Lou wrote:
> I have mentioned this before, but in the mid-80s, I was attending
> an Army school at Ft Leavenworth KS. We had an Army Major, mid-30s
> at the time, who told of riding the Tour de France in the late 70s
> while he was stationed in Germany. He said that he rode under an
> alias as he wanted to be able to ride sanctioned USCF events upon
> his return to stateside and riding on a professional team was not
> acceptable by the USCF. He was very sensitive about this for
> several reasons, not the least of which was the ethical
> considerations given his military position. This was a couple of
> years after Jacque Boyer became the "first" American to ride in
> the Tour de France and several of us were trying to get this Major
> to go public with his accomplishment. I always wondered whether
> this was really true as I find it implausible that he could have
> found the time to train, let alone race at that level, while also
> holding down a full-time Army position. I also wonder whether
> other riders may have ridden under aliases, creating a difficulty
> for the researcher who is trying to establish credentials based on
> records that are very old.
The only way that you can get a pro license is to get it through a national cycling federation. At the amateur level, there is virtually no verification and it is therefore very simple to do under an alias or another country. To get the pro license, you must however fulfill certain requirements. To do so under an assumed name would be almost impossible except if you had only been racing under the assumed name since the beginning. Not likely therefore. As there is no significant benefit to be obtained by a federation to issue a pro license but considerable risks if it is shown to have been done under false pretenses, I find it highly unlikely that licenses under an alias would be granted by any 'cycling' nation. As such, I believe your major's story is rather dubious. Why didn't you call rank on him and get him to prove his words?
Steven Maasland
Moorestown, NJ