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Lance Armstrong is riding 2 Tour de France stages for charity a day before the race, and some of the top figures in cycling hate it
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Lance Armstrong is going back to the Tour de France.
But he's not going back to race, the BBC reports; he's going to raise money for the charity Cure Leukaemia, and not without controversy.
Armstrong is riding two stages of the Tour route a day ahead of the actual race, with fellow cancer survivor and ex-England soccer player Geoff Thomas.
Thomas told the BBC:
"We know Lance's involvement has split opinion, so we've tried to be as respectful as possible."
"The stages Lance will be riding come towards the end of week two, when I know all the riders will need some support.
"I know his arrival will give them the encouragement they will need to carry on with this gruelling challenge and in turn raise as much money as possible for blood cancer patients."
Many are not happy with Armstrong returning to the Tour, the world's largest annual sporting event and a race he won seven times before being stripped of his titles for using PEDs.
(Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) UCI President Brian Cookson: Armstrong going back to the Tour de France is "completely inappropriate and disrespectful."
Brian Cookson, the president of the UCI, the sport's governing body, doesn't want Armstrong to do it, reports AFP:
“I’m sure that Geoff Thomas means well, but frankly, I think that’s completely inappropriate and disrespectful to the Tour, disrespectful to the current riders, and disrespectful to the UCI and the anti-doping community,” Cookson told the Sport Industry Breakfast Club in London.
“I think Lance would be well-advised not to take part in that.” Armstrong was banned for life from competing in cycling and triathlon by the United States Anti-Doping Agency in August 2012 and Cookson said the Texan’s charitable motives did not make his stunt more palatable.
The manager of one of the top teams in pro cycling, Sky's Dave Brailsford, said Armstrong had "done enough damage," the BBC reported. Sky is the team of 2013 Tour winner Chris Froome, who will be looking win this year's race after crashing out last year.
(Dan Mullan/Getty Images) Team Sky's Dave Brailsford says Armstrong has "done enough damage."
"For the sake of all clean riders in the peloton, who've already suffered enough from that era, leave them alone — enough's enough," Brailsford said.
The US Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, stripped Armstrong of his record seven Tour de France titles in October 2012.
In its "Reasoned Decision," USADA said that evidence against Armstrong showed beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, with Armstrong as its leader, "ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
Before he got caught for doping, Armstrong was considered by many to be the greatest cyclist in the history of the sport, which historically had been largely dominated by Europeans.
Before Armstrong, no cyclist had ever won more than five Tours. That Armstrong, a cancer survivor, won seven Tours in a row captured the attention of the entire world. The sport made Armstrong a multimillionaire and brought him fame. His net worth, according to The New York Times, was estimated at $125 million in 2012.
In August 2014, Armstrong told Dan Patrick that he still believed he won those seven Tours but no longer wore a Livestrong bracelet. In December 2014 he crashed his SUV into two parked cars in Colorado and left the scene without contacting police. His girlfriend, Anna Hansen, tried to take the blame, telling Aspen police she wanted to keep his name out of national headlines.
In February, Armstrong was ordered to pay back $10 million in Tour de France prize money.
This year's Tour runs July 4-26.
This fall a new biopic about Armstrong called "The Program" comes out. You can watch the first trailer below:
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