Inaudible comments

? Cuz I gotta go, I got [inaudible] like five people waiting and I had [inaudible].

? [Inaudible].

? No, no, no, my wife(?) is not a source for(?) Walsh.  My wife–when David Walsh called [inaudible] I called up Lance [inaudible], cuz Lance said–Lance told me [inaudible] and the other time when David Walsh called I wasn’t home, and that was [inaudible] hospital room(?) [inaudible].  And then she said, “No comment(?),” [inaudible].

Inaudible comments

? [Inaudible].

? Yeah.

? Well, yeah–

? Yeah, but he claims she’s a source for that [inaudible].  Would she be willing to clarify(?) that though?

? [Inaudible].

? –[inaudible] he claims [inaudible] he claims privately [inaudible] needs more sources for that story, cuz she(?) gave(?) him that story, that there were six people [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible].

? No, Walsh, Walsh [inaudible] for Betsy, and he claims Betsy [inaudible].

? [Inaudible] LeMond and Betsy don’t even know each other.  [Inaudible] don’t even know each other, and Betsy did not tell GregLeMond about the hospital.

? Well, is Betsy willing to issue a statement that–or go on the record that she didn’t give– [inaudible] no comment [inaudible] Walsh [inaudible].

Inaudible comments

? She’ll say that when he called(?) she said no comment [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible].

? –about that, yeah.]

? [Inaudible].

? No, because there was no other conversation.  When(?) I was there I talked to him(?), and the one time [inaudible] but she didn’t really talk that much, you know.  I don’t know exactly for(?) dealing with [inaudible] that’s what she said, [inaudible] that Walsh(?) [inaudible] stating that Betsy–stated something–I don’t even know what it was.  Oh, Betsy was willing(?) [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible].

? –yeah, and he had the, he had the same thing.

? Yeah.

? –[inaudible].  Well, I’d like to get(?) a transcript of that–

? Okay.

? –[inaudible] of him saying that, and secondly, I talked to my wife [inaudible] no way in hell David, David Walsh is lying.  He does not have(?) a taped thing(?) of Betsy saying that she would(?) do that.

? Alright.

? And that did not happen also, because like I said, the conversation was limited and they were no comment(?) about that, and I–you know, and I don’t know what else she said to him.

? Yeah.

? But that’s–this would be back in December, though.

? Yeah.  But it’s still important what she(?) said(?)–

? [Inaudible]–yeah, but I will ask her–

? –it’s important to know because it’s important to know what she [inaudible]–

? She was not a source for anything, because that [inaudible] Lance told me he talked to David Walsh, and I talked to Davis Walsh [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible]–

? –and, and then David, David Walsh was calling(?) a bunch(?) and we were like, “Look, you know, we don’t want to talk [inaudible].  So finally [inaudible] we did something totally stupid [inaudible] I won’t tell [inaudible] phone number, [inaudible] Kevin Livingston(?) freaked out and called [inaudible], and I was like, “You know what?  [Inaudible] that was totally stupid.  You’re right, it was totally stupid on your part to be thinking that way,” and that was the end of that.

? Okay.

? And that’s then(?), and then that was it, no contact until let’s say July, [inaudible] July, June(?), and then he called up asking questions about [inaudible].

? [Inaudible] is she willing to go on record [inaudible] David Walsh [inaudible] anything that he says that you said–

? [Inaudible] I’ll ask her, I’ll ask her, and I’ll ask her, I mean, I’ll ask her–

? Cuz(?) he claims that(?)–

? I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t go on the record saying that when David Walsh called [inaudible] when David Walsh called me I said, “No comment,” and [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible] not know(?).  I mean–

? [Inaudible]–

? –maybe she talked to him [inaudible] this and that, I mean, cuz(?) you didn’t know [inaudible]–

? I will ask her–

? –and then it would(?) very helpful if she would was willing to just make a statement, cuz see, he’s talked to other people about her and said that she’s(?) very courageous, and she’s willing to take a stand [inaudible] but she knows these things about Lance(?) [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible].

? –he’s trying to, he’s trying to take the people that gave(?) him very little(?) [inaudible]–

? And build them up.

? –and make them bigger, like LeMond.  LeMond’s not gonna testify [inaudible] all these people.  The only person–

Both speaking at once

? Well, I sure and hell ain’t, and I don’t think Betsy sure and hell ain’t [inaudible]–

? Well, [inaudible]–

? Whatever(?).

