Lance Armstrong’s relationship with the French press is much better than before, but some of his testiness remains.
The three-time champion gave his first full news conference since the start of this year’s Tour de France after Thursday’s 11th stage. He had just won the stage, the opening mountain leg, and taken the yellow jersey of the overall leader. On Friday, he strengthened that lead by taking the 12th stage.
Midway through the conference, Armstrong alerted a French journalist that his cassette player had stopped recording.
“Do you want me to turn it over for you?” he joked, then said: “I’ve got your back. Don’t write anything bad tomorrow.
“Are you one of these liberal journalists in France who’s going to write something bad tomorrow? I can see it now.”
“Just kidding,” he concluded.
The tone was lighthearted, but the episode reflected a long-standing unease between the American and the French media.
Armstrong’s first two victories in the Tour prompted French newspaper articles insinuating that his performance was drug-assisted. Armstrong has never failed a drug test.
As a result, Armstrong was testy and mistrustful toward French journalists, sometimes haranguing them in news conferences for what he saw as their bias.
After Armstrong’s third straight win, the French sports daily L’Equipe, which had been one of the most skeptical about his exploits, said the rider should no longer be targeted by suspicion, as there was no proof to support it.
Since then, Armstrong has spoken regularly to L’Equipe. He also often speaks in French to TV journalists after Tour stages.
Nevertheless, he remains on his guard, and reads French newspapers to see what they say about him and other riders.
“I can understand more or less,” Armstrong said when asked if his French was good enough to read the French press. “I can tell when there’s a real stab, because there’s a dot, dot, dot.
“But I like the buzz. Without the buzz, you [journalists] wouldn’t have a job.”
On Thursday and Friday, there was at last some real buzz over Armstrong’s performance in this year’s Tour.
He won the first mountain stage from Pau to La Mongie, although his victory–beating Joseba Beloki by seven seconds in a sprint finish–was less spectacular than his rivals might have expected.
Friday’s victory lived up to his pursuers’ fears. He doubled his margin over second-place rider Joseba Beloki of Spain to 2 minutes 28 seconds in the grueling stage from Lannemezan to the Plateau de Beille, which ended with an exceptionally difficult climb.
Podium pals? It’s almost a given, barring an accident or illness, that Armstrong will be on the winner’s podium July 28 in Paris.
But could U.S. Postal teammate Roberto Heras join him there by finishing in the top three overall?
That was the speculation Friday after Heras had another strong stage, finishing second to Armstrong.
Before the start of the mountain stages Thursday, Heras was in 48th place. He’s now in seventh, 8 minutes 1 second behind Armstrong.
“That’s a real indication of how incredible our team is,” Armstrong said. “That would make us probably one of the strongest teams in the history of cycling.”
A team has put two riders on the Tour podium three times since 1985. Bernard Hinault and Greg Lemond did it in 1985-86, and Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich accomplished it in 1996.
Another American joining Armstrong on the podium now appears improbable. Levi Leipheimer, who rides for the Netherlands’ Rabobank team, was 12th after Friday’s stage, 10:41 behind Armstrong. Former Postal rider Tyler Hamilton, who now represents Denmark’s CSC-Tiscali, was 22nd, 14:04 behind Armstrong.
Leipheimer and Hamilton were considered strong top-three candidates based on their results in the two other grand cycling tours. Hamilton was second in this year’s Tour of Italy, and Leipheimer, who rode for Postal at the time, was third in last year’s Tour of Spain.
Penalty box: French rider Jacky Durand and his team director were thrown out of the Tour on Friday because Durand held on to the fdjeaux.com car during Stage 12.
Stage 12 resulted in a busy day for the Tour jury. It also fined France’s Christophe Moreau and Spain’s Carlos Sastre for having a fight while riding in the stage. Moreau was given a 2-minute time penalty and fined $275. Sastre was fined 20 seconds for his part in the fight. No information was available on why the two were fighting.
Meanwhile, Leipheimer and Postal’s George Hincapie were among riders fined about $140 for for eating while not in a feeding zone.
