Cookson doesn’t seem tothink so. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/31923891

I kind of think that he did a fair bit of good for cancer sufferers despite whatever else he did, so they should leave him be.

While you’re spot on that he’s encouraged a lot of cancer sufferers (including one I know personally), does that really excuse everything else, especially when you know that it was used as the ‘cancer shield’ to deflect the allegations and attack people.

It’s a case of doing good doesn’t forgive all other sins. He clearly shows no genuine contrition and given his huge profiteering from Livestrong (.com rather than .org – look up the details if you’re interested) and clear motivation to do this to clear up his image, I’m against it overall.

It’s been interesting to see how many (and how fiercely!) apologists have leapt on to Facebook to say it’s for charity, of course he should be allowed, and people suggesting otherwise are mean and nasty. I think screw that – his own charity disavowed him, I don’t want to see him doing anything bike-related near the Tour de France. It doesn’t need to be him, find someone else – you know he’s not doing it for charity, he only does things for him.

hahaha no chance, he’ll end up smashing some EPO and thinking its a stage…… twerp.

He just can’t move on can he? Of all the ways of raising money for good causes, the man thinks riding the route of the tour is the most appropriate. Antagonistic and unimaginative in equal measure. Don’t give him the oxygen of publicity.

its a free country , let him do it

From the article:-

“which is likely to consist of him riding a couple of stages “

Meh, let him do it.

It had to be linked to the Tour in someway didnt it.

Why does he always have to rub up/act inflammatory.

wanmankylung – Member

I kind of think that he did a fair bit of good for cancer sufferers

He did a lot for cancer “awareness”, his charity did very little for sufferers, they weren’t in the business of providing treatment or financial assistance, or things like that.

Definitely. It’ll raise the profile of the charity far beyond whag it would otherwise have been.

Impossible to tell, but Ive always been curious as to whether funds raised due to his activities are actually ‘new funds’

Say if you’ve got £10 that’s going to be donated to 3 charities.

Is it a case of £12 thats now going to 4 charities, or just a redistribution of the original £10?

Anyway. Meh

i’d quite like to see his name “swear filtered” on here.

Why does he always have to rub up/act inflammatory

It’s in his nature? Ruthless man. Horrible.

Im not sure of the reception he’ll get, but given hes clearly got thick skin I doubt that’ll affect him much.

Im of the opinion that Geoff Thomas probably know what he is doing, and given he asked him he probably thinks its a good idea to raise the profile of the event.

Besides, I’m sure riding with lance will further stoke the egos of the high flying CEOs who are stumping up for this little jaunt. If I’m honest if one of my millionaire buddies asked me to sponsor them to ride round france on closed roads, supported by a caravan of mechcanics and physios, and cheered on by the crowds up Alp Duez, I’d be very quick to tell them to xxxx right off….this is the kind of charity event that really gets on my tits..

If it helps the charity concerned and can do any good at all for cancer sufferers, then, good for him.

It doesn’t main to say that I feel any differently about him as a potential sportsman. Chea………Manipula…….li….

+1

I’d like to see many names swear filtered on here but LA’s isn’t one of them.

Yes.

Alone.

How about Clarkson rides the charity event and Armstrong presents Top Gear. 😀

I’d like to see many names swear filtered on here but LA’s isn’t one of them.

I’d be happy if he respected the sport, respected the fans and quietly went away. Yes there are still people who cheat and they’ll be caught as they are being.

What does he do interms of cancer awareness?

He shows everyone that he (possibly) contracted cancer from taking EPO, comes out the otherside then willfully hits every chemical and blood swapping method possible to ensure he wins races. All at odds with living/eating well and avoiding anything that may make him ill again?

A self-serving fella.

If he does it – will it be bad form to throw eggs at him?

LA should do it and should do it juiced out of his mind. he might then negotiate a corner badly. Long way down from some alpine passes

I am very ambivalent about it – given that Lance has destroyed people’s careers and in light of recent Radio 1 DJ scandals, from a UK perspective, it doesn’t feel right.
Raising money for charity in a self serving manner doesn’t compensate for the damage.
It will just drive the non-cycling media into another doping frenzy for another tour.
I’ve just argued myself into being totally against it.

There’s no way he’ll be able do it, the French will blockade/burn sheep/put tacks on the road etc

If he actually came out and named everyone involved and the methods deployed then I’d have some sympathy for him trying this. He’s still not told the truth yet.

Personally I compare him to David Millar.

Doped to win. Lied, got found out. Confessed.

Millar then became a professional in the art of contrition and also a best selling author. As did Tyler Hamilton and others. They told as much as they needed to, not everything they knew.

They all lied. They all damaged the sport and they were all part of it. The press makes you believe that Armstrong made them all do it. He didn’t hold a gun to any of their heads and none of them had the courage until after the event.