? –the question, the question is if(?) she’s willing to take a strong(?) position that she–[inaudible] if she didn’t give him anything about the hospital room [inaudible] specifically talks(?) [inaudible].  That’s very important cuz it says that he’s lying [inaudible] he lied about [inaudible].

? That I know for sure.

? And if she’s willing to make a statement that she’d never testify against(?) Lance, again, that makes him a liar [inaudible]–

? So(?) you want her to come out with a statement saying, “I will never testify against Lance”–

? No, I [inaudible] do that right now.

? [Inaudible].

? Well, I mean, she could, she could make a supportive(?) statement about Lance [inaudible]–

? [Inaudible] personal–she won’t come out the same as saying–you know her and Lance don’t get along–

? Yeah(?).

? –and she’s not gonna come out with a statement saying, “I like Lance, cuz Lance is a good guy.”

? Could you say that[inaudible]–

? She won’t do that.  I don’t see–I believe she would come out with a statement saying that David–about the hospital room.  She didn’t–she did not tell David Walsh about the hospital(?) room(?).  I know that for sure–

? What, what(?)–

? –cuz I never told anybody about the hospital room(?), you know?

? Right(?).

? I mean, cuz [inaudible] hospital, and you know, I don’t know about [inaudible] hospital room happened(?), but I’ve never told anybody, because I–you know, if(?) David Walsh book(?) for me, what does this shit accomplish?  It accomplishes nothing.

? Yeah.

? It doesn’t do anything good for the sport, it doesn’t do anything good for, for Lance or cycling(?) or anything like that.  It accomplishes nothing, cuz nothing’s gonna happen.  You know?  So it’s the same thing.  [Inaudible] what does it accomplish by even telling anybody [inaudible], but I have never said a word about this, and [inaudible] my(?) wife(?) for sure has never said a word about [inaudible].

? What do you think [inaudible]?

? I’d have to ask, but in the beginning it(?) was(?) just(?) a(?) stupid questions like in the beginning, like the fallout of when Betsy–when the whole thing started [inaudible] fallout [inaudible] me and Lance had a little bit of a fallout, and then we kind of patched things up a little bit, and then I did the tour and stuff like that when I was–then I was, you know, off the team(?).  But back(?)–yeah, he–because Emma(?) brought it up, and so Z(?) was asking Betsy about why the fallout happened, and how, and how that happened.

? And what do you think, you know, [inaudible]?

? [Inaudible] and she said that it was over something [inaudible].  We can’t remember exactly what it was.  It was something totally stupid, cuz I mean, really it was, it was moronic and stupid, and I can’t even remember exactly what it was about.  But me and Lance got into an argument, and then Dave(?) said words, and we(?) said words, and two weeks later it was over with.  It wasn’t that big a deal.  But the(?) big problem is that(?) me Lance got [inaudible] and started yelling at each other in the middle [inaudible].

? [Inaudible]?

? Well, [inaudible] right beforehand(?).

? [Inaudible].

? [Inaudible] right, they knew there was high tension right away–

Both speaking at once

? –that’s why–that’s what that conversation was about [inaudible].

? Alright.  Well, then let’s do this.  Let me forward you this, this radio(?) interview.  Have you got email here?

? Yeah.

? Okay.  Let(?) me forward you that interview then–is it the email at(?) the–

? [Inaudible] @aol–yeah, definitely(?).

? –let’s do that.  You can see what he’s claiming–

? He’s claiming that [inaudible] Betsy’s saying that.  He [inaudible] lied.

? He–that’s not in the interview.  What’s in the interview is that she has said that she’s willing to testify against Lance [inaudible]–

Inaudible comments

? –she corroborated her [inaudible] cuz she–

? No, she is not–

? Alright.  Well, then let me get you that–

? –cuz that’s specific stuff.

Both speaking at once

? –yes, that’s very specific.

? And, and, and for that to come out, that probably would have happened later on in the year, like, coming up to the book.

? Right(?).

? [Inaudible] does that make sense to you or no?

? [Inaudible].

? Cuz why would he start talking about that stuff way back in December(?)?

Inaudible comments

? I mean, I’m just saying I don’t think David Walsh would ask Betsy, like, “Are willing to go to court and do this and this against Lance?” way back in November or December–

? No, he clearly [inaudible] setting(?) people up.

? But my point is if this conversation so called took place it woulda probably been would have been relatively recent [inaudible]–

Inaudible comments

? –no!  No!  One time–

? One time.

? –[inaudible] no comment on the book(?).  That’s my point.

? Alright.  Well, then let’s get clear, let’s get clear [inaudible]–

? How were(?) they clear on the conversation that took part(?) back in December?

