BRITISH cycling chief Brian Cookson last night labelled disgraced Lance
Armstrong a bully, a liar and a cheat.
Angry Cookson led a chorus of disapproval against the seven-time Tour de
France winner, who finally said sorry and admitted he ruled the world on
banned substances.
But during his interview with chat show host Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong denied
it was “sport’s biggest doping programme”, saying “it was smart, but it was
conservative, risk averse”.
And while the Texan, 41, ended years of denials by admitting he used
performance-enhancing drugs, Cookson was left unconvinced.
The British Cycling president said: “I don’t think Lance is sorry, he is just
sorry he has been caught.
“He is a bully, a liar and a cheat and the only reason he is talking about it
now is because he had no alternative. I can only think his confession is
about being able to look himself and his family in the eye because I can
tell you right now the sport of cycling does not want Lance back.
“There is a lot more we need to hear from Lance. I’m not convinced even now he
is telling the whole truth.
“Saying sorry does not make what he has done any more acceptable. Here there
was an entire infrastructure which enabled widespread doping.
“I want to know who else was involved — the coaches, the managers, the
suppliers, the scientists making it, those who transported it.
“So he should be talking to Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, not Oprah Winfrey. Dame
Tanni is part of an independent commission set up to investigate the
Armstrong era and finally get to the truth.”
Armstrong, who has since been stripped of his seven Tour titles, confessed to
using EPO, testosterone, cortisone and Human Growth Hormone when questioned
by Winfrey, as a worldwide TV audience looked on in horror.
But Cookson added: “For me the real thing that has to come out is who were
these other people involved — the doctors that helped him, the companies
that supplied him.
“Some of the stuff he was taking, apparently, was still in clinical trials so
how on earth did he get hold of it?
“If the allegations that he bribed people, that he was given a nod and a wink
when the testers were approaching his house and all this kind of thing, are
true, let’s have that information.
“Who actually did he bribe? Where were the payments made? Were third parties
involved and so on?
“Let’s not have innuendos and smears, let’s have the actual facts and names of
places and towns, the amounts.
“The sort of thing Armstrong was doing, apparently, was not just popping a few
pills behind the changing rooms, it was sophisticated conspiracies, cheating
over a long period of time on a large scale.”
Journalist Paul Kimmage, a former Tour de France rider and long-time critic of
Armstrong, fumed: “Had Oprah asked the logical questions, it would have done
a lot more for the sport.
“When he mentioned shady dealings with the UCI — the International Cycling
Union — the logical follow-up is to ask about those shady dealings.
“Instead it was all very cosy and she let him off the hook. By the end of it I
just wanted to put my boot through the TV.”
Kimmage said he was left with the feeling Armstrong had little or no regret
for what he had done.
He added: “This guy had one regret and that was that he was caught. He doesn’t
give a damn about anyone except Lance Armstrong.
“If he really wants to help the sport he needs to present himself at USADA
chief Travis Tygart’s door and give a full account of what he did.
“That’s the only way he can do cycling any service and repair the damage he’s
done.”