Lance Armstrong; The Feds Investigation, the Cover Up and Sixty Minutes

I remember getting up early and watching the Tour De France as Lance Armstrong assaulted the mountains and the peloton. I would watch in simple awe as he won year after year, seven in all. He had such a positive impact on biking in America, that it still continues to flourish to this day.

For the past few years, a Federal investigation has been gathering facts on Lance Armstrong. They are looking at fraud, conspiracy, drug possession, and drug delivery. This could only be the tip of the iceberg. He rode for the US Postal team, which represents the Federal government.

Four of Lances former teammates are now coming out and strongly implicating him in performance enhancing drugs. Cycling appears to be one big pharmacy of various types of performance enhancing drugs. They even claim that they supplied each other along the way. They figured a way to beat the system of testing that is done. Outside of actual verbal claims, no physical evidence has been introduced. This is how good the drugs were. The riders could not be caught.

Sixty Minutes on CBS has went strongly after Armstrong. Although the former riders can not disclose what they told the Federal investigators, they have still stepped up to expose the former tour winner. Lances camp has said that these riders or just doing this to promote books. I wonder just how many books are being written.

One accusation has that the UIC, cycling's biggest governing body, was being paid large sums of money by Lances camp. This as a way for preferential treatment. Was this for a cover up or just for a hands off policy?

It would seem, that this is going to be a long ongoing investigation. It is quickly becoming more than just I said he said accusations. You can draw a lot of parallels between this and the Barry Bonds investigation. It will only be a matter of time before Lance goes before a Grand Jury.

My Take
I admire Lance for beating cancer. I admire him for tackling the Tour De France in a comeback. I appreciate what he has done with his foundation "Live Strong." However, now I am beginning to wonder where this will all end at. It is looking like there is much more to this story than just Lance himself. I do think that most of the individuals that govern cycling is doing a better job than Major League Baseball. They are suspending riders and putting them out of business. MLB still has players playing the games. The records set are remaining intact.