Remember the cycling report I posted yesterday with a short footnote on Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton running into one another in Aspen this past weekend? I ended that post by saying "the soap opera continues" and I mostly meant it tongue in cheek. But, it turns out that was a rather prophetic statement, as the story has new legs today.
ESPN posted a more in depth story today about the incident, with some alleged quotes from Lance. Hamilton's camp says that Lance tried to bully Tyler to a degree, even asking him what CBS payed him for the interview. You can read the whole sordid affair by clicking here, including some comments from the owner of the restaurant who asked Hamilton to not return. For their part, the Armstrong camp still maintains that this was a non-story and that it was more of an awkward moment rather than anything else.
But, here's the real juicy part of the story. Hamilton's lawyers have now been in contact with federal authorities claiming that Lance's alleged actions constitute tampering with a witness. There could well be a deeper investigation into the confrontation, and if sufficient evidence is found, Armstrong could face tampering charges which may change the outlook of the ongoing investigation of his possible use of performance enhancing drugs while he was still riding professionally.
Where this will go from here remains to be seen. But the story continues to have legs and I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear about it. The funny thing is, while out for dinner in Aspen on Saturday with a few media and PR folks, we actually joked about Armstrong and Hamilton running into one another around town. We all agreed that it would be one frosty encounter to say the least. Turns out, even we had no idea about what it would be like.
