Procycling magazine has published an interview with Tour De France director Jean-Marie Leblanc in which he criticises the role played by journalists in the current USPS investigations;

“Even if I wasn’t the director of the Tour, the Armstrong business would bother me on both a human and a moral level. A French television report on the contents of US Postal’s dustbins at the Tour has formed the basis for a judicial inquiry on purely circumstantial grounds. I’m not particularly impressed by this approach, from a journalistic perspective. This method of investigation should come within the competence of the police, rather than a team of journalists.”

Leblanc also declared he was puzzled by the victimisation of the Texan “I don’t know why – doubtless because they’re suspicious of his domination. We’ve seen riders even more dominant in the past, though, without anyone asking themselves questions! Intellectually, their reasoning doesn’t seem logical.” He did however comment that USPS hadn’t helped their situation by “surreptitiously disposing of waste from medical products at the side of the motorway.”

In the meantime the Will Fotheringham’s English translation of Festina Soigneur, Willi Voet’s, doping rich memoirs, “breaking the chain”, is now available through Yellow Jersey publishing. So if you want to hear about “Belgian mixes” of heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, caffeine and painkillers, or routine daily injection regimes of riders such as the recently disgraced Virenque then get yourself a copy now.

If, on the other hand, you prefer to think of pro cycling as a nice, healthy career, it’s probably best to leave it.