March 2017 | 95
Q AND A WITH DAVID WALSH
Text from Studio Canal
WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF LANCE WHEN YOU FIRST MET HIM ? DW : It was on the 1993 Tour . He was hugely impressive and I liked him . He was charismatic and brash , he absolutely knew what he wanted . I knew this guy was going to leave his mark on the Tour de France . I didn ’ t think he could ever win because everything on his record said he was not really a top climber or timetrialist . But the one day races , Lance was going to be the man for them . And most of all he had this will to succeed .
WHAT ABOUT LANCE MADE YOU BELIEVE THAT HE WAS NOT DESTINED TO WIN THE TOUR ? DW : Physiologically he didn ’ t look like a guy who was ever going to be a great climber . His upper body was too big and there was nothing in his record that said that he would be good enough to win the Tour in terms of all those long climbs in the Alps and the Pyrenees
IN FLECHE-WALLONNE LANCE IS OUTPACED BY THE GEWISS TEAM . WHY IS THAT A SIGNIFICANT MOMENT ? DW : Late in 1993 he became the third youngest guy to win the World Championship . He really rode superbly well and he became this superstar . In Fleche-Wallonne , a one day classic that should have suited Lance really well , three guys from the team being coached / medicated by Dr Michele Ferrari break away and finish first , second and third and Lance thinks this isn ’ t right - these guys didn ’ t do that without the assistance of the drug that was the rage at the time , EPO . By 1995 Lance and his team mates are using EPO .
HOW DID THIS NEW DRUG EPO , ALONG WITH BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS , WORK IN A DIFFERENT WAY FROM PREVIOUS PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS ? DW : These new drugs don ’ t enable a man to the get the best out of himself , they create a new man . When you go up a mountain your weight is terribly important - the lighter you are the more effective you will be on the climb . Some boys are born too big to be great mountain climbers . EPO can transform them , they can stay the size they are while EPO generates the production of red blood cells which will give them a supply of oxygen , and then the fact that you are big and strong is an advantage .
WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO LANCE ’ S COMEBACK IN 1999 , AFTER BEATING CANCER , SUPPORTED BY DR FERRARI ? DW : Lance to all intents and purposes has been reborn . That race started at Puy de Fou ; Lance blasted everybody . It was an ominous performance . Then we came to the mountains and the first stage was to Sestriere . Lance had ridden it four times but we ’ d never seen him in the lead group in the mountains . On that day to Sestriere not only did he ride with the big guys but at the end he rode away from them and won on his own . I was in the press room that day . There were eyes being raised to heaven and people shaking their heads . So you started to look at Lance closer and closer .
What ratio in the press room were believers versus non-believers ? DW : I ’ d say 60 % blindly believed and 40 % had real doubts . Now out of those 40 %, 36 % were happy to suppress those doubts . If you read their copy , it looked like they believed in Lance . If you spoke to them honestly and intimately , they would tell you they didn ’ t really believe him . I used to rail against that at the time . I ’ d say you can express your scepticism . And they would say , and get sued ? And have Lance put me in his black book and have me blacklisted ? And having no access to the team ? Everyone wants a Lance interview so journalists were trying to protect themselves . By protecting themselves in that way , in my view , some of them were knowingly propagating a myth .
OTHERS WHO SPOKE OUT AGAINST LANCE WERE THOROUGHLY VILIFIED BY HIM DURING THE ENSUING INVESTIGATIONS . DW : It was brutal , brutal the way that Lance tried to crush everybody that got in his way . To call Emma O ’ Reilly a whore was truly despicable . To dismiss Betsy Andreu as a crazed bitch was so wrong , so unfair . He made an illusion to Stephen Swart ’ s family which was just awful . He called Greg LeMond a drunk . It was so beyond the pale . Everybody who was involved in this story , adversaries of Lance , they would all say that the doping was bad , but not nearly as bad as the bullying .
WRITING THE BOOK BECAME A PERSONAL STORY . HOW DID IT FEEL TO BE PORTRAYED ON THE BIG SCREEN ? DW : It ’ s really surreal . All through this story I was clinging on to the Marge Simpson mantra that there is no shame in being a pariah ! There were times when I felt like the outsider ; the black sheep . To now have myself portrayed in a more favourable way is an incredible turnaround and it ’ s hugely flattering .
AND WHAT DO YOU HOPE THAT THE FILM OF THE PROGRAM WILL BRING TO THIS EVER UNFOLDING STORY ? DW : I think we ’ re going to get a sense of Lance the winner , Lance the ruthless crusher of people that got in his way . It ’ s important that people see the character that lay at the core of what US Anti-Doping chief executive Travis Tygart said is the greatest doping conspiracy that we ’ ve ever seen . People must understand the nature of the guy who masterminded that .