Paul Willerton plans Nike protest for Lance Armstrong
Former professional cyclist Paul Willerton plans to register his protest in support of Lance Armstrong along with several other athletes and cycling fans.
He rode with Armstrong in Team US Postal during two World Championships and is convinced of his former teammate’s innocence as he plans to gather at the Nike corporate headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.
"We don't allow bullying and intimidation inside the cycling industry or any industry for that matter,” he told Cyclingnews.
“These are fundamental human rights issues. So to have a company like Nike standing there and saying they publicly support that, I can't stand for it myself, and I know I'm not alone in that".
Willerton marked his professional debut with Team Z in 1991 and moved to Team New Subaru Montgomery for 1992-93 seasons.
He first rode with Lance during an amateur World Championships road race and his first professional appearance with Armstrong was during the 1992 World Championships.
Paul switched to mountain biking, realising that the road cycling was getting dominated by doping and found success early on, finishing sixth at the cross country world championships in 1994.
However, the oxygen drugs were not that far away as Jerome Chiotti confessed the use of EPO to win the 1996 cross country title, "EPO quickly made its way into mountain biking as well," he noted.
While commenting on the coming event he noted, "I would love to have people join us. I don't know if the message is strong enough. We're still kind of talking about it. I don't know if 'do the right thing' will get it across well enough".
Nike released its statement supporting Armstrong on the same day USADA charged him of doping during his stay with Team US Postal.
However, Nike is determined to continue supporting the former Team US Postal Team Leader and is planning high-profile events to celebrate Livestrong’s 15th Anniversary.
Lance Armstrong is one of the biggest sports icons inside and outside of the United States of America and WADA’s final decision, stripping him-off all the previous victories through 1999-2010.
Several Armstrong’s former teammates and other Team US Postal riders have confessed to doping which makes the Americans life even more difficult.
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