Armstrong fears for his safety at Tour de France

I too am sick of Lance Armstrong.  Talk about someone who can't let go. 

The reason he broke up with Sheryl Crow was because he was no longer in the spotlight.

Give it up Lance - your yesterday's news.

What a crybaby bore

Hey Lance: if you're afraid, then don't go!

People did not like Lance from 1999 to 2006 and nothing happened to him then.  For all he says about French spectators, whether or not they liked him, they respected him as a rider. No rider has ever been hurt on the Tour by spectators, even when caught with EPO in the pee jar.

Reality is that the Tour de France made Lance rich. He pretty much focused solely on the Tour while all other riders rode in all the tours and classics, just because of the media attention and advertising money it  could bring him.

It now looks like he wants to suck out one last bit of attention from the Tour by claiming that his security is at risk.  Pathetic!  How do you win 7 Tours while being such a loser?

Lance, if you can no longer take the heat, get off the road... and if you are so sure about how clear your 1999 urine is, why don't you have it tested?  You do not risk anything right? Or do you? 

I think Lance is just trying to promote himself by creating some controversy about the upcoming race.  He is trying to create some drama and suspense so people will pay attention, especially the press.  

If he is not doping, then why did he pick Dr Michele ferrari as his personal physician? This docter openly states that anything that is not forbidden (yet) is not doping. Four of his other cyclists have been caught with doping, and yet armstrong claims to be clean....    This doctor mocks other sports docters as "punto's" (a cheap slow italian car). He's been convicted for administering forbidden products but he got of the hook because of a procedural glitch.

Also, from a doping point of view, it's ideal to concentrate on the tour only. Under the old rules, it gave you the rest of the year to prepare for the race, using any kind of doping you wanted.

Dr ferrari even openly admitted that francesco Moser, one of his athletes, was using blood doping when he broke the world hour record.

On top of that, armstrong was winning his races when just about every cyclist was taking EPO, or EPO-like but more advanced products which at the time could not be detected yet. During later tests on urine samples, the newspaper L'equipe reported that they found epo, but because they didn't use the proper procedure, the test was not valid according to tour regulations. Besides, how did armstrong manage to win when all other cyclists were forced to take epo or else at best be a mediocre cyclist?

I'm sorry lance, but preventively victimizing yourself won't help. The french are not pissed without a good reason, it's not all chauvinism. The days when only frenchmen won the tour are long gone. You have an attitude problem and an oversized ego, that's why so many people are so critical of you.

Nike decides what the LIVE WRONG tool does.  they own Lance Pharmastrong!

Lance has wrecked pro cycling an made it a total WWE joke.  It was always drugged, corrupt and dishinest---but now yoy can understand how it is FIXED too!

Lance could not win a local road race without illegal drugs and 'Nike's promoter help'.

Yawn.  Cow blood IVs, EPO, hGH, exogenous testosterone and steroids made Lance a fraud!

Nike tool LIVE WRONG (Nike's idea) Lance is a drug cheat.  He injects steroids, hGH, insulin, EPO, corticosteroids, and other Polypharmacy (eg: cow blood IVs).  He is a bald faced liar too, just like all Nike athletes (Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery, Justin Gatlin, Regina jacobs, Kelli White, Michelle Collins, Tori Edwards)

Nike decides what Lance does.  Pharmstrong is a steroid sneaker salesman.   The TDF has become WWE much like all ESPN sports (NFL, MLB, NBA).  Doped and fixed for TV ratings.

Drugs help fuel TV profits.

Lance is going back for a good cause. Anything that can be done to promote cancer research should be encouraged. He is merely asking for a fair chance to compete. All of us old timers that are out there still on our bikes are pulling for him. Good luck Lance!

I agree with nickninty9 - if it generates more publicity and research $$'s for the war on cancer, which he has a very personal stake in, then more power to him. Even if he comes in last it would still be more than worth it if helps outs someone with cancer that is looking for inspiration to get through the pain. He may have an ego, but he is an amazing cyclist, has greatly expanded the fan base of his sport and he has the right to do as he pleases regardless of what the angry couch potatoes (see above) with too much time on their hands have to say about it. Good luck, Lance!!!

I would be too. He won seven tours and they think he cheated, not a good situation.

