Tour De France Champion Lance Armstrong May be Saved by Floyd Landis's Stupidity

The federal case against Lance Armstrong may have an Achilles heal that may cause the federal government fall on its face. For some strange reason, the federal government feels it has the jurisdiction to pursue charges against Lance Armstrong for something that took place in Europe thousands of miles away. The same person who helped the feds get closer to bring Lance Armstrong down may in fact be a strange ally in the end.

Floyd Landis is on under the microscope again, and of course his credibility has been in question throughout this process. However, it was federal grand jury testimony of Armstrong's closest teammates, George Hincapie and Tyler Hamilton that suddenly gave Landis, the disgraced Tour De France winner who lost his title for doing what everyone else in the peloton was doing, that may eventually lead to a bright light for Armstrong.

It appears Twitter is to blame, as Landis has set up fake Twitter accounts to destroy Armstrong's reputation. These Twitter accounts obviously make Landis look not so credible.

Business Insider reports:

Outside magazine has a fascinating look at the bizarre Twitter war that Floyd Landis has launched against his teammate-turned-nemesis, Lance Armstrong.

For the last several months, Landis has been using a fake Twitter account, @GreyManrod, to needle Armstrong and his defenders, posting insults, allegations, and generally messing with the heads of those trying to support the seven-time Tour de France winner.

Grey Manrod is the name of a fake law firm that Landis created after getting sued by the International Cycling Union. It has its own website and everything.

It seems that Landis is a bit of a Twitter freak, starting nearly a dozen fake Twitter accounts to pull pranks and fake fun of his critics. (“I thought it would be funny if I pretended to be someone pretending to be me,” he says.)

Complicating matters even more, Landis often gives away the password to his accounts, letting multiple people post under the fake names. Outside says as many as 10 people could be posting from @GreyManrod at all hours of the day.

Landis says the accounts are satire and they may be protected by free speech, but they could undermine his efforts to bring down Armstrong in a court of law. Landis is a both a potential witness and a plaintiff in cases involving Armstrong's alleged use of performance enhancing drugs.

There's also the UCI lawsuit and other legal complications that Landis has been embroiled in since he himself was banned after cycling and stripped of his Tour de France win after failing his own drug tests.

Armstrong has long accused Landis of being a jealous and bitter rival with a vendetta against him. All these accounts and tweets make it look like Lance is right. It wouldn't be hard to convince a jury that Landis is unstable ... and an unreliable accuser.

A federal prosecutor says, “No good can come from this, either as a whistle-blower or as a federal witness." Landis may be hurting Armstrong in public, but he might also be killing the government's chances of ever bringing him down.

Of course, look at how many millions of dollars was spent by your federal government to pursue a witch hunt against a man whose allegations against him all took place in Europe where he lived most of the year.