For those watching Le Confession tonight, there are a number of ways to keep score at home:
For starters, Juliet Macur of the New York Times suggested this terrific set of questions for Oprah if she really wants to “go deep” on Lance Armstrong.
Jason Gay, of the Wall Street Journal, reminded us why it still matters: this isn’t just about voided Tour de France victories, but ruthlessly destroying the credibility of all those who told the truth prior to tonight;
All that said, this is our favorite so far, from Velo Rooms.
We can not vouch for its complete accuracy, but it’s consistent with the research we did for our own Lance, Inc. chart following Armstrong’s October announcement that he’d forgo arbitration with the United States Anti-Doping Association. After that, the organization made public overwhelming testimony from Armstrong’s teammates that the champion cyclist had used banned substances and encouraged others to do so as well.
The number of big names in finance who put money into professional cycling in the Lance Era – none more so than Thomas Weisel – is remarkable. What’s even more impressive is that these stakeholders, through Weisel and USA Cycling, essentially owned the body that was charged with keeping the sport clean. Even at a glace, it is impossible to look at the Velorooms chart and not appreciate that while USADA claims there was an “army of enablers” that helped Armstrong perpetrate his fraud, there was an even larger army who undeniably benefited from his consistent assertions of innocence.
