Lance Armstrong says it's impossible to win the Tour de France without drugs - he should know!

Isn't it just what the world needed - and in particular that of cycling?

On the day before the 100th Tour de France begins, Le Monde has published an interview with the race's biggest cheat (well the most publicised one at least) and liar (ditto).

The man in question of course is Lance Armstrong.

(screenshot from Disney film)

There's no need to go into the history of the man, his seven now-tainted wins of the Tour, the constant denials of drug taking and eventual admission or his deserved stripping of the titles he had "won".

That's all well-chronicled elsewhere.

But proving surely that Armstrong somehow believes none of the blame lies with him, here are some of the things Armstrong says in the interview, about the race.

"I didn’t invent doping," he told the paper.

"And it didn't end with me. I just participated in a system that already existed."

Yeah well.

He might be right.

But those are not exactly the words of contrition you would expect from a man who brought disgrace to the sport in the manner in which he constantly avoided telling the truth.

But there's more in his exercise of "justifying" his behaviour or lack of guilt.

“It’s impossible to win the Tour de France without doping because the Tour is an endurance test in which oxygen is a deciding factor," Armstrong said, adding that EPO was decisive for the race just as it was for long distance running.

Way to go! Now let's do a little deflection, shall we? And while we're about it, let's tarnish the reputation of other sportsmen and women based on your in depth knowledge of what it takes to "win".

Bravo M. Armstrong.

On former French rider Laurent Jalabert who had to step down as France 2 television and radio pundit for this year's Tour after doping allegations emerged earlier this week, Armstrong has some "comforting" words.

"Ah, Jaja. With all the respect I have for him, he's in the process of lying."

Congratulations M. Armstrong. You are an expert on the practice.

And finally on the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy (huh?), Armstrong said, "I really appreciate Sarko as a man. When I say this, it's not a political statement. It's just a personal opinion. He has always been cool to me."

No, it's not really clear what relevance that particular comment has to anything, but it was included in the interview.

If you want to read excerpts (in French) or the whole interview, then click here and here (for subscribers) respectively.

But there again, maybe you've far better things to do...

The 100th edition of the Tour de France will get underway on Saturday on  Corsica - a fitting tribute as it'll be the first time in its history that it has visited the French Mediterranean island.

Incomplete faction report: No doping scandal hits Tour de France

This year's Tour de France has once again run into trouble after organisers suspended one of the teams because its riders had failed to meet strict doping requirements.

The Chinese-sponsored Aching Joints Technology team was thrown off the Tour after police seized medical supplies at their hotel on Friday at the end of the sixth stage of the race in the eastern French city of Metz.

Slovakia's Peter Sagan wins sixth stage of Tour de France (screenshot from Eurosport video)

Apparently team doctors were found to be in possession of an "unacceptably low" quantity of the performance-enhancing drug Erythropoietin or EPO.

"Our riders are simply not as heavily built as some of those in other teams," Wei Wil Win, the Aching Joints Technology team boss told French television.

"And the quantity of EPO we need to give them falls below the newly-introduced required minimum limit," he continued.

"Of course we encourage our riders to dope themselves as much as they possibly can without thinking about the potential long-term health risks, but the fact of the matter is they're fitter and generally better trained and simply don't need them as much."

Organisers changed regulations this year to require teams to use performance-enhancing drugs for the first time after repeated doping accusations hit the headlines during previous Tours.

"We wanted to give all riders the same chance and rid the race of false allegations," the organisers said in a press statement.

"Setting a minimum EPO level and requiring teams to use them seemed to be the easiest way to avoid any potential doping scandal, but Aching Joints Technology has clearly contravened those rules and in doing so, Faction report; tarnished the reputation of the race."

The news comes as a further blow to the Tour which is already having to cope with reports that several riders in this year's race have apparently agreed to testify against their former team mate and seven-times winner Lance Armstrong in a case to be heard before the the US Anti-Doping Agency.

"We can't win," a race spokesman is quoted as saying.

"When performance-enhancing drugs were illegal we faced constant criticism that we weren't doing enough to enforce the ban. Even though we've changed the rules to make EPOs mandatory, it seems there's always going to be someone trying to flout them and ready to cheat."

Aching Joints Technology are expected to appeal the suspension and take their case to the World anti-doping agency or Wada.

But as Win admitted, "It'll be too late for this year's race and is yet another sad day for the sport of cycling".

Indeed.

A stage of The Tour de France - close up

When the Tour de France passes by your front door you get a close up view of what all the fuss is about and you can't help but realise that it's something more than "just" a sporting event.

