Cycling jerseys line the wall of the Handlebar Grill in the Washington Park neighborhood. Signed jerseys by Denver-area Tour de France cyclists such as Andy Hampsten and Jonathan Vaughters greet the hordes of cycling fans who pack the place standing room only to watch Tour de France telecasts every July.
On Wednesday, however, owner Mike Miller was angry. Word that Lance Armstrong, the man Miller’s customers have watched win a record seven consecutive Tours, was accused by a French newspaper of taking the illegal performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO) six years ago.
“It’s amazing that the French don’t understand what he’s done for the event,” Miller said. “Come on, folks. This is six years ago. They’re trying to put this dirty laundry out. Talk about a witch hunt. What is this? McCarthyism all over again?”
The French sports newspaper L’Equipe, in a four-page section Tuesday, reported that six urine samples taken from Armstrong in 1999, one year before EPO testing began, recently tested positive. It is unlikely Armstrong is under threat of penalty. Only the B samples, the second of two samples used in doping tests, were tested, while the A batch was used for analysis in 1999 and is unavailable for testing.
Armstrong reacted immediately, restating on his website that he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs.
The rabid Colorado cycling community seems to stand by him.
“What he’s done for the sport, for cancer patients, he’s given people hope,” Miller said. “And here are the French going, ‘We’re going to do whatever we can to drag you through the dirt, OK? Remember that cornfield you ran through the other time when Joseba Beloki went off his bike? Guess what. That’s going to be mild compared to what we do to you.”‘
Two blocks away in Washington Park, dozens of people in assorted cycling wear raced around the concrete oval on a gorgeous, sunny day. Jerry Furman, wearing Armstrong Livestrong Lycra shorts and a replica polka-dot jersey given to the Tour de France’s best climber, works at Bike Village and is a retired Jefferson County policeman.
A spectator at the 2004 Tour, Furman was skeptical of the evidence.
“I know that the information the French, L’Equipe, has given wouldn’t stand up in any of our courts,” he said. “There’s not enough information. That stuff is vague compared to some of the stuff we have on our baseball players.”
“People here aren’t that stupid,” added his wife, Mary, a registered nurse who gives EPO to patients. “I don’t think they’re going to believe that.”
Chuck Winston, sales manager at Denver Spoke near the University of Denver campus, added it to the long list of attempts by the French to discredit American cyclists.
“It’s been going on for years,” he said. “I’ve been to the Tour de France and seen all the French yelling ‘Doper! Doper!’ I’ve seen the writing on the streets. A lot of French people like him, but it’s just kind of a bitter thing. When’s the last time a Frenchman has won it? (Armstrong’s) the most-tested athlete in world.
“If you pass every test, what else can you do?”
Vaughters not only is a former Tour cyclist and former Armstrong teammate, but was a teammate on U.S. Postal Service in 1999 when Armstrong allegedly took EPO.
Vaughters also was his teammate in 1998 when police busted the entire French team Festina for having EPO in its hotel. Though EPO was banned, there was no accurate testing for it until 2000.
Asked if he thought Armstrong took EPO, Vaughters said: “I don’t know. Quite honestly in cycling, before ’98 and before the Festina scandal, there was a team environment with a team doctor where the doctor did this and maybe the whole team was taking an illegal substance and everyone knew what everyone was doing.
“But after that, the environment totally disappeared. Within the team structure, I never saw him take anything in ’99.”
Vaughters said Armstrong’s samples from 1999 aren’t as anonymous as many critics claim. He said when a cyclist gives a urine sample, the bottle is labeled and paperwork is signed by the cyclist, a teammate and the doctor. However, he says how L’Equipe matched the samples with Armstrong isn’t the biggest issue.
“How much do samples degrade over six years?” Vaughters said. “Getting down to pure science, that’s the biggest question at hand. If a sample is six years old, is it still valid? I don’t have the answer.”
Hampsten, a former Tour de France stage winner, said he didn’t know enough about the evidence to determine Armstrong’s guilt but did say this shouldn’t hurt his reputation.
“I think the question here that’s more important is whether this is solid, conclusive medical evidence or, ‘Oh, my gosh! Someone’s on a witch hunt.”‘
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
