American cycling executives respond to Armstrong comeback: Stapleton, Vaughters, Messick weigh in

As with elsewhere in the cycling world, there are a number of opinions at the Tour of Missouri about Lance Armstrong’s comeback. Here are those of three men with managerial roles at the top of the sport.

Bob Stapleton

First reaction
“I hope it’s not about vanity. I hope it’s about doing some good work for the sport, something for cancer survivorship. I’m interested to hear what the whole story is. I would never underestimate the guy. I think he can probably achieve anything he sets his mind to. But I’d like to see the big picture. I hope this about something more than the bike. I’m open-minded. I’d like to see where this really goes.”

On what Armstrong can do for American cycling
“Well, I think the sport is healthy, in North America in particular, and he’s done a lot already. He’s really put it on the front page of the newspaper in the U.S., when it was, always at best, maybe on the sports page. His power to gain public attention is remarkable. I just hope he puts that to good use.”

Jonathan Vaughters

First reaction
“I don’t really know. I’m sure he’ll be a pretty good rider. It remains to be seen. I have read the Vanity Fair article, and Lance talks about complete transparency and I think that is encouraging that he wants to open up. If he made the choice to really let an objective, skeptical journalist like David Walsh or Paul Kimmage have total access and have no closed doors for the year, and it was a truly objective source, like we did with Paul Kimmage, that would be a good thing for him to do.”

On what Armstrong can do for American cycling
“It’s still an unknown. It draws more attention, which is a positive. It also draws attention away from younger up and coming riders, which you could say is negative, but its temporary, it’s one year, not ten years. Blake Caldwell is 24 — he will be 25 the year after that. Our team is a long-term proposition, so in terms of what happens next year, and where people’s attention is, in some ways I think Lance coming back is good. Now a guy like Christian Vande Velde has the chance to actually beat, mano a mano, a sports legend, and that could elevate him, and our team, to a place in the public eye we never could have been elevated to if this hadn’t happened. It gives us an opportunity to prove how good Christian Vande Velde and the team actually are. It’s going to force us to up our game. If we can rise to the occasion it’s a good opportunity for us.”

Andrew Messick

First reaction
“We think it would be great for cycling in America. The Amgen Tour of California’s Breakaway From Cancer initiatives, combined with the Livestrong Foundation, could have an enormous impact on helping to spread the word about cancer and how to live with it and recover from it. It would be good for cycling and we would welcome him to our race along with his Astana teammates.”

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