LeMond drops bombshell at Landis hearing
By Jason Sumner
VeloNews.com
This report filed May 17, 2007
Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond testified under oath Thursday that Floyd Landis implicitly admitted to illegal doping during a 36-minute phone conversation the pair had last August.
Three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond said he was threatened by a member of the Landis team on Wednesday night.
photo: Graham Watson
LeMond also testified that he received what he characterized as a threatening phone call from a member of the Landis team on the eve of his testimony on the Pepperdine University campus in Malibu, California.
According to LeMond, Landis called him and initially asked why the former Tour champ had been so publicly vocal in the days after it was reported that Landis's A sample from stage 17 of the Tour had tested positive for synthetic testosterone.
"At first, I didn't believe it was him," said LeMond during direct questioning from USADA attorney Tim Barnett. "I was shocked he was calling me only because I thought it was a prank phone call. I confirmed it was really him and he asked why I would be making these public comments."
LeMond explained that he told Landis that if he did have a positive that it was a devastating thing for the sport.
Landis listens to LeMond's testimony on Thursday.
photo: Agence France Presse - 2007
"I was very clear that I didn't judge that he did or didn't because the B sample wasn't positive at the time," LeMond continued, adding that he told Landis that he could "single handedly salvage the sport" and "encourage you to come clean."
Landis, according to LeMond, responded, "What good would it do?" then added that if he did "it would destroy a lot of my friends and hurt a lot of people."
LeMond went on to
reveal that he told Landis that keeping dark secrets can ruin one's life, then relayed his own story of being sexually abused as a child, a story LeMond said he had shared with only a few people and never talked about publicly until Thursday.
The drama continued when LeMond, under direct questioning from Barnett, said he received a phone call Wednesday night from a mysterious caller, who identified himself only as "Uncle Ron."
LeMond said he was perplexed at first, but that changed to concern when the caller made direct references to the conversation about sexual abuse that he had with Landis last August.
Geoghegan may be facing felony witness tampering charges.
photo: Agence France Presse -2007
"He said ‘Hi Greg, this is your uncle. This is your uncle Ron and I'm going to be there tomorrow,'" LeMond recalled. "I said, ‘Who is this?' He said, ‘I'm going to be there and we can talk about how we used to hide your weenie.' I got the picture right away that there are very few people who know about that. I figured this was intimidation."
The three-time Tour champ said the caller then hung up, and when LeMond redialed he got a voicemail message identifying the call recipient as "Will."
LeMond said he tried calling back three more times, finally getting an answer from someone who identified himself only as "Bill." The conversation was inconclusive, so LeMond hung up and then called the police. A subsequent check of the number saved on LeMond's mobile phone showed that it belonged to Landis's business manager Will Geoghegan.
USADA counsel Barnett then pointed out Geoghegan who was present in the courtroom, seated directly behind the Landis legal team.
LeMond said he was surprised when Landis called him last August.
photo: Agence France Presse - 2007
Barnett proceeded to place a Witness Tampering report against Geoghegan on the courtroom's overhead projector. As in most states, witness tampering is a felony in California. Meanwhile, Landis defense team lead attorney Maurice Suh spent several minutes conferring with Geoghegan, whose face and neck were noticeably red.
Throughout it all, Landis sat off to the left of his legal team, a blank expression on his face. The '06 Tour champ was dressed in all black (tie, shirt and suit), following three days during which he had sported a yellow tie. Landis had said privately he would wear black if and when LeMond testified.
Barnett stepped aside, and the floor was turned to Landis attorney Howard Jacobs. Jacobs quickly trained his line of questioning to the very public dispute LeMond has had with seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong. This brought a quick objection from USADA's Barnett, who claimed the Armstrong-LeMond squabble and testimony LeMond gave in a civil case between Armstrong and a Texas-bases insurance company had no bearing on the matters in Malibu.
LeMond's own attorney was also present at the hearing, and he told the three-person arbitration panel that he would not permit his client to speak about the Armstrong matter.
Jacobs countered by asking the panel to strike all of LeMond's testimony if he could not pursue the line of questioning. That led the panel to call a 15-minute recess to discuss what course to take.
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