Dear Messrs. Brunet and McLaren,
Congratulations! You have accomplished the unthinkable. As attorneys and judges sworn to an oath of truth and ethics, you have dismissed thousands of pages of evidence documenting carelessness, error, and incompetence on the part of a so-called top level laboratory, declared a man guilty of cheating simply because you think he should be, and have convinced much of an ignorant and guillible public to accept your methods as a legal process. You have in effect called the sky green and the grass blue, and many citizens around the world are content to believe you. I admire the audacity it takes to pull off such a feat.
While you are hi-fiving each other, the bonus checks are being written, and those promotions discussed in China are being processed, may I respectfully point out one tiny detail? You have utterly failed in your attempt to diminish the achievements and character of Floyd Landis in the minds of those who are paying attention. Your actions may eradicate his name from record books as the official winner of the 2006 Tour de France. They may allow the winner's prize check to be given to Oscar Periero for a victory he has not earned. (His performance stands as evidence of that fact, but I understand now that we are not using evidence as a basis for decision-making). You may prevent Mr. Landis from road racing, and thereby earning an income, until January 2009. You cannot, however, erase the collective memory of July 20, 2006, and the awe-inspiring events that took place that day.
Should you have the power to recall all of the film footage documenting Stage 17, neither you nor the LNDD can photoshop Mr. Landis' Ride of a Lifetime from it, and paste Oscar Periero's weak spin in its place. You cannot negate the courage Mr. Landis displayed, after the bitter failure of Stage 16, in getting up the next morning and not only contemplating what people called impossible, but doing it. Gathering the abilities of his teammates, the strategy of his coaches, and a zillion bottles of water, and taking a risk that many believed ludicrous. And succeeding. You cannot obliterate the inspiration he gave us for our own riding abilities, for patients contemplating hip replacement, for anyone who has a dream and is willing to work hard to succeed. In the attempt to defend himself, you may have allowed the press to destroy his reputation, but those of us who followed his case after the accusation of a positive test, and read the transcripts of the hearing, know that his character is as strong in adversity as it was during the Tour. You can call the truth a lie, and a lie the truth, but you cannot re-write history.
We will always have Morzine.