The one thing the tour organizers and the French people are forgetting is that when he won, everyone was doping. Why do you think the times are so slow now compared with years past? Clamping down on doping that's why. If he were French or from another country besides the US do you think they would hate him so much? This is the real question. They should let him ride and make it a new reality show like "Big Brother". Put camera's everywhere all the time and make sure someone is watching him 24/7. I'd watch that for sure!

Llorón!!!!

Lance is a Nike endorsed drug cheat.  Another Marion Jones!

Good grief, can this guy just go away already. He is the most egotistical, self-promoting putz I have ever seen. All about Lance, and he doesn't care who or what he leaves in his wake...and the media continues to cover him as if he is still pertinent.....GO AWAY LANCE!!!!!

Lance has an advantage other riders don't have. Lance got surgically castrated to treat testicular cancer.

What that means is that Lance can legally (by the rules) receive testosterone supplementation, as long as he doesn't break a certain physiological level. Nobody else can get that.

The fact is that when men athletically perform to exhaustion, do not see testosterone levels maintained at the physiological peak. And all men have a cycle of highs and lows.

The fact is also, that as men age, their testosterone levels slowly drop. The level of a 20 year old is not the same as a guy at 35, or a guy at 45 or at 55. But Lance, because he was castrated, can legally maintain his testosterone levels at the peak that a 20 year old could have.

So, even if Lance is "clean" he isn't actually playing on the same field as the other players are.  I don't think it is fair at this point for Lance to be competing. If his testosterone supplementation ceiling was cut to the level (year round) that men in his age group average? I guarantee you that Lance would no longer be a winner.

Don't get me wrong. Lance works hard, and he has gifts. But everyone works hard at the level of the Tour de France. So we should look carefully at his pharmacological supplements, and no, I do not think Lance's competing is fair.

I think it's a shame any athlete should be afraid to compete. If Armstrong has the desire then he should also have the opportunity. We all know he will be under the knife during the whole race so let the man race if he wants too, it's not like will be able to get away with anything under handed - so let him do his thing.

If he loses, then he loses, but if he wins  - what a great accomplishment not only to himself as an athlete but to all those that doubted him!

I'm not a sports fan, just noticed my MSNB live feed and thought it looked interesting.  From Mr. Armstrong's language, I think he's just saying it like it is.  He's not grandstanding, but noting a problem that is probably real, since it can be easily verified, despite the rumor mills of yellow journalism.  And he's totally right about the Kanagroo court....he  or his lawyers aren't in possession of the same samples from that year, so how could anyone be sure of contamination by the French authorities.  Anyone as a successful and savvy as Lance Armstrong would be negligent in not pointing out the possibilities of future problems so he doesn't appear to be panicky at the time it happens.  ANYONE would want to do the same in an analogous situation

Good Luck Lance! Use all of the negativity in today's world to propel you to finish 1st and with a smile.

GO USA!

Lance may be a good rider but he has never even tried to be friends with the French people...as compared to say, Greg Lemond.  I'm not surei f he's doping or not.. but not riding because he doesn't feel safe sounds like a poor excuse to me! 

Nike decides what their based tools do, NOT the athlete poser.   Pharmstrong tested positive for illegal corticosteroid in July 1999, then flunked six more tests for EPO doping that very same 1999.  And his USPO teammate Frankie Andreu confessed in the New York Time to EPO doping in that same race.

In the 2000 TDF Lance was busted for insulin, 160 spent sryinges and empty cow blood IV bags of Actovegin.

Lance is another Marion Jones!  Sneaker sales promoted with steroids, lies and fixes.

S-T-E-R-O-I-D-S=Cheater

Illegal Drugs=Cheater

S-T-E-R-O-I-D-S=Cheater

Illegal Drugs=Cheater

what is this?  it's ok to be a winner as long as you don't win too much?  he's taken all the tests required to ride or he wouldn't even be eligible to compete!  if he's not good enough to win, then someone else will defeat him.  what possible right does someone else have to dictate that someone strong enough to compete must retire simply because others are tired of losing?  people don't take "turns" in professional sports.  the only people who "deserve" to win are the people physically able to do it at that moment in time.  "what is he trying to prove"?!  "why does he need an eighth title"?  from the point of view of an athlete or even a sports fan, such questions are pointless at best and at worst they're almost obscene!