Hacker: Lance Armstrong – The man, the myth, the leg-end of the road?

On 2 October 1996, a 25-year-old American is diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer. The doctors give him only a 40 per cent chance of survival. Less than three years later this individual wins the toughest competition in professional sport – the Tour de France. In the space of the next ten years he becomes the most successful cyclist in the history of the Tour, notching up another six consecutive triumphs, retiring - and then returning to finish third at the sprightly age of 37. He is now preparing to retire for a second time, this time he claims, for good. Lance Armstrong’s life reads like a Hollywood script but in the next few weeks, events in those fabled hills may decide whether he gets his happy ending or a nasty twist in the tale.

Described as “capturing the eyes of a nation and the hearts of the entire world” by none other than Vice-President Al Gore in 1999, Armstrong holds a unique place in American culture. However, there have always been doubters, those who suggest his superhuman feats are just that – superhuman. But nothing really damaging has ever stuck. Every accusation of performance-enhancing drugs has either been too complicated for general public consumption or happily explained away by Team Armstrong. As Armstrong retires for a second time, however, a shift in opinion seems to be occurring, could the all-American hero be the biggest sporting fraud of all time?

Last May Floyd Landis, the 2006 Tour winner and a former teammate of Armstrong, confessed to doping throughout his career. After four years of protesting his “innocence” Floyd admitted that he too had become a footnote in the history books of a sport all too closely linked to performance enhancement. However, far from going down quietly Floyd pointed the finger at Armstrong, claiming he had systematically cheated whilst team leader of the US Postal Service. Not only that, but Landis claimed that Johann Bruyneel – team manager and Armstrong's long-time confidant – had bribed the sport's governing body UCI to keep quiet about a positive drugs test in 2002. On its own these claims wouldn’t have found much of an audience, given that many in cycling - particularly those in France, who see Armstrong as the overrated American - view Lance as the one who got away with it. However, the Food and Drug Administration of the US government decided to follow up on Landis’ claims, beginning a formal investigation.

This investigation is now coming to a close, it appears: witnesses have been put before a grand jury and should an indictment follow, Armstrong would no longer have to answer to just his critics but also to the law. His star is beginning to fade. Vast swathes of the previously pro-Lance American media have broadcast the claims made against him and should he have to stand trial, the very nature of the grand jury investigation process means he would be proving his innocence rather than defending it.

The real sadness lies in where this leaves the sport. Before the murmurings became cries of discontent, professional cycling could boast arguably the greatest sportsman of all time within its number. However, just as it loses another Tour de France winner to doping – Alberto Contador, who tested positive following this year’s tour and has been banned for a year – all eyes return to its White Knight. Armstrong claims he is the most tested athlete in the world and to this day he hasn’t officially failed a single drugs test. Nevertheless, should he and his legacy be put on trial, it would be the final nail in the coffin of a sport so desperately in need of an Armstrong-esque revival.