>at the time doping was a baseline requirement for competing at the top levels of cycling To a great extent, that was the direct fault of Lance Armstrong. He w

>at the time doping was a baseline requirement for competing at the top levels of cycling To a great extent, that was the direct fault of Lance Armstrong. He was the chief enforcer of the code of silence around doping. 1998 could have been a turning point for cycling after the Festina affair, but Armstrong scuppered any chance of that; where others saw the shame of a sport in turmoil, Armstrong saw opportunity. Armstrong's comeback after cancer was a story that sponsors loved, he was the first American to be a serious yellow jersey prospect for nearly a decade, so he brought an unprecedented amount of money into the sport. Armstrong effectively became too big to fail, ruthlessly dominating the sport around him. When riders spoke out, he had the power to make them outcasts. When journalists tried to reveal the truth, he had the resources to silence them in court. The bitterness that many in the cycling community feel towards Armstrong isn't really about the doping or the stolen yellow jerseys - it's about all the lives that he ruined in the process. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Bassons#1999_Tour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Bassons#1999_Tour https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Simeoni#Feud_with_Lance_Armstrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Simeoni#Feud_with_Lanc... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Confidentiel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Confidentiel