Lanced: The shaming of Lance Armstrong by Walsh David & Paul Kimmage & John Follain

Author:Walsh, David & Paul Kimmage & John Follain [Walsh, David]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: The Sunday Times
Published: 2012-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

The clean machine

Paul Kimmage

June 29, 2008

"

Here I am, on this team that is really trying to stick by the books and this guy is making fun of us for playing by the rules

"

Jonathan Vaughters is telling me a story about the pivotal moment of his life as a professional cyclist. It happened on a sunny Tuesday morning in the city of Pau, as he prepared for the start of the 14th stage of the 2001 Tour de France. Spirits were high in the peloton that morning; the last of the high mountain peaks had been crossed two days before and there were just six stages to race before the chequered flag in Paris.

Vaughters had never made it to Paris. In 1999, his Tour debut, he had been brought down in a spectacular pile-up on the second stage. A year later, he crashed out again, overshooting a corner at speed on a descent in the Pyrenees. His third appearance in the race had been the best to date. He had experienced the thrill of winning (his team, Credit Agricole, had the team time trial), survived the Alps and Pyrenees, and was nailed-on to make his first Tour finish.

And then, incredibly, the curse had struck again.

The previous afternoon, while out on a leisurely ride with his teammates during the rest day in Pau, a wasp had become entrapped in his sunglasses and stung him in the eye. Vaughters was allergic to wasp stings and by the time he had returned to the team hotel, his eye was the size of a golf ball. The pain was only beginning.

"The only thing that's going to reduce that swelling is a cortisone injection which, as you know, is proscribed," the team doctor announced. "Take it and you'll test positive."

Vaughters was distraught. "But that's ridiculous...I can't see! I can't ride my bike! How will I finish the race?"

"I'm sorry Jonathan," the doctor replied. "I can give you the injection but you will have to abandon the race. There are no exemptions for allergies. We have to do this by the book."

"I understand," Vaughters conceded, "but I'm not going to abandon. We'll see how it is in the morning."

Sleep did not come easily that night to the 29-year-old American. Here he was, trying to compete clean against rocket machines, juiced on (undetectable) EPO, growth hormone and testosterone and he was the guy at risk of being exposed as a cheat! The irony was sickening.

The morning brought no respite. He ate breakfast with his teammates, changed into his racing kit and stepped off the team coach in Pau looking like the Elephant Man. His Tour was effectively over but as a gesture to highlight the absurdity of the doping laws he had decided to sign-on as normal, line-up for the start, and climb off his bike as soon as the flag dropped.

As he made his way to the start line, aching with disappointment, he crossed the path of a chap he describes as "a famous rider". Most of

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