? [Inaudible] no comment and [inaudible] conversation–

? Back in December–I will find out if there was anything else besides the MS(?) thing in the falling out–not the MS(?) thing, but the falling out–

Inaudible comments

? –then we’ll(?) be able(?) to jump ahead to the hospital one(?), which is the second conversa–

It sounds as though the tape is paused and then resumed

? –which is let’s(?) say in June–

? Okay.

? –you know, I can’t remember but(?) it was June–

Both speaking at once

? –of this year, and that was the no comment thing(?).

? [Inaudible] December, maybe there’s a couple other things that you(?) can(?) ask about–

? Right.

? –and then this conversation in June where he asked about the hospital–

? Which is point(?) blank(?) 30-second conversation–

Inaudible comments

? That was back in December.

? [Inaudible]–

? No, we didn’t [inaudible] and said, “Look, [inaudible] cuz I wasn’t part of David Walsh’s [inaudible] anything like that.”  And so I told him my wife did it and so I was like, “Are you crazy,” you know?  And then so that stopped(?), and I don’t know what happened after that.  But he didn’t do anything, he didn’t give him no number.  We(?) dropped everything.  You know?  And then I told–

? [Inaudible]–

? –Lance, it’s like, “Look, I’m not dealing with this guy anymore,” you know?  “You told me to talk to him, I talked to him a couple times, and his questions were pointed, you know?  You don’t know how he’s gonna edit it, you don’t know how he’s gonna [inaudible] all this kind of crap.”  You know?  And it’s like, you don’t know–like, I haven’t, you know, it’s in French I haven’t read the book–

? Right.

? –so I don’t know if I’m in there [inaudible] how he worded it, but there are tricky questions, you know?

Inaudible comments

? But you know, she [inaudible] saying, you know, like when Lance goes to Ferrari said I don’t know [inaudible].  Well, then the whole teamgoes to Ferrari, shit like that, it was like the whole team goes to Ferrari how come you didn’t go to Ferrari, just crap like that.

? Well, I know–yeah–

? So you know, and I don’t know how that went(?).  And then I told Lance, like, “Look, I don’t want to do it, cuz it’s too, it’s too tricky.”  You know?  I’m trying to answer questions, but I don’t know how he’s gonna try(?) to look, so I [inaudible] that was it.  And then we didn’t hear back from him again until–

Inaudible comments

? I know Betsy doesn’t like Lance, but [inaudible] this whole thing out(?)–

? Well no, I–

? Let me just tell you my strategies, I know, I know [inaudible]–

? –I told my wife this too, and I told Lance this too, cuz after the David Walsh [inaudible] I went off on her and we had a whole frickin conversation about, you know, this benefits nobody, this accomplishes nothing, we want Lance [inaudible] helps me, it helps the team, it helps everything, everything just gets bigger and it helps everybody.

? Yeah.

? It doesn’t accomplish anything by frickin talking [inaudible], you know?

? And where’s(?) your(?) mind(?) right now?

? My(?) mind(?) right is just to sit back and just–she sits–you know, not doing anything.  You know what I’m saying?  She’s not part of anything.

? Right.

? So–and nobody’s been bothering her, and the thing is I have fucking protected Lance for a long time(?), not [inaudible] every interview I give [inaudible] I frickin talk(?) to this stuff, I say everything good(?), and I [inaudible] you know, you know?  And then [inaudible] go do an interview out of the blue.  Flat out–she’s said(?) flat out no, she–I won’t go do it.

? Yeah, I mean, he’s put her [inaudible] three or four [inaudible]–

? So I mean, but she [inaudible].  She’s not, she’s–I mean, if she was so against Lance she’d go out and do [inaudible] she’s not doing, you know, she says flat out no.  [Inaudible] no.

? Yeah, I mean, [inaudible]–

? I don’t know, it just seems(?) to always come back, it seems like on me–not so much on my wife [inaudible] a few years ago when Walsh wrote this article The Mystery Motorola Rider(?) frick(?), his(?) finger’s(?) all pointing at me, you know?  But I don’t know what the deal is, but I’m the one–I’m not, I’m not one to ever do anything wrong [inaudible] every time there’s a frickin something(?) it’s like pointed at me.  It’s like it’s [inaudible] American(?) graphics(?) says you can’t do, do well without taking(?) drugs.  Did you ever see that thing?  Yeah, frickin finger’s pointing at me.  It wasn’t me either for that shit, you know?  And I don’t understand why, everything’s just pointing at me just because I’m around or something like that.