Stage 11 of this year's race was from the village of Blaye-les-Mines to the town of Lavaur, both in the soutwestern département of Tarn.

The route took the riders past the pretty bastide of Castelnau de Montmiral.

Castelnau de Montmiral

To find exactly where that is, grab a map of France, look at the southwest portion of the hexagon-shaped country where you'll find the city of Toulouse.

Trace a path back northeast or at roughly two o'clock on a watch face and you'll come across Gaillac.

It's one of France's oldest wine-producing areas and, it has to be said, also one of the country's best-kept Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) secrets.

Just northwest of the town, and set in the area's typical rolling countryside, surrounded by vineyards and fields of sunflowers is Castelnau de Montmiral, a village well worthy of its rating as a member of France's 155-strong association, Les plus beaux villages de France (France's most beautiful villages).

A wander up the lane would be all it would take to be afforded a view of the riders as they raced past the foot of the village.

The Tour de France is much more than just about the sport of cycling, a glimpse of the riders, the unreasonable endurance or - dare it be said - the seemingly ubiquitous drugs scandals.

It's also a living, breathing postcard of the country - televised live nationally for the whole length of each stage, transmitted internationally and followed throughout the world.

The official website has some pretty impressive stats which drive home just how much of an EVENT it is, and the passion and aura that surrounds it.

It apparently attracts annually between 12 and 15 million spectators, 80 per cent of whom are French and the rest from abroad. That's a lot of mouths to feed along the route and plenty of lolly for local businesses.

Last year each stage was not only broadcast live on national television - just as it is every year - but also transmitted to another 188 countries, 60 of which also carry the event live.

Over 2,000 journalists from 35 countries also come along for the ride for the duration of the three weeks.

The 98 editions (including the current one) of the Tour has visited over 500 different host towns and villages - talk about a wonderful commercial for the French countryside.

And so the list goes on.

Back to that 11th stage- a decade after the Tour had last made its way past Castelnau de Montmiral on its way to Lavaur.

Just a day before this usually quiet and lazy part of rural France had been basking in sun and enjoying temperatures of 34 degrees Celsius.

But overnight storms followed by a morning downpour and that infamous Vent d'Autan had left temperatures barely poking above 20 degrees.

The riders were expected shortly after 3.00pm (the local paper had said so) but already several hours ahead of time some faithful followers had braved the rain and wind and were waiting patiently.

And with good cause, because ahead of the race there was the Advertising Caravan, a procession of sponsors' vehicles that set off a good hour-and-a-half before the riders and got the spectators "in the mood" as it wound it way along the course.

A truck in the Advertising Caravan

The first obvious sign that the riders weren't far away came from a commentary car telling spectators that the race leaders were just behind, three-and-a-half minutes ahead of the peloton.

It was soon followed by a motorcade of gendarmes, television cameras on motorbikes, organiser's cars and those from some of the teams and hovering above was a helicopter.

It was clear the leaders weren't far behind.

And sure enough, there they were, the breakaway group of a handful of riders, flashing past and disappearing down the hill towards the nearby town of Gaillac.

The breakaway group arrives

But it wasn't over. Far from it.

The first helicopter had been joined by five others; some circling the village of Castelnau de Montmiral, broadcasting those aerial pictures for which the Tour television coverage is so famous, others keeping track along with their motorised colleagues of the progress of the peloton.

And there it was, the peloton, so distinctively familiar to anyone who has followed even a part of one stage of the Tour on the television.

Up close it was electric. As it approached, individual riders seemed lost in the general blur.

But there, just there for a split second was the yellow jersey of the current race leader, 32-year-old Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, tucked in behind the rest of his Europcar team.

The peloton with Thomas Voeckler in yellow

As it sped past followed by a stream of team cars, more motorbike cameramen and commentators, spectators cheered, just as they probably do throughout the whole of the around 3,600-kilometre Tour year in, year out.

The peloton on the way to Gaillac

Team cars

And then it was over.

The last few stragglers had vanished out of sight and for the local Montmiralais Montmiralaises continued live coverage of this year's Tour would have to be from the comfort of their sitting room.

But La Grande Boucle, as it's nicknamed in France, was of course far from being over.

The riders might have left behind them the village of Castelnau de Montmiral and be on their way to Lavuar via Gaillac, but this year's Tour still has another 11 days to go before it ends in Paris on July 24 on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

And those include mountain stages in both the Pyrénées and the Alps.

