Denial doesn’t mean a lot when it comes to drug usage, but it’s important to know that every champion of the Tour has been accused of the same things. For years, there was reason; few sports were as rife with performance-enhancing chemicals of every ilk as was bike racing.

But the French have cracked down on the drugs, and French police have frequently broken into hotel rooms and ransacked team vehicles in the search of illegal drugs. Riders are tested daily. Armstrong has passed all the tests, and you had better believe that the authorities would love to catch this American interloper.

If he passes the tests, the playing field is level for everyone else who also passes. And on that field, Armstrong has been king.

Now, he has a chance to stick it one more time to the people who have slung accusations at him. He’s getting old. He’s with a new team, riding now for the Discovery Channel instead of his old U.S. Postal squad. The world is ready to gang up on him.

Interactive Lance Armstrong's rise from cancer survivor to 7-time Tour de France champion

Think of Michael Jordan during his run of six NBA titles, kept from being consecutive only by his first retirement to run off and play minor-league baseball. Everybody was after him, too. And when it came down to crunch time, Jordan put the hammer down and beat them.

Armstrong is the Jordan of his sport. He’s put cycling on the American sports radar, and, as soon as he retires, the sport will disappear off the screen. If he’s not riding, there’s no reason to watch.

He’s also brought more popularity to the sport around the world, something the sponsors, if not the European fans, have to appreciate. He’s driven his competitors to greater technological innovation and sterner training.

Some in Europe say he’s not a real cycling champion in the mold of the old heroes because the only race he cares about is the biggest of them all. Those critics say a rider has to excel in all the races on the schedule to be a true champion.

That’s grasping at straws. Armstrong is, as Bill Parcells would say, what his record says he is, the greatest ever.

He’s going to retire now, and he knows exactly where and when. If you’ve never watched a bike race before, watch this one in July. I guarantee you’ll never have to watch another, because you’ll never see a greater champion.

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