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His options are so limited, he has been caught with almost undeniable evidence
The Guardian summed it up quite well yesterday
10 Questions Oprah Winfrey should ask
1 You have yet to respond in detail to the case made against you by the US Anti-Doping Agency which provides overwhelming evidence that you headed a doping programme "more extensive than any previously revealed in professional sports history … a fraudulent course of conduct that extended over a decade". Usada's case against you includes sworn statements from more than two dozen witnesses including 15 professional cyclists and a dozen former members of your teams. How can you deny their case?
2 Past experience of doping confessions suggests that you will claim you had no alternative but to dope because that was the culture of the sport at the time and it was the only way to succeed. Has it ever occurred to you that in 1999, when you won your first Tour de France, the sport was in a state of transition, with a body of riders and teams clearly and publicly committed to change, and that your doping, and that of other US Postal riders in that Tour and those that followed, contributed strongly to the sport being sucked back into the morass of doping? More importantly, did it cross your mind at the time?
3 In the light of the overwhelming evidence of doping against you in the 1999 Tour, have you any words for Christophe Bassons, whom you intimidated during that race over his anti-doping stance? Similarly, have you any thoughts for Filippo Simeoni, whom you bullied out of a possible 2004 stage win after he testified against your trainer Michele Ferrari?
4 What would you say now if you were alone in a room with any of the whistleblowers – Emma O'Reilly, Greg LeMond, Betsy Andreu, David Walsh – who you threatened when they attempted to expose you?
5 Usada's reasoned decision states that you had "ultimate control ... over the doping culture of [the US Postal Service] team ..." that you "required that [your team-mates] adhered to the doping program outlined for them". Was this indeed the case?
6 It is known that you madetwo substantial payments to the International Cycling Union during your racing career. Why did you make those payments?
7 Could you detail any meetings you may have had at the UCI to discuss doping matters and recall what was said at those meetings?
8 In 2009, you returned to the Tour de France after four years' retirement. Usada claims there is evidence to suggest you used blood doping during that race. Can you confirm or deny that? Either way, why did you refuse your consent for the ICU to supply Usada with its laboratory and collection information from that race for analysis and will you now grant that permission?
9 A cycling fan, who believed in you for many years, asked how people like him could possibly now have faith in any of their heroes. What would you say to him and those in the cancer community who believed in you for so long?
10 In July this year, all the living riders who have raced in the Tour de France in its 100 editions will be in Paris for the finish. Will you take your place among them or do you feel your place is elsewhere?
10 Questions Oprah Winfrey probably will ask
1 Have the past few months been crazy, emotional, frightening and full of lots of scandalous – truly scandalous – lies that sadly you can't talk about right now for legal reasons?
2 Would you like to see an uplifting montage of slow-motion footage of you looking triumphant and sad, soundtracked by Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes?
3 If you feel the need to cry, or even make your voice wobble a little like you're going to cry but instead fight back those tears and take a breath and keep right on with what you were saying because dammit you're better than this and you owe it to not just the world but to yourself to tell this story then do you think, Lance, that you might be best just giving in to it?
4 Do you by any chance have a folksy anecdote about something your father said to you when you were a very small boy, perhaps while sitting on a porch or playing catch in the back yard? You do?
5 Would you like to talk for quite a long time about what Being An American means to you?
6 Is there a sense that perhaps a lot of people have always been jealous of your success? That maybe there was and remains a lot of jealousy out there, a lot of European jealousy, a British press-led European conspiracy of jealousy? Do you think, Lance, that might be a possibility? I'm just putting it out there.
7 Looking back, how badly did the death of your dog when you were seven years old affect you? Looking at this picture of your dog can you feel the tears welling up, the anger coming out? Can you feel the tears for your dog? Would you like to reach out and pat the dog? Pat the dog, Lance. Cry. Cry and pat the dog.
8 Do you by any chance have plans for a nationwide tour of schools speaking about the dangers of caring too much, falling foul of the temptations of others, being at the wrong end of a vast sporting witch-hunt and basically not learning to love yourself enough?
9 How about a new book too? Possibly something in big type with lots of pictures called Lance: My Longest Journey or Lance: A New Hope or perhaps just Lance: I Suffered For Your Sins?
10 Shall we hug now? |
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Author: johntheexpat
2-12-2019 21:33:36