Laurent Fignon - the death of a sporting legend

France mourns the death of a sporting hero, Laurent Fignon.

Laurent Fignon, Tour de France, 1993 (from Wikipedia, author Eric Houdas)

Take a look at any of the French newspapers this morning and there's one story that stands out; the death on Tuesday of a cycling legend in France, Laurent Fignon.

The two-time winner of the Tour de France died at the age of 50 after a battle with cancer.

Tributes quickly poured in from cyclists, past and present, the world of sport, politics and television on the news of his death.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, described Fignon as "an extraordinary and exceptional champion who had left an indelible mark on the history of the Tour de France."

The director of the Tour de France, Christian Prudhomme, described him as one of the "great figures of French cycling", a man who had been for the past 30 years "outspoken" and "chivalrous".

To gain a measure of just how important Fignon was to the sport and the esteem in which he was held in France, you have to wind the clock back a couple of decades when he twice won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984.

Five years later he lost out by the smallest of margins finishing second behind American Greg LeMond after the two men put had put on what has been described as "arguably one of the most thrilling battles in the history of the Tour".

The gap between the two men at the end of a gruelling three weeks was just eight seconds - the closest finish there has ever been to the Tour.

"Fignon was one the greater champions who was recognised more for his loss in the (1989) race than his first two victories," LeMond told France 24.

"When he lost the Tour de France in 1989 it was one of the few where I felt we both won."

He retired from competitive riding in 1993 and in his autobiography published last year admitted that he had taken drugs during his career, but not the performance-enhancing EPOs of the 1990s which allowed mediocre cyclists to compete at a level well above their natural talent.

Among Fignon's 76 career victories were two Milan-San Remo races and the Giro d'Italia in 1989.

Last year Fignon announced that he had been diagnosed with advanced cancer of the digestive system and was undergoing treatment.

But he continued as a consultant for both national public television, France 2, and the commercial radio station, Europe 1, for this year's race even though at times his voice appeared to be failing him.

Laurent Fignon, August 12, 1960 - August 31, 2010.

Head-butting cyclist thrown out of Tour de France

Renshaw (right) head-butting Dean (left) - screenshot France 2 Television

It's an image that has made sports headlines around the world; the sight of a cyclist head-butting a competitor as the two approached the finishing line in a stage of this year's Tour de France.

It happened on Thursday at the end of the 84.5-kilometre ride from Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence in the 11th stage of this year's race.

As the riders jostled for position for the final sprint, Australian Mark Renshaw (team HTC Columbia) quite literally head-butted New Zealander Julian Dean (team Garmin) not once but three times, as he cleared a path for the eventual stage winner, his HTC Columbia team mate Britain's Mark Cavendish.

After reviewing what had happened race officials decided to throw Renshaw out of the Tour.

"This is cycling not wrestling," course director Jean-Francois Pescheux said on announcing the decision.

"There are rules to respect and his behaviour was unacceptable."

Renshaw's reaction to his exclusion was one of disbelief and disappointment.

“I never imagined I would be removed from any race, especially the Tour de France, AP quoted the 27-year-old as saying.

" I pride myself on being a very fair, safe and a straight-up sprinter, and never in my career have I received a fine or even a warning.”

Dean was surprised at Renshaw's behaviour especially as the two riders had ironically been team mates at Credit Agricole in 2006 and 2007.

"He wasn't like that when we rode together," Dean said afterwards.

"But it's not the first time we've seen this sort of thing," he added.

"It has already happened several times on this year's Tour."

Tour de France: 3 coups de tête devant les caméras Vidéo jeanmarcmorandini sélectionnée dans TV

Tour de France anti-doping tests and cheats

Tour de France route from Wikipedia uploaded by Sémhur

Cycling's premier event, the Tour de France, starts on Saturday. But even before the first stage gets underway in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, scientists are claiming that the Tour's anti-doping test are flawed and some riders have found new ways of cheating.

According to the BBC, Pierre Bordry, the head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (Agence Française de Lutte contre le Dopage, AFLD) has raised concerns over the reliability of tests scheduled to be carried out by the sport's governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI) during this year's Tour.

Last year AFLD and UCI shared responsibility for testing but, as the BBC reports, there was friction between the two bodies with the French claiming that the UCI had given some top riders preferential treatment and had relied only on screening samples rather than backing them up with customs information and police investigations.

The UCI will conduct tests alone this year with observers from the World Anti-Doping Agency, Wada, on hand to oversee the screening process.

As far as Bordry is concerned, that's proof that Wada also has some doubts about the UCI's ability to keep the Tour drug-free.

