SOUNDBITE (French):Christian Prudhomme, Tour de France Director
“That’s not what he said, he said it was impossible to win the Tour without it between 1995 and 2000. We have known for a long time, and I said it after Armstrong’s confessions, those were cursed years for the Tour de France. It is hard to imagine just how cursed that era was, but it was indeed a cursed era for cycling. And when Armstrong said it was impossible to win the Tour during those years without doping, he is probably trying to find excuses for himself and say implicitly that there was nothing else he could have done.”
SOUNDBITE (French):
“Over that past 15 years, 14 times doping scandals appeared just before the Tour de France. That means some people want to take advantage of the Tour to get some exposure. This is a very big tournament, just look around there are 2,300 accredited journalists here, there are cameras everywhere. So if someone wanted to transmit a message, this is the time obviously.”
