FIGEAC, France (AP) -- Lance Armstrong confronted off-bike worries Thursday
at the Tour de France, claiming that a reporter seeking "dirt" sought to
rummage through his hotel room and facing whisperings himself of doping from
a former Tour winner.
The five-time champion said he was scared that banned substances could be
planted to frame him. Within his team, there are fears that some in France
do not want an American to win a record six Tours.
Armstrong said a French television crew sought to access his room after he
left to race in Thursday's 11th stage through central France, which was won
by Frenchman David Moncoutie.
"After we left, a TV crew from France 3 was going to the hotel, the
reception, to the owner, asking for our room, trying to get in our room,"
said Armstrong.
"They show up and they ask sporting questions to our face, but as soon as
they leave they're digging in the rooms and looking for dirt," he said. "If
you left a B vitamin sitting there, that would get on TV and that would be a
scandal. That's what we have to live with every day."
Thursday's race did not change the overall time gap between Armstrong and
his main rival, German Jan Ullrich, still 55 seconds behind. Saving
themselves for the arduous and likely decisive climbs in the Pyrenees, which
start Friday, and the Alps, they did not react when Moncoutie and two other
riders surged ahead.
The stage win was Moncoutie's first in five Tours and the third by a French
rider at this edition.
"To win a Tour stage is fabulous," said Moncoutie, who comes from the rural
region crossed Thursday. "It was one of my dreams."
A herd of six cows trotting along the 164-kilometer (102-mile) trek from
Saint-Flour to Figeac momentarily held up the pack. After a first week of
cold and rain, blazing sun baked riders.
"We're tired and really cooked," Armstrong said afterward.
He finished ninth in a group which included Ullrich, rivals Iban Mayo, Tyler
Hamilton and Ivan Basso, 5 minutes and 58 seconds behind Moncoutie's mark of
3 hours, 54 minutes and 58 seconds.
French champion Thomas Voeckler, also in that group, retained the overall
lead, still 9 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Armstrong. But
the 25-year-old French rider is expected to lose the lead to top riders in
the mountains.
Armstrong has been cheered by French fans waving the Stars and Stripes. But
others bristle at the prospect of a Texan overtaking the four other
five-time champions, who include Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard
Hinault.
One roadside cardboard sign Thursday read, "Lance Go Home."
Within his team, aides are concerned that fans or reporters might spike his
Tour -- even recalling the stabbing of American tennis star Monica Seles.
Armstrong travels with bodyguards during the three-week race.
"Nothing against the French but in France they're after us and they're after
the sport of cycling," Armstrong said. "It's not just the Ministry of Sport,
it's the media."
He claimed that the France 3 reporter who visited his hotel "has been
following us for months and it's scandalous."
"The scary thing is, if they don't find anything and get frustrated after a
couple of months ... well, who's to say they won't put something there and
say 'look what we've found,"' he added. "They see the sport as a target, an
easy target."
The France 3 reporter, Hugues Huet, said he went to the hotel to do
interviews about Armstrong's teammates and that he chatted to the hotel
manager for a few minutes. But he denied that he sought access to the
champion's room.
"It's completely ridiculous," Huet told The Associated Press. "We do have
ethics and we don't do just anything ... If I played around by searching his
room like that, I would be breaking the limits."
Armstrong has often had testy relations with some sections of the French
press. He has also raised cycling fans' hackles by focusing on winning the
Tour, neglecting lesser races. Some also feel that he has not always
respected Tour traditions.
Armstrong himself acknowledges he was sometimes brash in his early days but
says he's become a Tour fan.
"I have a lot more appreciation now," he said last week. "It's an epic event
and I don't think there's much that compares to it. As I've said dozens of
times, it's something that I'll sit around the TV and watch in 10 years or
20 years."
Allegations of doping have also clouded his image. Armstrong says he has
never taken banned drugs to enhance his performance.
In an interview published Thursday by Le Monde, a respected French daily
that previously leveled claims of drug use by Armstrong, three-time Tour
winner Greg Lemond voiced doubts that his fellow American is clean.
"Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret," Lemond was quoted as
saying. "I don't know how he can continue to convince everybody of his
innocence."
Armstrong shrugged off the suspicions.
"Greg Lemond was my idol as I grew up in cycling because he was a great
champion and did amazing things on the bike," he said in a statement. "Many
of his performances were so incredible especially his remarkable return to
form and win at the '89 Tour. I'm disappointed and dismayed that for the
past four years Greg has continued to question my performances and my
character."