"I think if this year there are three people from Wada to control UCI, surely there is a reason for that," he told the BBC.

Bordry is also critical of the new passport introduced by the UCI to establish a "biological profile" of every rider based on blood and urine samples taken throughout the year.

It's supposed to set a norm of levels for each rider but Bordry says it can be easily foiled by taking small but regular amounts of doping substances.

Bordry is not alone in his concerns ahead of this year's Tour.

Bloomberg News reports that while testing in cycling has become more rigorous, riders have found new ways of cheating.

"Cyclists are transfusing less blood and injecting smaller doses of stamina-building drugs to try to get around more intensive doping tests, according to four scientists who analyse exam results," it says in a report that looks at the general problem of doping in cycling.

“I’m afraid things are as bad as they’ve ever been,” Michael Ashenden, an anti-doping researcher on Australia’s Gold Coast told Bloomberg News.

"What I see is the incidence of riders trying to dope and avoid detection isn’t very different to how it has been throughout history.”

The UCI has defended both its passport and its testing, insisting that it does more than most other governing bodies to try to combat drug-taking.

"We have created the most sophisticated tool that many other international sports organisation would like to introduce," Enrico Carpani, a UCI spokesman told the BBC.

"We are explaining, we are selling the biological passport to other federations so that's proof that this new approach is the most important and the most reliable that sport has today to fight against doping."

This year's Tour de France, the 97th edition of the race, will begin on Saturday with the prologue in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

The final stage will be on July 25 with riders crossing the line on the Champs Élysées in Paris.

France's disappointing sporting double whammy

It hasn't been a great week for French sport - or at least not for two events held annually here.

First up there was the announcement that next year's Formula 1 Grand Prix at Magny Cours would be cancelled. And then came news that Germany's public television channels had decided not to broadcast live cycling's Tour de France in 2009.

Lack of money is behind the decision to cancel next year's French Formula 1 Grand Prix.

On Wednesday the president of la Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA), Nicolas Deschaux, announced that there would be no race in France during the 2009 calendar.

The decision is probably not too much of a surprise given that the rights to stage last year's race reportedly cost around €13 million and it made a loss of €1 million.

With partners pulling out because of the economic climate here in France and the belt tightening required, the FFSA would be forced to foot the bill alone.

"The federation cannot pay to host the Grand Prix by itself," said Dechaux. "It's too much of a risk."

So no French Grand Prix for 2009, but there's still the chance that it might return in 2010 - although there's likely to be pretty stiff competition from other countries such as South Korea, Russia and India, who are also apparently looking to fill the available slot.

France currently has six other projects in place to host a Grand Prix in either 2010 or a year later. A renovated Magny Cours is one possible bidder, but the whole thing could take on a distinctly Disney-like character as Marne-la-Vallée, also home to EuroDisney is in pole position to find the money for the event.

In the world of cycling, organisers of next year's Tour de France, were dealt a blow on Thursday when one of Germany's public television channels, ARD, announced that it would not be broadcasting next year's Tour de France live.

"The sporting value of the Tour de France has declined because of the increase in the number of doping cases," said Fritz Raff, the president of ARD. "As a result the interest in broadcasting it has also diminished accordingly," he added.

Hours later the country's other public channel, ZDF, confirmed that it wouldn't be showing live coverage without ARD - effectively shutting the door on live transmission on German public television of the Tour.

Tour organisers, Amaury Sports Organisation (AMO), say they've done everything that was requested of them to weed out the cheats.

In a statement after the announcement AMO all but accused ARD of making the battle against catching drug takers even harder.

"ARD requested a fight against doping but gets upset when we find case," it said.

"It would be better to test and find nothing. In taking this decision, ARD is unfortunately encouraging those leading the fight against doping to throw in the towel in order to ensure broadcasting."

In spite of the organiser's efforts to keep this year's Tour clean and come down hard on those taking drugs, the recent revelations that Stefan Schumacher and his team mate Bernhard Kohl had tested positive for the banned substance EPO seem to have been the final straw for the two channels.

Both men rode for the German team, Gerolsteiner, with Kohl finishing third overall in the Tour and winning the polka dot jersey for best climber.

After suspending live broadcasting of the Tour two years ago following a series of doping scandals, ARD returned to cover the event in 2008, albeit with less airtime than in previous years.

In spite of public television's decision, there'll still be a way for German cycling fans to watch the Tour live on the small screen, just as they did in 2007 when a public channel, Sat 1, stepped in to cover the event.

