaps they­ should change the course this year, so that the finish­ takes place at Agincourt!

    From nicholasryan668, on Tue 2 Dec 11:16PM

  13. u can sense that prudhomme cant stand the idea that­ lance is as big as the tour for us anglo saxons,­ nothing gets up a frenchmans wick more than an anglo­ saxon who outshines him or his country. it goes back­ all the way in history. i just hope they let him race­ fairly because i sense they would love to see something­ happen that would stop him winning again. the french­ have always been bad losers just ask my french­ stepfather.

    From ralph, on Tue 2 Dec 10:07PM

  14. Armstrong with 7 yes 7 Tours De France will be a big­ pull but wont win number 8 cos Sastres gonna kick his­ butt (and Contadors too)

    From Andy B, on Tue 2 Dec 9:44PM

  15. Do Eurosport writers have a keyboard shortcut to­ autofill half of their pieces on Armstrong?­ Shift-Ctrl-A generates the text "Armstrong, who­ won a record breaking seventh Tour de France, retired­ in 2005. He has always had a difficult relationship­ with the organisers of the Tour. Allegations of doping­ have dogged his career, but he was­ acquitted...

    Please, just give us the news.

    From Nick, on Tue 2 Dec 8:20PM
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