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news
Geoff Thomas and Nicki AitkenSole female participant in Tour de France charity ride pulls out due to late addition of Lance Armstrong
Nicki Aitken has pulled out of the charity ride in which she was aiming to ride the entire course of the Tour de France one day before the professionals due to the participation of Lance Armstrong. Aitken, who would have been the sole female participant, said she did not wish to be associated with ‘the most tainted man in sport’.
Aitken had signed up to be one of 20 cyclists accompanying former England footballer Geoff Thomas on his Tour de France Ten Years On ride, which will celebrate his going into remission from leukaemia a decade ago. The plan is to ride all 21 stages the day before the pros do so and raise £1 million for the Cure Leukaemia charity of which Thomas is patron.
However, Aitken told BT Sport that the late addition of Armstrong had dissuaded her from taking part. “I was getting texts from friends when it was announced that Lance Armstrong would be taking part and I thought: ‘You know what, I haven’t seen one positive thing about this.’”
She said that it was when the news broke that Nike would be sponsoring Justin Gatlin [who has returned to sprinting after bans for positive drug tests] that she realised she didn’t want to be involved.
“I enjoy sport. I just don’t understand the win at all costs mentality at all. Obviously some drug cheats apologise and come back, but there’s always that element with me: ‘Why did you do it in the first place'.
"It’s not only the taking drugs and cheating, it’s also that you’ve denied clean athletes winnings things in that time period and you can never give that opportunity back.’ It just doesn’t sit right. It takes away the point of sport. It just becomes drug companies competing against drug companies.”
Aitken’s father and grandmother both died from blood cancer and while she had wanted to raise money for research into the disease, Armstrong’s involvement didn’t sit well.
“Dad loved sport. He always used to come and support me and my two elder brothers. Even on cold days, in the middle of a muddy field, he’d be there. He was so encouraging. I know he would be proud of everything I’ve achieved in sport. But he also brought us up to fight for what we believe in."
Betsy Andreu and Sir Dave Brailsford are among those who have been critical of Armstrong’s involvement, but Geoff Thomas believes that the disgraced cyclist will help him raise more money and more awareness and says he has ‘no regrets’ about inviting him.
While Armstrong is only planning on riding two stages, Aitken is scornful of suggestions she could have missed those days and ridden the rest. “What’s the point of that? Then I wouldn’t have ridden the whole Tour de France. It defeats the object.”
Fortunately, Aitken’s charity efforts are not lost. She instead plans on undertaking alternative challenges.
“My sponsors all said we’ll still give you the money if you do something else so this year I’m going to take on other challenges instead, like cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats, the Jurassic Coast Challenge (three marathons in three days) and riding the Nove Colli, one of Italy’s most famous mass participation cycling events.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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52 comments
If I may have a second comment, it all adds to the event publicity, keeping the plates spinning.
WOW! Nicki has managed to become briefly famous on the back of Lance Armstrong,
why did she not just politley pull out and do something she felt morally sound with out shouting about it? Publicity?
Or maybe she wanted to let people know to get more sponsorship for her lone event, after all if she was to ride a sportive,there might be people much worse than a sport cheet riding. Perhaps we should CRB people before allowing them to enter charity events. Did she check the background of the other riders?
Also are there any convicted/suspected drug cheets riding this years tour? There was last year. Perhaps that is a stronger reason not to be associated with anything Tour de France?
I feel she is being selective with her morals.
Clearly there's a profit to be made on internet anger. Hatred == Ad Prints.
'Let's move on from bully / cheat / doper / it's in the past now.'
Yup, I agree. If it's in the past, you can forget about it. All these people going on about the holocaust, honestly. Just move on.
...yet you come onto a cycling forum and participate in a thread about the most divisive personality ever to grace the sport?
Hmmmm...
Sounds more like someone reserving the right to be offended by the fact someone else would be breathing near them. So they won't ride...
