There are still some who wouldn't touch Lance Armstrong with a 10-foot pole.
Nicki Aitken, a 36-year-old long distance athlete from Reading, withdrew from the pre-Tour de France charity cycle ride in July after organizers announced the inclusion of Lance Armstrong. Aitken was announced in February as the only female cyclist taking part in an event created to raise money for Cure Leukaemia.
"I realized I didn't want to be in something that's associated with the most tainted man in sport," she said (via BT Sport). "I was getting texts from friends when it was announced that Lance Armstrong would be taking part and I thought: 'You know what, I haven't seen one positive thing about this.' Then the news broke that Nike would be sponsoring Justin Gatlin [back in sprinting after bans for positive drug tests] and all that stuff, and I realized I didn't want this. It all felt a bit wrong."
"I enjoy sport," Aitken added. "I just don't understand the win-at-all-costs mentally at all. Obviously some drug cheats apologize and come back, but there's always that element with me: 'Why did you do it in the first place?'"
"It's not only the taking drugs and cheating, it's also that you've denied clean athletes winning things in that time period and you can never give that opportunity back. It just doesn't sit right. It takes away the point of sport. It just becomes drug companies competing against drug companies."
Aitken had ambitions of of competing in all 21 stages of the Tour de France, but will be unable to given her stance on Armstrong's inclusion to the charity cycle.
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