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Lance Armstrong Says It’s ‘Time for the Riders to Seize Power’

Lance Armstrong issued an inspirational Instagram message on April 6 in which, among other things, he exhorted pro cycling riders to exploit this transformational period to seize more power in the sport.  “To all you cyclists sitting at home, not sure about your paycheck – now is the opportunity to reset the scales, to get a seat at the table, to take the power back. You are the actors in this play, and remember – without the actors, there is no play.” Is this finally the time that athletes could get a real chair at the table of pro cycling? What needs to happen for that to occur? Is it possible? Commentators across the board are speculating about the longer-term social, economic, and cultural impacts of the COVID pandemic. Observers within pro cycling are evaluating the same thing in the sporting context – will the calendar be more compact, will there be fewer races or teams, how will...

Nineteen Eighty-Three

Brian Cookson, president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), has stated that its newly-minted Cycling Independent Reform Commission (CIRC) will look approximately fifteen years back in time, as it attempts to understand and address cycling’s modern doping dilemma.  This time frame neatly coincides with the low points of the Lance Armstrong era, but the root causes go much deeper than one man.  Fifteen years may help the UCI to pinpoint and investigate the sinister activities and possible collusion that occurred in cycling’s darkest days, but the CIRC must review about thirty years of history to truly understand and fix the corruption that has poisoned the sport, and to bring about lasting reform. The strange, totalitarian world envisioned by George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four  might seem like pure fiction, but cycling embarked upon its own “Cold War” and dystopian journey in...

The Forgive Me Roadshow

Lance Armstrong has staged a series of publicity events over the last few weeks in which he has reconciled with key victims of his past behavior.  Whether in the company of Emma O’Reilly, his former team masseur whom he at one time branded an “alcoholic whore,” or Christophe Bassons, a former French bike racer whom he helped push out of cycling for speaking out against the doping culture, the formula is contrived and predictable.  Armstrong claims that he is primarily a victim of the times – and maybe to some extent his own personal shortcomings – while simultaneously appealing for sympathy and forgiveness. This “Forgive Me Roadshow” is an image-improving longshot to sway opinions ahead of key rulings in Armstrong’s ongoing legal troubles.  He also appears to be laying a trap for his biggest critics: if they respond with anger or reject his apologies, it reinforces his argument that...

Fair Treatment Through Comparative Justice

Lance Armstrong and others continue to push for a version of “truth and reconciliation,” in which major contributors to corruption in professional cycling might receive amnesty in exchange for a full confession. While such admissions and information might broaden our understanding of the doping era, automatic amnesties will only benefit a few selfish individuals at the expense of many others. However, if a real truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) is held, they might get the fairness that they’re asking for, though perhaps not exactly as they envision. We hope that the Union Cycliste International (UCI) is able to springboard from its planned independent commission on into a TRC – so that the discoveries of the independent commission cannot be co-opted by a few individuals, or be used to deliver an incomplete story of cycling’s sordid recent past. Let’s assume that the logistical...

Independent Commission vs. Truth and Reconciliation Commission

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