Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong (46 page)

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Authors: David Walsh

BOOK: Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong
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1. John Walsh, almost two, sitting on Paul Kimmage’s bike, wearing Paul’s ACBB gear, and looking serene in the front garden of 10 rue Kléber in Paris, 1984.

2. A scene from the 1984 Tour de France with two of my heroes at the time, Sean Kelly (centre) and Stephen Roche. Eighteen years later I would be invited onto Ireland’s number one television programme,
The Late, Late Show
, to debate with Roche evidence that appeared to show he was given EPO by Dr Francesco Conconi.

3. Two weeks short of his 22nd birthday, Lance Armstrong became the third youngest world road race champion when winning in Oslo in August 1993.

4. After spending 1997 recovering from testicular cancer, Lance Armstrong returned to racing with US Postal in 1998 and is seen here in his home city, Austin, with the State Capitol Building in the background, before setting off on a training ride.

5. Postal team member Jonathan Vaughters plays doctor as he and Armstrong goof around at the medical before the 1999 Tour de France. According to Emma O’Reilly, this was the occasion that Lance asked her to use her makeup to cover needle marks on his arm.

6. After feigning fatigue earlier, Armstrong was strong on the final climb to Alpe d’Huez in the 2001 Tour de France. In control, he had the energy to turn and check on his rivals, especially the German Jan Ullrich. This became known as ‘the look’.

7. At a press conference in the Tour of Georgia when Armstrong announced he would retire after the 2005 Tour de France. Alongside him, the ever-present (at least from ’99) Johan Bruyneel at his right shoulder.

8. Armstrong returned to professional cycling in January 2009 when he competed in the Cancer Council classic in Australia and he would be part of the peloton for a further two years.

9. Though Armstrong had the yellow jersey seven times on the Champs-Élysées and Floyd Landis once, Greg LeMond now stands as the only official winner of the Tour de France to have come from the United States. Here LeMond stands above his Z teammates after winning in 1990.

10. 23 July 2006 seemed like the happiest day of Floyd Landis’s sporting life as he enjoyed the triumphal ride down the Champs-Élysées after winning the Tour de France. The following week everything turned sour as Landis was told of the positive drug test that would take away his victory and destroy his reputation.

11. At the height of their powers, US Postal was the dominant team in the peloton and here, at Spain’s Bicicleta Vasca in May 2001 are four of their strongest: (L-R) Robert Heras, Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton and Jose Luis Rubiera.

12. A smiling Dr Michele Ferrari first teamed up with Armstrong in 1995 and he would have a significant input until the rider’s final retirement in 2010. According to USADA’s report, Armstrong paid Dr Ferrari over $1 million in fees.

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