Read Online Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: David Walsh
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And I could never see that late surge away from Indurain with the eyes that had originally seen it. That second wind, is that what EPO can do? Was that the first great EPO ride? The circus had turned us into the rubes and the dupes, the suckers and the mooks. And the romance of Fausto and Arduino was chemically shrunk. Happy tears in the salle de presse would be no more. Question everything. Ask what Mary and Joseph did with the gold.
4
‘A boo is louder than a cheer.’
Lance Armstrong
In 1999 Sestriere became a fork in the road for the press corps. Those who wanted to do journalism went one way; their old comrades took the other route. Things wouldn’t be the same for a long time.
Survey this 213km toil through the Alps. We begin at the ski station in Le Grande Bornand and then hit the climbs through the Col du Télégraphe laurelled already by storm clouds, onto the mighty Galibier (in 1911 when the Galibier was introduced to the Tour only three of the peloton didn’t get off their bike and walk), through the Maurienne Valley and then up the climb of Montgenèvre, before we finish with the 11km ascent to Sestriere.
Early in the day Armstrong’s US Postal teammates hauled the pack after them on the Col du Télégraphe, allowing their leader to focus on nothing but the wheel in front of him as they took care of the rest before hurtling down into the town of Valloire, recovering and going again on the early slopes of the Galibier. 8
It is raining now. The peaks are dressed with freezing mist. Few things sap the morale of the pack quite like rain and mist and freezing cold. A shivering peloton rolls on. The lead group is down to ten, pursued by twelve more desperadoes a minute behind. Armstrong is with the front group. Comfortable.
Onto Montgenèvre and now only the strong survive. One from Armstrong, Alex Zulle, Fernando Escartin, Ivan Gotti and Richard Virenque will win. Armstrong still looks comfortable but, with his teammates no longer around him, you guess he will be happy to hang in there. As they descend from Montgènevre, Gotti and Escartin make their move. They get to Sestriere 25 seconds ahead of the rest.
Before them, above them, the picturesque ski resort freckled with chalets marks the last great challenge. Armstrong is in that second group but all he has to do is keep his one dangerous rival, Zulle, within his sights. After five and a half hours in the worst conditions, he’s just got to stay there. Hold onto what he’s got.
The final skirmishes that day were breathtaking but not in the manner of Chiappucci. You can’t walk into the same river twice because neither you nor the river is the same. Eight kilometres from the summit, Armstrong rose out of the saddle and let the juice flow. In the space of a kilometre he closed 21 seconds to Gotti and Escartin who were both shattered. 9
His rhythm never dropped and Zulle, his rival, was left behind. Armstrong, with a new yellow jersey on his back, had done his post-race interviews and was back in the US Postal team bus while most of the field was still labouring up Sestriere.
I had watched the final climb to Sestriere on a big screen in the salle de presse . At the moment of Armstrong’s acceleration there was a collective and audible intake of breath and, as he rode clear, there was ironic laughter and shaking of heads. Not every journalist was overcome with scepticism, not even the majority, but there were enough to form a platoon of sceptics. This wasn’t everyone’s Tour of Renewal.
That evening I called Alex Butler, my sports editor at the Sunday Times .
‘Hell of a stage today,’ he said. ‘Armstrong’s got it now, hasn’t he?’
‘He will win the Tour, no doubt about that.’
‘You’re not convinced about him?’
I can hear disappointment in his voice.
‘Afraid not. Actually, I think it stinks. This guy has ridden the Tour de France four times before now, ridden nine mountain stages and not been anywhere near. Suddenly
And I could never see that late surge away from Indurain with the eyes that had originally seen it. That second wind, is that what EPO can do? Was that the first great EPO ride? The circus had turned us into the rubes and the dupes, the suckers and the mooks. And the romance of Fausto and Arduino was chemically shrunk. Happy tears in the salle de presse would be no more. Question everything. Ask what Mary and Joseph did with the gold.
4
‘A boo is louder than a cheer.’
Lance Armstrong
In 1999 Sestriere became a fork in the road for the press corps. Those who wanted to do journalism went one way; their old comrades took the other route. Things wouldn’t be the same for a long time.
Survey this 213km toil through the Alps. We begin at the ski station in Le Grande Bornand and then hit the climbs through the Col du Télégraphe laurelled already by storm clouds, onto the mighty Galibier (in 1911 when the Galibier was introduced to the Tour only three of the peloton didn’t get off their bike and walk), through the Maurienne Valley and then up the climb of Montgenèvre, before we finish with the 11km ascent to Sestriere.
Early in the day Armstrong’s US Postal teammates hauled the pack after them on the Col du Télégraphe, allowing their leader to focus on nothing but the wheel in front of him as they took care of the rest before hurtling down into the town of Valloire, recovering and going again on the early slopes of the Galibier. 8
It is raining now. The peaks are dressed with freezing mist. Few things sap the morale of the pack quite like rain and mist and freezing cold. A shivering peloton rolls on. The lead group is down to ten, pursued by twelve more desperadoes a minute behind. Armstrong is with the front group. Comfortable.
Onto Montgenèvre and now only the strong survive. One from Armstrong, Alex Zulle, Fernando Escartin, Ivan Gotti and Richard Virenque will win. Armstrong still looks comfortable but, with his teammates no longer around him, you guess he will be happy to hang in there. As they descend from Montgènevre, Gotti and Escartin make their move. They get to Sestriere 25 seconds ahead of the rest.
Before them, above them, the picturesque ski resort freckled with chalets marks the last great challenge. Armstrong is in that second group but all he has to do is keep his one dangerous rival, Zulle, within his sights. After five and a half hours in the worst conditions, he’s just got to stay there. Hold onto what he’s got.
The final skirmishes that day were breathtaking but not in the manner of Chiappucci. You can’t walk into the same river twice because neither you nor the river is the same. Eight kilometres from the summit, Armstrong rose out of the saddle and let the juice flow. In the space of a kilometre he closed 21 seconds to Gotti and Escartin who were both shattered. 9
His rhythm never dropped and Zulle, his rival, was left behind. Armstrong, with a new yellow jersey on his back, had done his post-race interviews and was back in the US Postal team bus while most of the field was still labouring up Sestriere.
I had watched the final climb to Sestriere on a big screen in the salle de presse . At the moment of Armstrong’s acceleration there was a collective and audible intake of breath and, as he rode clear, there was ironic laughter and shaking of heads. Not every journalist was overcome with scepticism, not even the majority, but there were enough to form a platoon of sceptics. This wasn’t everyone’s Tour of Renewal.
That evening I called Alex Butler, my sports editor at the Sunday Times .
‘Hell of a stage today,’ he said. ‘Armstrong’s got it now, hasn’t he?’
‘He will win the Tour, no doubt about that.’
‘You’re not convinced about him?’
I can hear disappointment in his voice.
‘Afraid not. Actually, I think it stinks. This guy has ridden the Tour de France four times before now, ridden nine mountain stages and not been anywhere near. Suddenly
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