The former assistant who was once Armstrong’s right-hand man today damns the disgraced cyclist as a ‘calculating individual’ who should be in jail – not sitting down with Oprah Winfrey.
Mike Anderson was so close to Armstrong he was dubbed ‘husband number two’ by the star’s then wife. But the friendship imploded when Mr Anderson claimed he discovered Armstrong’s drug-stash in a bathroom cabinet and evidence that he was avoiding random drug tests.
Speaking to MailOnline Mr Anderson said: ‘I have a pretty solid understanding of who Lance Armstrong is. He is a very calculating individual. Everything that he does is with forethought and for his own benefit.
‘Frankly I hope he goes to jail. He introduced a sort of corruption to cycling’s governing body that is very American: loads of money and PR.’
According to Mr Anderson, who first encountered Armstrong when he was just 16 and both were enthusiastic cyclists in Dallas, ‘Lance Armstrong is a false image created by himself.’
Far from sitting down with America’s talk-show Queen, Mr Anderson said, Armstrong should be standing in front of a judge.
He said: ‘When it comes to Lance, for a lot of people it’s been about staying on message whether it’s true or not. He’s inundated the media for years to control the public’s perception of him.
‘He should have his day in court. He’s committed perjury. He’s weasled out of allegations for years. He should be taken down and I hope he takes a lot of other people with him.
‘Because it’s not just Lance. There are guys still being protected. For a change it’s Lance being dragged through the mud but there are others and every last penny those guys have earned in the sport they have gotten fraudulently.’
Armstrong has already hinted that the use of drugs within the sport is widespread at a meeting with the head of the U.S Anti-Doping Agency last month.
He is said to have spoken openly to Travis Tygart about doping, claiming it was rampant in all sports and that he was being singled out for punishment. If he hoped to soften Mr Tygart’s stance on his lifetime ban Armstrong failed.
Mr Tygart has described Armstrong’s regime as ‘the most sophisticated doping programme on the planet.’
While Armstrong has continued to insist he is a victim of a USADA ‘witch hunt,’ he also faces a barrage of possible legal suits including one from the Justice Department who may yet attempt to claw back sponsorship from the cyclist during his time with the U.S Postal team.
Officials have been considering the matter since 2010 when former team-mate Floyd Landis turned whistleblower.
In the past week Armstong has embarked on a concerted effort to shore up his crumbling reputation. He has made a supposedly tearful apology to staff of the cancer charity he founded,Livestrong.
And there is that interview. According to Oprah Winfrey his performance during the two and a half hour encounter left her, ‘mesmerised.’ Though he is not expected to respond directly to the damning 1,000 page report released by the USADA.
Armstrong should be sitting in front of a judge…not Oprah according to his former assistant
For Mr Anderson the prospect of Armstrong’s televised ‘mea culpa ‘ – however far it goes – is one he views with cycnism. His friendship with Lance and its catastrophic end nearly destroyed him as he became embroiled in a costly legal battle over his refusal to sign a confidentiality agreement with the star.
Ultimately he was driven from his home town, 12,000 miles to New Zealand where he now runs a bike shop and lives with his wife, Allison, and two children.
‘I scurried away with my tail between my legs,’ he said. ‘I didn’t have the strength to withstand the pressure of what happened when I went against Lance.
‘I was the victim of a very powerful effort to make my life hell.
‘I was blackballed, ridiculed, defamed and slandered. My credibility and character were questioned. I couldn’t get a job. I’ll always believe Lance made good on his promise that I would never work in cycling again.’
Armstrong hired him as his personal assistant and bike mechanic in 2002. Mr Anderson was privy to every aspect of the star’s life. He witnessed first-hand the unravelling of his marriage to first wife, Kristen, and while training in Girona, Spain in 2004 he made the discovery that would change everything.
Having been asked to pack up his employer’s belongings, Mr Anderson found boxes of steroids in Armstrong’s bathroom cabinet but no prescription. Days earlier the men had had an uncomfortable exchange when discussing Belgian cyclist, Johan Musseum, who had recently been banned for steroids.
Armstrong looked Mr Anderson straight in the eye and told him, ‘Everyone does it.’ Soon after Mr Anderson received an unusually large bonus which he took to be ‘hush money’ and found himself presented with the confidentiality agreement.
In all the years he has known Armstrong, Mr Anderson said, ‘I have never heard him apologise for anything.’
Financially and emotionally the impact of Mr Anderson’s relationship with Armstrong has been devastating. It is not, he said, something from which he will ever recover.
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