The pan-European sports channel, Eurosport, will continue to carry the Tour live.

Boonen banned from Tour

Belgium’s former world cycling champion, Tom Boonen, has been forced out of this year’s Tour de France.

The rider was barred after it was revealed that he had tested positive for cocaine use outside of competition in May.

So drugs are yet again making the headlines of cycling’s annual “jewel in the crown” and it hasn’t even started. It doesn’t get underway until July 5.

There again drugs and cycling seem to be two words that are almost synonymous in a sport that is riddled with doping scandals.

The winners of the last two Tours, Spain’s Alberto Contador in 2008 and US rider Floyd Landis in 2007 – have both been at the centre of doping allegations.

Indeed last year’s event overall degenerated into what was termed a “Tour de Frauds” with several top riders forced to drop out during the race after failing controls.

Organisers of the Tour seem to make an annual effort to clean up what is considered by many to be the sport’s showpiece but clearly face an uphill battle.

Reacting quickly to the news of Boonen’s positive test for cocaine, the Tour’s general race director Christian Prudhomme said the actions of the rider had brought disgrace upon cycling and the Tour itself.

And he’s not kidding. Boonen is yet another high profile rider to make the headlines for the wrong reasons. He was world champion in 2005, took last year’s green jersey as the best sprinter on the Tour and just last April won the prestigious Paris-Roubaix race when he beat Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland in a sprint finish.

While Boonen might be out of this year’s race his team, Quickstep, will still take part.

It’s perhaps it’s a little hard to believe that Proudhomme actually thought and apparently still thinks the sport’s image hadn’t been tarnished almost beyond repair.

News of yet another drugs scandal, albeit outside of competition and therefore under the circumstances not considered performance enhancing, will hardly rock the nation or the sport.

Officially even though cocaine is classed as a stimulant, it’s only considered a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency if taken during competition.

The Tour’s organisers and the sport’s governing body, ICU, defend themselves, claiming the very tests they carry out prove how much more of an effort they are making to rid the sport of its shame.

This year’s 21-stage Tour de France will get rolling on July 5 from Brest in western France, finishing on July 27 in Paris, and doubtless there’ll be a few more drugs headlines to make the news before, during and after the event.

Tour de Drugz

There’s not really an awful lot to say.

A national treasure that should be this country’s Tour de Force has once again pitifully degenerated into the annual Tour de Frauds. But no end of pathetic puns can relieve the shame and dishonour that a bunch of cheats has brought upon a sport that grips the nation every summer, yet refuses to deal with the problem that lies at its very core.

Rider after rider denies any involvement in drug-taking until they prove positive. And then they compound their deceit by claiming the tests were inaccurate. Last year’s winner for example, Floyd Landis, still maintains his innocence and one French cyclist several years ago, Richard Virenque, hotly refuted his involvement in “banned substances” until it was proven without a doubt. And he remains a hero to many followers of the sport, in spite of his EPO-enhanced exploits in the Alps and Pyrenees.

The Tour’s organisers and the sport’s governing body, ICU, defend themselves, claiming the very tests they carry out prove how much more of an effort they are making to rid the sport of its shame.

And while on the subject of shame, let’s take a quick look at what happened across the border last weekend. Belgium is often the butt of many a joke for the French, in much as Ireland is for England (for example where’s the biggest chip shop in the world? On the border between France and the Netherlands).

After recent elections, party leaders are trying to cobble together a coalition government and the most likely leader is Yves Leterme, the head of the Flemish Christian Democrats.

Last Saturday was a chance for Leterme to stamp his mark on a country traditionally divided along linguistic lines. And STAMP he did. July 21 is National Day in Belgium, and when asked by one of the country’s main TV channels what the day commemorated, he was unable to give the correct answer, mumbling incoherently about it “being the day the constitution was founded”. Wrong – It actually celebrates the day back in 1831 when Leopold 1 took the oath to become the first King of Belgium. Mind you it transpired that Leterme was in good company as a survey revealed that four out of five people had no idea why Belgians observed the day.

But Leterme was far from being finished. When reporters asked him to sing the opening lines of Belgium's national anthem, 'La Brabanconne', he broke into……….”La Marseillaise”. A bad joke as some suggested afterwards as he embarrassedly scuttled into the cathedral? Or more likely an ignorant oaf?

After all this is the same bloke who last year told a French newspaper that French speakers living around Brussels seemed "intellectually incapable" of learning Dutch. He has also in the past said the only things uniting the country were the King, the national soccer team and beer.

Ho hum.