Now Floyd Landis has been caught will the mainstream USA media go after Lance Armstrong Or Will The Story Fade Away?

Now that Track and Field superstar Marion Jones has admitted to using steroids and Floyd Landis the 2006 Tour de France champion have been stripped of their medals.  How long will it take before Floyd Landis starts talking to the media about his “friendship” with Lance Armstrong ? Will Landis tell the truth about Armstrong? Only time will tell. Are Landis and Armstrong still “good” friends?

For the longest time, Landis and Armstrong have formed this united front in the media pledging their allegiance to each other. Armstrong even defended Landis in the press over the doping allegations.  However, once Landis was found guilty of doping Armstrong has slowly but surely distanced himself from his so called good friend Floyd Landis.

The question now is, will the USA American media turn up the heat on Lance Armstrong? After all, the USA media seem to be going hard after Barry Bonds. Why does Armstrong get a free pass from the USA press?  Armstrong may have won the Tour de France an incredible seven times. However, the international media is not so convinced that Armstrong’s extraordinary success was just due to hard work and determination.  The French media specifically has not bought into the Armstrong story.

For years steroid abuse allegations have followed Armstrong and he has denied forever that he is a cheater. Just remember readers Marion Jones also denied for years that she cheated too. And Floyd Landis also denied he cheated.  Yet the flame is still burning and the fire is not out.  I have this feeling that Floyd Landis knows more about Lance Armstrong and that he’s hiding something. Landis and Armstrong claim to be good friends. When there is smoke there is fire.

According to  a June 24th 2006  NPR story, Armstrong’s ex friends Betsy and Frankie Andreu claim that Armstrong told them that he did indeed use drugs in 1996 in a hospital room. Also, according to the same NPR story Stephanie McIlvain a former friend also says  Armstrong  used performance enhancing drugs.

Also the silence of the mainstream USA media about Armstrong is very perplexing and interesting. Armstrong is the white American golden boy he can do no wrong. Floyd Landis he was the white boy of the moment he won the Tour de France just once.  Landis is now old news. Armstrong is not just considered a great American athlete he’s considered a legend in USA sports. Armstrong story coming back from testicular cancer to become a dominant cyclist is now a part of  American mythology. The American media have fostered and helped create this so called Lance Armstrong “legend.”

Yet the British and French media are cynical and  are paying close attention to Lance Armstrong more then the American media. The question is why? Why is there this eerie silence in the mainstream USA press in relation to Armstrong?  Check out the links for yourself. Do you think Armstrong cheated during his cycling career? Cycling is known for so many years for cheating. Armstrong to his credit never got caught cheating. Just remember Marion Jones never failed a drug test in her career either.  Jones was on the designer steroid the “clear” which was undetectable during lab tests.  The question is, if Armstrong was clean as he claims why is there still a cloud of doom and doubt over his success? Remember Marion Jones also denied for years she used steroids until one day Jones finally decided she wanted to live her life honestly.

Link to NPR story listen and read ex friends of Lance Armstrong  say he admitted drug use:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5508863

Link to The Times.co.uk article about Armstrong and cheating:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/tour_de_france/article559819.ece

Link to Landis claim doping agency wanted Armstrong:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6646809.stm

Link to lessons on Floyd Landis verdict

http://boulderreport.bicycling.com/2007/09/lessons-from-th.html

Link: Floyd Landis stripped of Tour de France title

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jyjDmlUh8XW7t59IMnHMN3pg7FmA