Or she needed any excuse to get out of it. So here's a good one.... "Lance will be there, and I'm too affected by what other people think of me"
If you're somehow affected by someone else being anywhere near you, guess what? You're the problem. Not the other person.
Grow up.
Thats called 'straw man' - you put up an argument that was never made, and then knock it down.
Separately, I wouldn't want to be thought of as someone who supports LA, and his bullying, lying, cheating, self serving and narcissistic attitude to everyone and everything around him. Her not riding is a clear way of making clear to everyone what she thinks. Good on her. At least she acts on her convictions.
You can't talk about straw men without recognising that this part is a silly argument. Have you said you support bullying, lying, cheating etc.? If you haven't, anybody who's claiming that's what YOU support if you don't object to Lance riding his bike for charity is pretty stupid. I certainly don't support those things even though I don't object to him riding.
Quitting the ride is equally stupid. Nobody intelligent would have thought any the less of her because Armstrong is riding a couple of stages. Apart from the substantial amount of money she would have raised independent of Armstrong's participation, just completing the ride is a great achievement that many people would have admired her for. She's now in the position where all the positive things that would have come from her participation have been lost because she's worried what people will think of her. Here's a tip lady: if you go through life worrying what people are thinking about you you'll never achieve anything!
Agree with others here. Armstrong riding the tour route is anything but him moving on...he bullied, lied and cheated and is all about himself...
How many of the anti-Nicki commenters would or could finish the TDF Ten Years On ride?
Brilliant. More than the anti-lance commentators who could win 7 TDFs I expect.
If we look at this from the terms of Geoff's charity, then Lance riding = publicity, Lance not being allowed to ride = publicity, Nicki deciding to bow out and blame Lance = publicity, Nicki not saying anything and riding anyway = nothing. So it's no big deal for the charity. Seems the only perosn losing out is Nicki. If I were her, I'd get myself back in there and have the best of both worlds.
LA didn't raise money for "cancer" he raised money for his own charity that pretty well pi$$ed all the money up the wall paying themselves handsomely; flying themselves around the world in private jets and paying expensive lawyers to protect their 'reputation'.
There are some really mean spirited f*ckers posting here. I think it finally dawned on this woman what she had signed up to do. She thought "F*ck, I can't do that, no way!" Easy option is to blame Lance Armstrong and pull out . I mean so weak and feeble. It would be unlikely she would be riding with Lance anyway as she would likely be far too slow. This event was all about raising money for charity but this woman and other equally mean spirited people are using the presence of Lance Armstrong as an excuse not take part. Oh please, how pathetic! In life there are lots of people you have to interact with that if you knew their background you might choose not to if you had the benefit of hindsight. I bet she is not perfect. This is a charity ride. Who care's about Lance Armstrong and what he did in his sport! He wasn't alone. This ride is nothing to do with competitive cycling, it is an organised ride merely to raise money and awareness of terminal illness which I think LA is well qualified to participate in. In any case, he was INVITED by Geoff Thomas he didn't beg to be allowed to participate. A pathetic response. She is just not up to it nor the training and has now just realised this.
Now if Lance was climbing Everest or some thing, fine.
But he isn't, he is doing an event around something he shat on and took the money, and lied, and shat on anyone threatening to expose him.
So well done on pulling out, He is an awful man who must keep his distance from cycling in anything but a quiet and personal manner.
Damn right! He's only involved in this charity ride to try and get some redemption for his awful behaviour in the past. Well done Nicki, I like to think if I was involved in the ride I would behave in a similar way. I'm surprised Geoff Thomas thought any good would come of LA taking part.
And those apologists for him that bang on about "hatred " and all the good he has done for charity, wake up!
Good riddance to the holier than thou bullshit broad. Feck off honey...
...'We' have done, hence our wish not to see him in the public eye. As noted above, we're waiting for him to catch on...
A 100% good decision for anyone with a lick of sense to pull out of this ride. I get so tired of writing this but I am dedicated to educating the ignorant so read carefully...