? I don’t know why that is, Frankie.  I know that, I know that people [inaudible] you know, people think that Betsy’s out to get(?) Lance(?).

? Which is not true.  They don’t like each other, but then it stops, you know?  I mean, [inaudible] so–

? I hope(?) that’s(?) right.

? That’s what I’m saying.  So anyway, we, we’ve, we’ve got a bunch(?) of things in progress(?).  But I will talk to Betsy, find out if there’s anything else besides–I remember the Amstel Gold fallout–if there was anything else.  [Inaudible] stuff that you brought up [inaudible].  I mean, we(?) have a bunch of stuff in process with–

? No, just with responses to the book(?)–

? Oh yeah–

? –[inaudible] you know, I mean, it’s gonna be a battle [inaudible]–

Inaudible comments

? Yeah, I don’t want to get in a position where [inaudible] the director(?) becomes an adversary to Lance(?) under any circumstances.  So you know, I’d appreciate it if she would really think about taking the position(?) it sounds like she’s in right now, which is I didn’t say that to him, so [inaudible]–

? Which she has done more than once now–

? –[inaudible] because the best results [inaudible] pick away at him [inaudible] that he’s taken(?) things and [inaudible] pieced(?) lots(?) of parts together and show the Sunday(?) Times(?) and show his publisher that it really is falling apart [inaudible] apology, drop the fucking(?) lawsuit [inaudible].  Because the other option is [inaudible] and everybody’s gonna testify [inaudible] it could blow the whole sport(?)–

Inaudible comments

? [Inaudible] that she is willing to go on record [inaudible] David Walsh’s star witness(?).  He called me, I talked about one thing, it was just no comment.  If that’s all her statement says, it, it, it starts making him look like he’s running scared, which is what he’s doing.  He’s trying to set all these people up to prop(?) him(?) up to go get courage(?) in his mind(?) to go forward. And the, the–if we go one by one and these people that he’s saying said these things say, “Number one, I didn’t say that, number two,”–um, she doesn’t have to say she’ll never testify against Lance.  She can say that she never told David Walsh she would(?) testify against Lance.  That may be an easier way to say that.  So maybe we can craft(?) something that she’s comfortable with–

? That’s fine.

? –and [inaudible] basis it–it’s like, I’m not gonna talk to his family, I understand that, then it just sort of dies, and we have another, we have another card to play [inaudible].

? [Inaudible].

? Yeah.

? That’s final(?).

? [Inaudible].

? Yeah.

? Alright.  Then I’ll get(?) this to you, you talk to her, and [inaudible]–

? Send me the transcript [inaudible]–

Both speaking at once

? –cuz I want to see that–

Both speaking at once

? Lance said you had a taped professional(?) [inaudible] and I’m like–

? I don’t think he(?) said that–

? I’m just saying, I’m saying no way–

? –right.

? –I guarantee no way, that, you know, [inaudible], you know, and Betsy right now, I–you know, she’s neutral, doing nothing, and she’s–like I said, you know, she’s been other times called up, no comment [inaudible] no doin it, whatever, who knows what else’ll happen, you know, and the thing is, the only thing in–that I’ve seen, and [inaudible] I mean, I haven’t even read the book, but just–I don’t even think she’s in the book except for that no comment, so how could she be a star witness of what?  All she said is no comment [inaudible]–

Both speaking at once

? –what I’m saying–

? Yeah, I’m saying, yeah–

? –well, then [inaudible]–

Both speaking at once

? He’s(?) making it look like Emma O’Riley(?), right, who’s the star witness, and you take everybody else and try to line them up.

Inaudible comments

? –you know, it’s just bad [inaudible], cuz when Lance gets pissed off, and [inaudible] he talks to you guys, he talks to the team, and then all of a sudden I’m like frickin the evil guy, and for nothing, I haven’t even done anything.

? [Inaudible] that he’s not doing that, he asked(?) if(?) he(?) could(?) to talk to you [inaudible] it sounds to me like–

? No(?), he was super, I mean, that’s right, he was super nice, you know, he was fine, he was perfect.  He was like normal Lance–

? Yeah.

? –[inaudible] fun go lucky, and I appreciate you calling me up just to say that you guys were gonna come by to talk to me [inaudible] giving me a warning.  But I’m just saying that–which is good, which I appreciate, you know–

? Right.

? –because, like, again, and I feel like I’m the one getting frickin scapegoated here(?)–

? [Inaudible].

Inaudible comments

? Alright guys(?), I gotta(?) run.

Squealing sound here

Inaudible comments

? Hey, how long you around for?

Inaudible comments

End of Conversation