Here we go again...
The French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD) claims Lance Armstrong violated their testing protocol by not remaining "... under (the) direct and permanent observation" of the tester, the AFLD said in a statement.
Lance's statement, via Twitter, said it all:
"Was winning the Tour seven times that offensive?!?"
Apparently so.
Nevertheless, the Tour de France, the cycling union and the alphabet soup of drug-testing bureaucracies/agencies were lukewarm on their best days on the notion of a comeback by the seven-time winner of the Tour de France. If they had their druthers, it seems as if they would simply ignore the most-decorated cyclist ever simply because... well, that's the good question.
What did Lance do to upset these folks?
How are these for guesses...
Was it because he survived cancer?
How about never testing positive for any drug test?
Being the focal point of tons of rumor and innuendo?
Dating celebrities?
Running the Boston Marathon?
Being from Texas?
I know - his presence makes folks pay attention to the Tour de France and if there is anything the folks who run the race do not want is attention. After all, with attention comes questions and if there is one thing those folks do not want is to be questioned on their shady ethics, faulty tests and obvious biases.
Oh yes, Lance making a comeback is a bad idea. There is no doubt those folks high-fived when Lance crashed and busted up his collarbone last month during a race in Spain. If they didn't high-five, they did the French derivation of the high-five, which might be a smack on the rear or blowing smoke rings from a Gauloises.
So they look for loopholes. At least that's the way it seems. They want blood, hair and urine, even while on the way back from a training ride around Beaulieu-sur-Mer last month.
Lance's big wrongdoing was that he took a shower after that ride. Yes, imagine that - a French drug tester angry at an American for taking a shower.
Yes, we all know how the French feel about showering.
So yes, here we go again. Though AFLD president Pierre Bordry has not come out and said Lance is guilty of any type of infraction, the bureaucracy is considering whether or not to proceed with sanctions based on that shower.
Apparently the AFLD was unable to hire Norman Bates.