Lance WAS DIFFERENT than any other rider that took drugs to win bike races... not because of the doping but what he did in furtherance of the doping. You can watch Lance commit a felony on YouTube, that is perjury. (which he got off from due only to the statue of limitations) Can you say that about any other rider? A complete list of LA's crimes would include perjury, fraud, witness tampering, bribery, extortion and assault. On top of that LA manipulated the legal system suing anyone that dared tell the truth... and he attempted to ruin anyone that stood up to him. LA is a complete scumbag, the worst sort of human being. Not because he doped but just because he is. So shut up about the "everyone else did the same thing" because not they did not. Shut up about "it is history" because as long as LA attempts to occupy the public spotlight it is not. Anyone that rationalizes LA's crimes and misdeeds is fooling themselves. Every cycling news site in the world needs to pledge to never mention LA name again. It is the only way forward.
I totally agree Bryin, others have come clean and apologised but not him.
It's like reading the Guardian comments section on here. It's not the sort of site I want anything to do with. Bye.
Flounce!
Do you think Armstrong is moving on by going back and riding the Tour de France? I'm sorry, but that's a monumentally stupid proposition.
Geoff Thomas must be the last person in Britain who is still confused about whether Armstrong is a hero or a villain. Meanwhile, Armstrong is doing the only thing he was ever world class at - manipulating other people for his own ends.
I don't care at all if Armstrong is moving on or whatever. He has not harmed us , he may have brought great embarrassment to people who believed he was innocent all those years but no harm to the general public.
We as a civilised society need to forgive and we need to move on. It's not like he has got off scot free. His life is ruined even though he gives off this air of invincibility. What does all this hatred say about us ?
As he has said, he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
You could not be more wrong. Armstrong has caused a great deal of harm in his life, both to individuals (that list in long) and to society in general. His actions are not simply deplorable but actually CRIMINAL. How else can you define "doing harm"? Yet some people seem to think that should be overlooked. There is no credible reason to overlook it or "move on" but they want to none the less... Which speaks a great deal about their unwillingness to recognize their mistake in cheering on and defending this scumbag in the first place.
The cycling industry desperately wants LA front and center because he drives revenue, which is amusing because it is the reason he was allowed to cheat so long in the first place. They continue to attempt to assert him into the cycling zeitgeist. Yet those with morals beyond the dollar continue to fight this blatant attempt to cheat justice.
If you think LA should be forgiven then there is something wrong with YOUR system of mortality or you refuse to view the situation logically. I can think of no logical reason to grant him one iota of forgiveness. He has never paid a fine or served a day in jail for his crimes nor has even been truthful in his confessions. He continues to live the life of a wealthy person despite the fact that his wealth came from illegal and immoral actions. How does that equate to forgive and forget?
Hope you never do jury service. No human is 100% morally perfect. Would someone like to disagree. How many people on here have ever had a conversation with him. We do not know him at all. Only what we read and view on TV.
fed up with self styled cycling experts who base their knowledge on the doping / cheating side to the sport and actually know sweet fa about the actual sport of cycle racing.
Forums = mainly negative comments. Maybe a British thing.
Lol, most people never meet the people being written about, judged,or otherwise sanctioned. Thats why we rely on news services to tell us what the various tribunals / courts etc found. Armstrong has been stripped of all his tour honours because the allegations made about him were found to be substantiated. People who were directly affected by him in the sport have also spoken out about it...do you think an action can only be judged by each and every individual otherwise we cannot take it at face value when its reported about?
Armstrong lied bullied and cheated for years, he covered up for years...five mins after he has been sanctioned its all in the past we must all move on and so forth...nonsense.
I have, he came across as a cock. 10 seconds was all I needed to formulate that opinion.
Simple case of raising money for a good cause. Principles can be expensive things to have.
She seems to be demonstrating a good deal more in the way of testicular fortitude than the Armstrong apologistas...
'Why can't we all move on?'
We have.
We're waiting for him to realise that.
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