Lance Armstrong; hero or villain

Lance Armstrong is one of the iconic sportspeople of our generation; testicular cancer survivor, seven-times Tour de France winner, author and all-round American good guy; that's the public face of Lance Armstrong. But is it all based on a lie?

This week, Sports Illustrated magazine will publish what is claimed to be an expose of Armstrong's drug-taking during his cycling career. An online preview of around 5000 words in length has already been published ahead of the main story; it begins:

Around 8 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2010, Italian police and customs officials acting at the behest of agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pulled over Yaroslav Popovych as he drove on a roundabout in Quarrata, a quaint Tuscan village of stucco facades and colorful shutters between Pistoia and Florence. The officials had been looking for Popovych, one of Lance Armstrong's Radio Shack teammates, to execute a search warrant. Italian authorities say the Ukrainian cyclist was startled but cooperative. He led them through olive groves to his house beside a cemetery. There the officials found drug-testing documents, medical supplies and performance-enhancing drugs. They also found e-mails and texts that, they say, establish that as recently as 2009 Armstrong's team had links to controversial Italian physician Michele Ferrari, with whom the Texan had said he cut ties in 2004.

This new evidence is now part of the FDA's investigation, directed by agent Jeff Novitzky, into whether Armstrong was involved in an organized doping operation as a member of the team sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), an independent agency of the federal government. In light of this criminal inquiry involving the greatest Tour de France rider of all time, SI reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and interviewed dozens of sources in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S. Because the case could potentially involve accusations that are more than a decade old, SI also examined doping allegations against Armstrong throughout his career as a pro cyclist, discovering information that is reported here for the first time.

The federal inquiry focuses on the period from 1999 to 2004, during which Armstrong won six of his seven Tour de France titles and the USPS team received more than $40 million toward sponsorship of the squad, which was managed by Tailwind, Inc., according to documents reviewed by SI. Through his attorney, Armstrong claims that he "started at USPS as a low paid, regular rider" and "was never the boss, director, the owner, or the doctor." But because government sponsorship is involved, if evidence suggests that Armstrong was directing illegal doping activity, the inquiry could result in charges against him of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking and defrauding the U.S. government.

Not surprisingly, this is a big story. Armstrong has repeatedly denied any illegal activity or drug-taking. He claims to have been tested for drugs more often than any athlete on the planet, and has reportedly never failed a drug test.

But Sports Illustrated is one of the world's most widely read sporting publications. It's hard to imagine that the magazine would go to press with these kind of allegations unless the staff had the evidence to substantiate the allegations against Armstrong. He is, after all, revered both in the United States and Europe. Sports Illustrated would be on a hiding to nothing if it vilified Armstrong without the evidence.

There will doubtless be much more coverage of this issue when Sports Illustrated hits the magazine stands later in the week, and we will be following that coverage with interest. For now though, we'll pose this question; is Lance Armstrong really the Great American Hero, or has his much feted career been nothing more than a carefully crafted sham?

What do you think?