The Tangled Web that is US Cycling

Courtesy of @dimspace, writing at the Cyclismas blog is the incredible flowchart above showing the tangled web of people and companies that comprise the world of US cycling in the Lance Armstrong era. You can click on the image for a larger version, but for a PDF that is readable click here.

Here is an excerpt from the description that accompanies it:

Many questions have been asked recently; how, if Lance did dope, was it so effectively covered up, where did the funding come from, how is what’s written in the media shaped, and who has the most to lose?

This presentation is not an exhaustive list. There are many more relationships – both personal ones, and business ones – to be explored. The reach of the chart is not just restricted to U.S. Cycling, but worldwide. Some of the business relationships are current, some of them are in the past, but every name on the list has at some point influenced not just the way cycling is run, but also influenced our perceptions of it and what we believe to be true.

One point is clearly suggested by the chart -- Armstrong no doubt knows an awful lot about the doping program, who was involved and those who helped him along the way. Whether he chooses to keep all this incriminating information to himself of use it as currency remains to be seen.

As far as Armstrong's strategy going forward, who knows, but this quote from a 2003 profile in The Observer may provide a hint:

I don't like to lose. I just despise it. I mean, if I lost the Tour, I would be incredibly upset.