Armstrong drops defamation lawsuits

PARIS -- Lance Armstrong dropped defamation lawsuits in France after winning three legal battles elsewhere over doping accusations.

Donald Manasse and Christian Charriere-Bournazel, Armstrong's lawyers in France, said Thursday the seven-time Tour de France champion had instructed them to "dismiss all pending actions."

That means a trial set to start in October against the authors of the book "LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong" will not proceed. The book accused Armstrong of using banned substances, a claim he has always denied.

"I think we're 10-0 in lawsuits right now," Armstrong said Thursday. "My life is not about that anymore. I've answered all the questions."

Armstrong recently settled a libel case against Britain's Sunday Times newspaper over a June 2004 article that referred to the book, written by Pierre Ballester and David Walsh. The settlement followed a pretrial ruling by a High Court judge in Armstrong's favor. Two other recent rulings also vindicated Armstrong.

Armstrong said he wanted to spend money on personal causes, like his Lance Armstrong Foundation, instead of litigation. Asked if dropping the lawsuits meant he thought the accusations would cease, Armstrong said, "Probably not. No. But that's OK."

Armstrong was hounded by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his record Tour wins from 1999-05. He is now retired from cycling.

He recently sued to recover a $5 million bonus for winning in 2004. The insurance company under contract to pay the bonus had withheld it because of accusations that Armstrong had taken drugs. An arbitration panel awarded Armstrong $7.5 million.

"Mellow Johnny"

Lance Armstrong is shown prior to the fourth stage of the Giro Tour of Italy cycling race, from Wanze to Hotton, Belgium, in this May 9, 2006 photo. Armstrong dropped defamation lawsuits in France after winning three legal battles elsewhere over doping accusations. Donald Manasse and Christian Charriere-Bournazel, Armstrong's lawyers in France, said Thursday July 6, 2006, the seven-time Tour de France champion had instructed them to "dismiss all pending actions." (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

I watched an amazing show about Greg Lamond this week. About how much sabotage the french tried against him to keep him from winning was unbelievable.

In the mid eighties, Greg was part of a team of the best riders, including some french, other euros, and him, an american. The coach was french.

In one of the last stages of the race, Greg was only seconds in time behind the french rider who was at the time the most favored french rider to win and had a ton of french company sponsors. When Greg started making a move, the french coach riding in a car behind him ordered him back claiming some story about how other riders were going to be pulling up to him, so they could work together to get him going even faster. He listened and backed off, but the other riders said the coach never said anything to them about this and greg lost a ton of time. This costing him the time gain he would need to have a chance to beat him. At that time, Greg's pace was increasing, while the french guy had been slowing down.
Greg went nuts. At that point, the french teamates all stopped talking to the other non-french team members.

The french guy won that year.

Afterwards, the french rider and coach promised Greg that next year, they would work together and the best man on the team would win. Greg and other riders mistake was believing this.

All through the training leading up to it, the french rider trained with Greg, and kept telling him they would work together during the race and whoever dominated fairly would win.

Well, as the next years race began, the french team members and coach pulled the same crap again right out of the gate. The non-french team members got togther with Greg and told him the would all worketogether to help Greg win. The team basically splintered in two groups. Throughout the race, Greg and the non-french team mates had to cook their own food and never drink anything that wasn't personally handled by themselves. Greg's wife rented a car herself and followed the team, keeping all the food and supplies they would need with her. There had been attempts to poison the non-french riders and Greg in that group and threats against Greg's life as he starting winning the race.

Greg won the race that year and left that team. I believe he went on to win 2 more tour de frances.

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