Nope, Lance was quoted in his latest coffee table book (the photo journal). Maybe they both said it?

In any case - part two - the punking of Johan is up.

The plan to punk Johan Bruyneel spawned itself from the seeds of a few innocent jokes. I laughed hysterically with my friends at AMD, Bart Knaggs from Capital Sports Entertainment, the great people of Trek Travel, and Matt Tolmach of Sony Pictures over dinner on Friday evening.

I told them I was going to ask Johan some dumb questions on the ride like “Where’s George?” (Referring to George Hincapie who was out of commission after he suffered a terrible fall in a previous race – thankfully he’s in good spirits and almost fully recovered). I said I would look at Tom Danielson as we drove by and say things like “Hi Lance! How are you Lance?” I would then do things like throw my box lunch out the window, or perhaps throw a water bottle out like I had a condition that affected my reflexes. I then suggested that I would let out random “yelps” like “Livestrong!” and “No Chain!” to the riders out the window, and perhaps out the sunroof.

I half expected the people at dinner to say “No don’t do it!” but instead they were into it – especially Andrew, a guest of AMD. This guy was so into it he should have been the one doing it! One thing led to another and all of the sudden I found myself deep inside the conspiracy.

When someone suggested that I should wear my Discovery kit under my sweats and pull them off as we were driving - insisting that Johan let me race for the team we all broke out in hysterics.

Needless to say the people at the table were in stitches over the idea. I admit to egging it on, no doubt. I had effectively conspired with the AMD group, Bart Knaggs, Matt Tolmach, and Trek Travel that I would punk Johan the next day on the drive up Brasstown Bald. One of the guys proceeded to send an email to Johan telling him that I was going to be on the ride the next day and that I had a minor quirk that might flare up every now and then.

In the back of my mind I had a backup plan, I didn’t want to jeopardize the race, and I instead wanted to punk a friend at AMD who is always on my case about one thing or another. I also wanted to punk Andrew for trying to convince me to go to my local bike shop to ask them for the new “Speedplay Balsa Wood Kevlar Enforced pedals”.

The Story Unfolds Here!