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During the Tour de France, Greg Lemond, the previous US winner of the event, told French newspaper Le Monde: "Lance is ready to do whatever it takes to keep his secret. But I don’t know how he can continue to convince everyone of his innocence."
It’s these sort of veiled accusations that has excited Dave Johnson, CEO of Costa Rican-based WagerWeb.com.
Seeking publicity for his site, he said: "Every sport today has its share of accusers and abusers. Is Armstrong merely the newest target regarding a subject that is simply not going to go away? Will the earnest watchdogs of sports get to the truth? Will the faithful guard dogs defend him either way? Or will the despicable attack dogs succeed in bringing down the prey?"
According to WagerWeb, the odds are:
Yes, Armstrong will be convicted +2000
No, Armstrong will not be convicted -2500
"For the ‘Yes’ wager to win Armstrong must be convicted by the UCI," said Johnson.
"Wagers have action until the conclusion of the 2005 Tour de France regardless of whether Armstrong participates."
David Walsh, and his book ‘L.A. Confidentiel’, restoked the doping allegations against Lance Armstrong just a few weeks before this year’s Tour de France. Many commentators believe the publication of the book so angered Armstrong that it helped his motivation in this year’s race.
L.A. Confidentiel has so far only been published in France. BikeBiz.com has read an English-translation of the book and is not surprised at conjecture that five British publishers have so far turned down the offer to publish it in the UK.
The accusations contained in the book are, on the surface, persuasive but this is a relatively easy trick to pull off if none of the arguments have counter-points. Best-selling books such as The Bible Code show that if you pile up enough ‘proof’, many people will believe what’s written.
David Walsh is blinkered. He believes Armstrong’s training consultant Dr Michele Ferrari is an EPO-specialist and nothing will dissuade him from this belief. In L.A. Confidentiel, Walsh continues to peddle the line that Ferrari once said ‘EPO is no more dangerous than orange juice’.
In an earlier article on this subject, BikeBiz.com went back to the original source for this often misquoted quote. See the link below. Walsh and others, including Greg Lemond, question why Lance Armstrong is so enamoured of the Italian doctor. What they tend not to discuss is the fact that Armstrong is now a six times Tour de France winner because of his hill-climbing prowess and his high cadence.
And what does Dr. Ferrari specialise in? Hill climbing and increasing a cyclist’s cadence.
You wanna take a wager? Bet that Lance Armstrong is no doper.
