Mike Celizic

On Independence Day, it’s good to remember that America’s one ally during the War of Independence was France. Les Etats Unis amply repaid the debt, twice saving France from the onslaught of Germany and contributing to the French economy by eating mountains of imported cheese washed down with oceans of wines with names like Chateau Effete Sommelier de Mille Francs.

It’s about time the French reciprocated. A good place to start would be to quit picking on Lance Armstrong.

Yes, he’s trying to add one more to his record six straight wins in France’s biggest sporting event. And, yes, it’s annoying to the French to not be able to win anything, France being pretty much the Arizona Cardinals of international athletics.

But that’s no reason to pick on Lance, whose only crime is to be the best bike rider in the history of bike riding. If the French want somebody else to win, why don’t they develop some athletes instead of yet more whining wimps?

They don’t, because that might involve hard work and dedication. Instead, they’re trying to preserve the integrity of their race by figuring out a way to disqualify a man with yet another date with history.

Slide show   The 2005 Tour See images from Lance Armstrong's seventh straight Tour de France victory.

Three days before the start of this year’s Tour de Lance, every one of the 189 riders was tested for drugs. Two days later, the Tour’s medical folks tested one rider again — Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong submitted to six out-of-competition tests over the offseason. He’s been tested countless times during his six years of dominance. Every time he leaves a hotel to begin another stage in the race, journalists and drug detectives go dumpster diving, trying to find any evidence that the reason he keeps winning is because he cheats better than the rest of the field.

No one’s ever found anything.

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

Once, bike racing was a veritable rolling pharmacy, with riders taking anything and everything they could to get an edge in what has to be one of the world’s most grueling tests of power, teamwork, endurance and will.

Stung by scandals, the sport has become one of the most thoroughly policed and the riders the most frequently tested. French police have raided hotel rooms and torn apart team vehicles in their determination to get rid of drugs.

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