"There was someone from his very close circle who was fed up with him" - Former Dutch journalist recalls how he was onto Lance Armstrong before doping suspensions

Mart Smeets if a former journalist who worked mainly for NOS and was very present in the world of cycling during the Lance Armstrong era. He recalls stories of talking to the American rider and also talking to someone within his inner circle that was ready to take down the American.

Smeets often covered the words of the American rider, who actively lied for years to the media regarding the use of prohibited substances and methods. For a journalist it becomes a difficult grey area, where among the many doubts and suspicions, the responsibility to cover his statements as they come remains. "But I also tried to prove that he did naughty things," Smeets told the Live Slow Ride Fast podcast. "I can tell you that we had come a long way at NOS. There was someone from his very close circle who was fed up with him and who had been fired. He was willing to talk."

He kept the source private, but the story ultimately did not come out as it was a very difficult subject to navigate and it required more than just one source proving the accusations. "It wouldn't be fair if I said that (who the source was, ed.). I went to my boss and he said that we needed a second proof. As stated in the statutes. We were so close, but also so far away. That was together with Raymond Kerckhoffs. I can now say this to all kinds of people, but they don't believe it and think that I allowed everything."

Only in 2012 was the American officially stripped of all his titles at the Tour, and in early 2013 he went on a famous American TV show to admit the wrongdoings. "When he had just finished with Oprah Winfrey I spoke to him. I got the number through Johan Bruyneel, who was not yet suspected at the time. Now we know a bit more... I had gotten his secret number from Bruyneel and agreed that I would use it for one conversation," Smeets tells. "I immediately threw the number away afterwards. I called Lance and told him that he could apologize to me for the fact that he had cheated me exceptionally well and tightly for years". 

The Dutch reporter had known him for many years and shares how ultimately he also wanted to hear Armstrong being honest, after decade and a half of deception to everyone around. "He wanted to talk, but without a microphone and camera. He didn't want that at the time. Then I said that I did. I wanted that because the game I played with him was also on camera. All those television viewers were also lied to and deserve to see those excuses too."