In July 1999 the new and fresh pro cycling team of US Postal rolled into Paris at the front of the Tour De France peloton, a 9 man strong squad with the leader Lance Armstrong on a mission to achieve the unbelievable. He was going to be the first American to win the Tour. He was also going to have won having survived cancer.
Armstrong won in '99 and carried on winning until 2005. A total of 7 wins in France in as many years. The most successful cyclist in history.
I don't mind admitting that when I first started cycling I admired Lance Armstrong massively and part of me still does, the part that doesn't want to let go of that almighty warrior that overcame all the critics and everything that was thrown at him and was able to dominate cycling in such an unorthodox way it was cool.
He'd throw the rule book out of the window having spat on it and then proceed to write his own new one, with burrito and beer glass stains over the manuscript.
When the allegations surfaced in 2012, I raised my eyebrows and probably carried on my day. The underlying allegations and incinuations had been there for years and were nothing really new. It seemed yet another chance of mass media coverage of promoting Armstrong's law firm of the current day.
I gave up trying to follow it in the end for fear of becoming hooked in Law and wanting to changed degrees because it was so fascinating. It transpires that Law is incredibly slow and dusty and for an adrenaline junkie such as myself, it's a no brainer.
When it was announced Oprah was interviewing Lance with the specific questions we've always wanted to ask, I was so excited I promptly fell asleep and spilt coffee over myself. Yet another dull interview where questions are shirked and answers are uttered with no real existence. Pointless.
I knew what the result would be and I'm sure everyone else did too. I admire Armstrong for being so open and answering those questions in the way he did, calmly and with grace.
No doubt there were ulterior motives behind unmasking such a revelation, but it strikes me as something incredible.
You admit you've cheated on numerous occasions over many years. A sub culture of doping. Your and a handful of other's careers are eviscerated. You can never make any money from the sport you loved and won so much from, ever again.
A career suicide move.
So why did he do it? My own honest opinion is, with the impending legal battles he decided to try and cushion the blow from the fallout.
However, it seems the subject of doping is never really far away in the world of sport.
I am writing this as Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and 6 others have been confirmed as having positive blood samples for performance enhancing drugs.
Chris Froome yesterday won the Mount Ventoux Tour De France cycling stage and was immediately thrown into a media scandal regarding doping.
It angers me so much that journalists that have even to get onto a bike, can accuse individuals within our sport that are so greatly admired by fellow athletes and the general public. I have no doubt about the doping with the track and field runners because there has been positive confirmation. But I am fairly confident about the doping in regard to Chris Froome. The whole mantra of the Sky Cycling Team is to be clean.
But then again, we said that about US Postal 14 years ago...
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