Poor decision by the Tour de France
By Jaime
July 27, 2010
Love him or hate him, whether you believe the doping allegations or not, Lance Armstrong has raised awareness of cancer and propelled millions of people to donate money, wear the yellow armbands and become involved in the cause. Does this make him Saint Lance, as so many survivors are prone to put him on a pedestal? No. As someone who has met him, definitely not. But you can’t deny the fact that he’s done a lot of good.
| Is the Tour really that blind, that self-centered to deny the larger impact this will have? |
There are 28 million people in the world living with cancer right now, and Armstrong and Team Radio Shack had planned to wear special black commemorative jerseys with the number 28 on the back to symbolize these individuals and ride in their honor, in the last stage of the Tour de France.
The race officials told them to take them off and to put on their official jerseys.
Is the Tour really that blind, that self-centered to deny the larger impact this will have? I can understand tradition. Tradition is important. But they’re not making a political statement that will alienate anyone, or taking a controversial stand on a hot-button issue. The team is driving (or biking, rather) home the fact that no one is exempt from cancer and its impact. The team and Lance are proving that there is life after cancer, even advanced cancer, and that support exists.
Does the Tour not realize how many thousands of people probably wouldn’t even be interested in the Tour if not for Lance? How many cancer survivors and their friends and family are now TDF watchers, just to follow Lance’s progress, or the rest of the Radio Shack team?
I’d love to see those 28 million people let the Tour de France know where they stand on the race’s ruling. In the end, TDF, was it really worth it?
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