I read this interesting and detailed interview with Floyd Landis earlier today. This link is already populating around the official Bike Blog-O-Sphere. It's long, but worth a read. Pull up a chair and click here.
If you're anything of a cycling fan, you already know the story. I believed Floyd was innocent up until the LeMond incident - that I'm not going to repeat here. I then started to doubt his camp and the whole story. The fact he published that book pushed the doping lie way over the top, especially after coming clean now. The whole chain of events just stinks and embarrasses pro cycling on a whole new level.
Reading this latest interview, it's obvious the dude's been though hell; of course, much of it his own doing. You don't have to be a pro cyclist, nor do you need to dope. Then again, maybe at that level it becomes expected - it appears that way - sadly.
Besides being caught doping, losing the Tour title, and getting divorced - his best friend committed suicide two weeks after the Tour. That's a lot of baggage to deal with, especially after the short euphoria he experienced after winning the Tour. Mix in hip surgery, then watching your livelihood slowly disappear. Man, that's a lot of issues to deal with in a short time. If you don't know, Floyd has also recently announced his retirement from pro cycling. No real surprise there.
I'm not defending his actions, some of 'em were just plain stupid. I do think Floyd's been thrown under the bus a bit though. All of us have done something stupid, just not under this much of a spotlight. If what he's saying is true, much of the underlying doubt of how widespread doping is in pro cycling - is unfortunately true - including some very big names and so called heros. And that would be a sad fact indeed.
The peloton secret appears to be slowly cracking over the years - exposing how things really are - like it or not. It may wind up, people who have outwardly spilled the beans - like Landis and LeMond - may eventually be proven right all along. That remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, it's business as usual - deny, deny, deny.