With The King finally admitting what we knew all along …
With Lance Armstrong finally confessing the way we advised him all along …
The question now is: Besides confessing, will Lance apologize?
For us at BikeIntelligencer, an apology would be the final nail in the Lance Armstrong image reconstruction project.
The doping we always understood. Lance led cycling into professional sport’s most endemic doping era and was its best and highest practitioner — or worst and lowest, depending on how you look at it.
To win, Lance had to dope. But so did virtually every other cyclist at Tour de France levels. The ones who didn’t dope, didn’t win. Simple as that.
That’s why we always argued that Lance should just come clean, with the “Everybody did it” excuse. Then we could all move on.
With a confession, the issue becomes Lance’s behavior to his fans, the media and his fellow cyclists over the years. Armstrong not only bullied other cyclists into doping, he bullied anyone who challenged his honesty.
A confession won’t fully make amends. Only a full, heartfelt, believable apology will provide closure and allow us all to go forward with peace of mind.
With an apology, we can get back to focusing on Lance’s amazing athletic accomplishments and the admirable work his foundation has done and is doing. With an apology, we can close the door on all the bad karma Lance fomented over the years.
With an apology, maybe Lance can become a hero again.