David Walsh is the Sunday Times journalist
who refused to accept that Lance Armstrong raced clean and made it his business
to prove it. Walsh had been covering the Tour de France since 1982 and when he
first met Armstrong in 1993 he was immediately impressed by the 21 year-old
Texan’s force of personality and ambition to win.
The next four years were significant for
both Walsh and Armstrong. Armstrong battled with and overcame cancer while Walsh
was sickened by the revelations of widespread doping in his favoured sport of
cycling. So, in 1999 when Armstrong returned to what was meant to be a
cleaned-up Tour, and produced barely credible performances, Walsh smelt a rat.
Armstrong won that Tour, and then the next
six, and while most journalists lapped up the story – cancer survivor overcomes
odds for sporting success – Walsh became an increasingly lone voice in
questioning its validity. He didn’t just question, he investigated and turned
up evidence and witnesses; he also uncovered intimidation and cover-up.
In 2005, Walsh and like-minded French
journalist Pierre Ballester published the detailed allegations in a book. ‘LA Confidential’ could only be published in
France due to Armstrong living up to his name with strong arm legal moves that
threatened to sue any English language publisher. Armstrong rode out the storm
and retired with his record (and prize money) intact. It would take another
seven years and the testimony of team-mate Floyd Landis for Walsh’s position to
be vindicated.
The book is detailed and meticulously
referenced and cycling insiders may be comfortable with the constant asides and
shifts in timeframe, but I sometimes found them difficult to follow. To me the
book is more about Walsh than Armstrong and the author’s search for the truth
and his battles to get it published.
As a result I now know quite a lot about how
Armstrong suppressed suspicions and bullied the cycling world, but not as much
as I would like about how he managed to avoid getting caught by doping control.
No comments:
Post a Comment