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Ford pulls Mustang video featuring doper who helped bring down Lance Armstrong

Ford pulls Mustang video featuring doper who helped bring down Lance Armstrong

Storm of disapproval on social media over rider who sued his accusers
by John Stevenson
Fri, Aug 15, 2014 11:04
12

Car maker Ford has taken down from YouTube a video clip for its latest Mustang that features Kayle Leogrande, the tattooed former pro whose conviction for doping led to the investigation and eventual downfall of Lance Armstrong.

The clip, called 'For The Love' features Leogrande driving the new car and talking about his love of the road and how travelling together provides a chance to be together for him and his wife Chelsea.

While Ford has taken the clip down from YouTube, it's still available on the company's own website, though we suspect that won't last long.

The video features lots of shots of implausibly empty roads and of Chelsea Leogrande, a professional photographer, in the role of silent decoration.

Using a convicted doper in your marketing would seem like an obviously bad idea, except perhaps to Ford's marketing team.

Negative reaction on social media was swift and vocal after RaceRadio noticed the video and tweeted:

Coach Adam Myerson's reaction was typical:

Much of the opprobrium was aimed directly at Ford:

The 'supporting role' played by Chelsea Leogrande didn't go unnoticed either:

Leogrande was one of the first cyclists to be sanctioned for doping without a positive test. He confessed to Rock Racing team soigneur Suzanne Sonye that he was worried about testing positive and Sonye alerted the US Anti-Doping Agency.

The evidence against Leogrande included the testimony of another convicted doper, Joe Papp, and included a photograph of Leogrande with a handful of vials of EPO. In 2008, Leogrande was suspended for two years.

He attempted to sue the USADA, Sonye, Papp and former pro Matt Decanio for defamation, but the case against Sonye was dismissed and Leogrande was ordered to pay her legal costs, financially crippling him. The Armstrong-style tactic of suing his accusers fuelled the strong negative attitudes toward Leogrande in the reaction to the Ford video.

Obtaining a doping conviction against Leogrande without a positive test encouraged USADA to investigate persistent rumours of doping on Lance Armstrong's US Postal and Discovery Channel teams.

In 2012 USADA chief Travis Tygart told the New York Times: “Without Leogrande, who knows, the Armstrong investigation maybe never would have happened.”

Kayle Leogrande
Ford
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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