Therefore I think he should be allowed to ride as Millar has somehow managed to dodge the bullet. He’ll get plenty of buckets of roadside piss on him and a lot of stick and abuse. He knows that and I secretly admire his courage. It makes me think that at the heart of the man is cycling and the tour, it is so in his blood he would do anything to get another taste of it. And I also sort of admire that regardless of his other doings. But my view will be as unpopular as Lance himself.

How many people would claim that David Millar ruined their lives – for a period of time at least?

Armstrong isn’t being punished for making other people dope or in many ways for his doping itself. that’s the story that he’s putting out there to try and make it look like he’s been unfairly treated and unfortunately the gullible are going along with it.

He did a lot for cancer “awareness”

I for one, had never heard of cancer until Lance talked about it.

As for this thing, I think it’s a bit off side from him as he knows full well that there are times when he can be in the full glare of the TdF press-pack if he picks the right stages to ride. If it was just about money for charity I’m sure he could figure something better to do.

If he just goes along and rides without attempting to make it about himself I say yes. Geoff Thomas asked him to help raise money, why not let him. Give him a chance to try and do something worthwhile.

Maybe if we stopped kicking off he might go away? He’s a nasty despicable man.

Geoff Thomas clearly thinks he should go on his ride, even if it is for selfish promotion of the charity, so let them sort it out between them. It’s nothing to do with us.

Plenty of other liars, cheats and bullies from the sport are involved in the sport in some way or other. Worrying about King Rat doing a charity event for a guy who wrote a much better book about cycling after cancer than LA really isn’t worth the bother. Life’s too short.

He’ll get plenty of buckets of roadside piss on him

This ^

If he does turn up, I hope he gets drenched in piss at every corner and every available opportunity. That would be a Lance article it would be good to read.

Other than that, he can just drift off into obscurity, not be reported on and left to dwell on his actions.

mt – Member
If he just goes along and rides without attempting to make it about himself I say yes. Geoff Thomas asked him to help raise money, why not let him. Give him a chance to try and do something worthwhile.

this plus many.

Look at the press coverage it’s getting – good or bad, it gets people talking about it and that will increase the coffers. Cancer charities need money, this will give them money, loadsa money 🙂

I wish Geoff Thomas the best of luck, but I won’t be donating to anything that involves that other fella.

So much hate from some. We don’t need to forget or forgive (if it suits you) what he did, if we are better than him we should allow him to do some good things. Perhaps it would be better that he did things quietly to help others but if his value is best served for being notorious, perhaps we should let him get on with it, maybe?

Not giving to a charity for Leukemia sufferers because someone not nice helped out for a few days is a very poor attitude. Shall we stop supporting certain hospitals because Saville raised money for them?

How about Clarkson rides the charity event and Armstrong presents Top Gear.

I like your thinking and a genuine laugh from me for that one

I’d give a reasonable amount of money if Clarkson rode everyday with Geoff Thomas.

The man can do whatever he damn well pleases.

should he do it?

Yarp.

Lance Armstrong still won 7 tour de France, yes he was lit but everyone else was up to their eyeballs too. If anyone thinks that this isn’t the case then I’d attribute that to them being the mtb’er that’s just bought a road bike and used to watch the tour on tele, but can’t pronounce any of the other riders names who went positive over the years, so likes to just slag off lance. Lance has done loads for cycling, and cancer so people should stop moaning about him.

There are people in the world raping children and chopping off people’s heads, yet lance is still a vile, dispicable, horrible, mean (etc etc yawn) man. Get a grip. He took some drugs, beat some other people on drugs, earnt some money to look after his family and then retired and owned up, who cares.

I like him.

I notice he’s only planning to do a few stages, maybe if he doped he could get through the lot?

Comparing him to Millar is not useful, Millar became part of the solution, Lance is still causing trouble.

Lance Armstrong still won 7 tour de France, yes he was lit but everyone else was up to their eyeballs too.

What, absolutely everyone? Bassons? What about the people who would have been at the top of the sport but refused to dope and hence didn’t get the career they deserved?

The ‘I didn’t cheat anyone who wasn’t cheating already’ line is straight out the Armstrong catalogue of stories he’s putting out there to clean up his image regardless of the truth. I’d suggest that you are the one with a lack of understanding of the realities and naively and or gullibly accepting the image restoring stories Lance is getting put out there.

Of course there are far far worse people out there than Lance. I don’t think anyone is actually putting up your straw man suggesting otherwise. He is however a pretty unpleasant person who’s messed up many peoples’ lives and is now paying a fairly reasonable price (he’s only been banned from sport, not jailed and he’ll still never be poor).

Why doesn’t LA just donate the money he hopes to raise in sponsorship to the charity himself and not ride, I am sure he can afford it.