"He bribed everyone, he was tyrannical to his teammates and obnoxious to the peloton" - Jerôme Pineau slams Lance Armstrong's recent comments 'the biggest bandit in the history of sport'
CyclingWednesday, 06 December 2023 at 10:21
Lance Armstrong was quoted recently as saying "Jan Ullrich, Marco Pantani and myself were treated differently. This is the price to pay when you are the best in a sport." It's fair to say, these comments haven't gone down well with ex-pro Jerôme Pineau.
Launching into a scathing rant on RMC, Pineau made no attempt to hide disdain for cycling's persona non grata. "It's a show, it's always been that way with Armstrong. He cheated more than anyone else," the Frenchman began. "He bribed everyone, he was tyrannical to his teammates and obnoxious to the peloton."
"He was above all laws. With his statements he lumps everyone together, Pineau continues. "He was the strongest because he cheated more than the others! He bought the system! He is the biggest bandit in the history of sport."
Although Armstrong keeps himself relevant to cycling fans nowadays via his 'The Move' podcast alongside Johan Bruyneel and George Hincapie, Pineau sees no place for the American in the sport. "Shut up!" Pineau demands. "He corrupted entire generations, including me. He may have been talented, but he tyrannized the entire peloton. He had the entire political and sporting system behind him. Not everyone was like him , it wasn't me and neither were the guys on my team."
"Don't say you paid for the others! We weren't all like you! I can't hear him talking like that, he's been cheating his whole life," concludes the Frenchman's sensational rant.
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- According to the disgraced GT champion himself, Lance Armstrong, the Grand Tours are where you'll see the strongest athletes in all of sports. These riders do a 250 km race today, and another 200km race tomorrow, followed by a 30km time trial, then capped off with a mountain stage with 4000m elevation gain.. and that is only for the first week. I guess that's why doping became part of the sport, because of the extreme pressure these riders go through in a 21-day race. Talk about endurance, that's what it's all about. Sagan may be fast, and Cavendish, and Pedersen and Wout and MVDP,, but they can hardly finish a grand tour.FredMan15-05-2025
- Nice try dude..FredMan15-05-2025
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- All the best for '27 🙏😎
leedorney15-05-2025 - and his "worst" result - 7th in TTmobk14-05-2025
- Mads Pedersen is an absolute beast. He really didn't look like he'd make it up that last climb, but he dug very deep, and was there when it mattered in the end. Three stage wins in the first five stages is very impressive indeed.
santiagobenites14-05-2025
Whining isn’t a good look, Lance. Oh and doping or not, the GOAT is still Eddy Merckx imho - lance couldn’t t even come close when you compare results
Armstrong was a cheat, a bully, and a fraud. Not interested in anything he has to say, and I can't believe people still idolise him!
Ils étaient tous dopés et Lance est sortie vainqueur 7 fois. Il est le plus grand athlète de l'histoire car personne ne gagnera plus 7 Tours.
Go watch the enhanced games and leave cycling to try to cleanse itself as much as can be hoped for.
Sour grapes! Lance cheated fair and square in an era when everyone was cheating. He was still the best all time! Go Lance!
So Lance cheated more than the other guys who were blood doping? Whatever...
If you knew anything about Armstrong you would know that's the case
I know quite a bit, he's not a nice guy but was not doing anything else the other top guys weren't.
I don't know, if I ever hear that someone was clean I tend not to believe them. I'm not a superhuman like pro cyclists are but I've done enough racing as an ametur and it's very hard for me to believe anyone at a high level could get through a modern GT without some type of blood recovery.
I do love the sport and I try not to be cynical, but the reality of anyone finishing a GT with a hematocrit around a 38 or so is not lost on me, it's simply not possible, I don't think it would be possible even if they took out the mountains.
Just my observation.
And does that change anything? Nope
Seems Jerome's comments are becoming more and more unhinged! Animus does this to a person.
Hincapie was just as big a part of the fraud but his "aw shucks" demeanor lets him get off lightly.
Speaking of unapologetic frauds.