Cycling : Armstrong spurred on to greater heights by fresh doping claims

(Pic : backpagelead.com.au)

Lance Armstrong's final Tour de France kicked off in typically dramatic style as he started Saturday making a ferocious denial of new doping allegations and finished it off with his best time trial performance since his racing comeback began last year.

Lance Armstrong woke up on Saturday morning to find the Wall Street Journal had published a second interview overnight with his former team-mate Floyd Landis, once again accusing the seven-times Tour de France winner of doping.

Just as when Landis made an initial series of accusations in the same newspaper in May, Lance Armstrong went for a blanket rejection of the claims, comparing Landis's credibility to "sour milk. Once you take the first sip you don't have to drink the rest to know it has all gone bad."

Lance Armstrong is famous for feeding off his anger over doping allegations to turn in blistering performances on the bike and, true to form, after Landis's latest episode of finger-pointing the Texan finished an impressive fourth in the opening, rain-soaked prologue in Rotterdam, won by Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara.

The best Briton was the veteran David Millar in third, while Sky's Bradley Wiggins turned in a surprisingly lacklustre performance, finishing 77th. Lance Armstrong was just 22 seconds behind the Olympic trial champion Cancellara, putting him in pole position of all the overall contenders – and demonstrating that, even at 38, he is worthy of being considered Alberto Contador's most dangerous rival.

"I would like to say I wasn't surprised, but I can't, I'm surprised and pleased" Lance Armstrong said later. "If somebody had told me this morning that I would finish ahead of all the favourites, I'd have signed with both hands."

Contador came the closest toLance Armstrong , finishing 27 seconds behind Cancellara. The Spaniard argued – unconvincingly, given that heavy early rain had dried up by the time he started – that he had not wanted to take any risks on the wet course.

While Alberto Contador at least limited his losses, the prologue proved tougher going for Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, who lost over 40 seconds to Lance Armstrong.

Last year's runner-up behind Contador in Paris, Andy Schleck was so furious with his poor ride he refused to talk to reporters afterwards.

But it was Britain's Wiggins who was probably the most disappointed overall contender after a plan to take advantage of the stormy weather forecast on Saturday in Holland backfired.

Scientists working for British Cycling before the 2008 Beijing Olympics had discovered that before thunderstorms bike riders' average speed increased by as much as a tenth of a second per kilometre, and with a storm brewing for Rotterdam on Saturday evening, Wiggins made a deliberately early start.

However, the forecast proved inaccurate and the rain started earlier than expected, too, forcing Wiggins to ride through a downpour.

Rather than setting record times, the Briton ended up in damage limitation mode, taking the rain-drenched course at painstakingly slow pace in order not to crash. He finally lost 56 seconds, with only Schleck a worse overall performer.

Long-term, this represents a setback, not a major defeat, but it was far from being Wiggins' ideal start for the Tour de France. For Lance Armstrong, though, Rotterdam's prologue went far better than he could have dared imagine.

independent.co.uk

Tour de France : Lance Armstrong defies drug critics

Lance Armstrong says the drug-doping allegations are unfounded. Source: Getty Images

ANOTHER day on the 97th Tour de France; another unwanted distraction for Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time champion was confronted with pre-race accusations by Floyd Landis, who claimed the Texan was involved in systemic doping as US Postal Services teammates.

Armstrong rebuffed the claims and proceeded to turn in the best performance among the elite cluster of riders during an 8.9km prologue, fourth behind Fabian Cancellara.

Michael Rogers, in 14th, and dual Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans, 23rd, were the best-placed Australians.

Overnight, Armstrong was attacked by triple Tour de France winner and compatriot Greg LeMond, who predicted Armstrong would not complete the race.

"Either he will not start or he will pull out just before the race enters France. I have a feeling that the world of cycling is about to change for the better," LeMond said.

It was a vintage display from the American as the Tour de France headed out of Holland into Belgium overnight and through Flanders in honour of race legend Eddy Merckx.The blast came as Armstrong steamed into fourth, only 22sec behind Switzerland's Cancellara.

If nothing else, Armstrong will be asked to defy age - he is 38 - and repeated allegations about doping as he contests the world's most gruelling race for the last time.

Armstrong was outstanding on a slippery prologue course, appearing to deliberately slow into one corner, apparently unperturbed by time loss.

It was a clear sign the RadioShack leader has overall honours in mind and is not prepared to take unnecessary risks.

LeMond has had Armstrong in his sights for nine years. Just as the French have.

In 2001, LeMond damned Armstrong for his friendship with Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who had admitted blood doping and the use of performance-enhancing EPO.

LeMond subsequently apologised for the attack, but again opened fire in 2004.

"If Armstrong's clean, it's the greatest comeback. And if he's not, then it's the greatest fraud," LeMond said.

Armstrong said yesterday he would not be distracted by anybody's claims - those of either LeMond or Landis, who renewed his attack in the Wall Street Journal.

"It's been 10 years, 10 years. It's nothing new," Armstrong said.

"For years, sensational stories - based on the allegations of axe-grinders - have surfaced on the eve of the Tour de France for publicity reasons, and this article is simply no different."

Armstrong was content, having seen rivals Andy Schleck, Ivan Basso and Bradley Wiggins turn in average efforts.

Evans was not happy at conceding time to Armstrong and Contador, who gained 17sec and 12sec, respectively.

"I don't know if it's such a good start," Evans said. "It was pretty wet. All the corners, where you wanted it to be dry, it was wet. I took it pretty conservatively there."

Rogers was satisfied with his performance.

"It wasn't too bad. I was quite happy. I didn't exactly have dry roads," he said.

"I lost some time on the corners, but it's the start of a long way."

Tour de France : Dopage au sein de l'US Postal ?

Par Vincent Fossiez avec AFP

Les suspicions de dopage autour de l'US Postal continuent

© AFP - SEBASTIEN BERDA

Trois cyclistes ont relancé les suspicions de dopage qui entouraient l'US Postal (1996-2004), ancienne équipe du Tour de France dont à fait partie Lance Armstrong. Dans des déclarations parues ce samedi dans le Wall Street Journal, trois anciens coureurs de l'équipe américaine ont affirmé "qu'il y avait du dopage à l'époque dans l'équipe à l'époque ou Lance Armstrong était son leader".

Ces révélations prennent place dans l'édition de ce samedi du Wall Street journal, jour du lancement de la 97e édition du Tour de France dans lequel participera le septuple vainqueur du Tour de France, à 39 ans. Les trois coureurs, qui gardent l'anonymat ont révélé lors d'entretiens "qu'il y avait du dopage dans l'équipe à l'époque où M. Armstrong était son leader, et l'un d'entre eux a admis que lui-même s'était dopé".

Le journal revient également sur les déclarations de Floyd Landis, ancien coéquipier de Lance Armstrong et vainqueur déchu de l'édition 2006 du tour de France, publiées en mai. Contrôlé positif sur le Tour de France à l'issue de sa victoire en 2006, le champion américain avait d'abord nié en bloc avant de faire ses aveux et reconnaitre l'utilisation de produits interdits. Selon ses dires, Armstrong lui aurait donné une vingtaine de patches de testostérone, lui fournissant la première occasion de se doper de sa carrière, et lui aurait expliqué "la logistique complexe des transfusions"

Il se serait également vu proposer par Johan Bruyneel des prises de sang, qui devaient permettre des transfusions pendant l'épreuve pour améliorer le transport de l'oxygène

Lance Armstrong, Tour de France, Le tour, US Postal, Dopage