Lance Armstrong was scheduled to give a public interview at the One Zero sports conference in Dublin's RDS tonight, but yesterday pulled out at the 11th hour citing advice given to him by his 'legal team' in relation to his upcoming court case brought against him by the US Postal Service team.
Considering that the disgraced cyclist was undoubtedly the biggest draw of the conference, people who forked out for tickets (which at €175 a pop for General Admission, weren't cheap) were understandably none too happy about his cancellation - not least journalist Ewan McKenna, who was due to interview Armstrong and who had travelled over 30 hours from Brazil to do so.
1/2 Had planned to pass @lancearmstrong a mirror tomorrow and ask him what he saw. His 23rd hour withdrawal makes me wonder still more.
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) October 20, 2016
2/2 Feel for organisers. In researching it his coward-like quality and lack of apologies constant theme. Here we are again. Play with fire.
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) October 20, 2016
Others took to Twitter to berate Armstrong personally for his 'cowardly' last minute cancellation:
@lancearmstrong you are some coward pulling out of the event in Dublin.can't say it's a shock though!
— Ken Conway (@Kennyconway96) October 21, 2016
@celbridgegooner @gergilroy @lancearmstrong Who could have foreseen that a habitual cheat, liar & bully would also be a coward?! 😱
— Del McG (@DelMcG) October 21, 2016
@lancearmstrong @PaulKimmage @OneZeroCon so looks like Lance is a complete bottler. No show.#coward #afraid #onyourbikeson
— dessie molloy (@DessieMolloy) October 21, 2016
@lancearmstrong Lance here in dublin with a ticket and your no show. Do us all a favour tell the truth and go away. You are FILTH.
— Carlito Brigante (@Truthsayyer) October 21, 2016
What we saw with @lancearmstrong and #OneZeroCon was more of the same, nothing new.Gotta stop giving the man forum until he's open, contrite
— Daragh Ó Conchúir (@RebelDevil71) October 21, 2016
So @lancearmstrong cheats organisers, ruins an event and in general lets down sports fans.. Sounds very deja vu... #OneZeroCon @PaulKimmage
— ronan walsh (@RonanRpwalsh) October 21, 2016
The legacy of @lancearmstrong will be his cowardice, his lack of backbone, I bet that is what will haunt him most
— David Lynn (@DavidTenorLynn) October 21, 2016
@lancearmstrong @Rickthelaureate my word you are some piece of work - did you ever intend on speaking in Ireland ?
— Hogie (@hogiebear2014) October 21, 2016
Does @lancearmstrong have even 1 redeeming quality? We knew he was a liar, cheat, bully and hypocrite. Now we can add coward. #OneZeroCon
— Brendan Needham (@brendan_needham) October 21, 2016
On the way to Dubland for #onezerocon actually delighted that @lancearmstrong is now off the speaker list #drugscheat
— Eileesh Buckley (@eileeshb) October 21, 2016
@lancearmstrong A cheat, a fraud AND a coward. Well done, fuckwit! Didn't worry about 'legal reasons' when high as a kite on TF...wank knob!
— Mark Donnelly (@MarkDonnelly10) October 21, 2016
Once again...@lancearmstrong portrays himself as a coward. #poorform
— Alan O Connor (@The_Sheriff_10) October 20, 2016
@lancearmstrong #OneZeroCon pic.twitter.com/Om3htu3KkD
— Peter Stack (@stacky25) October 20, 2016
Armstrong has yet to personally comment on the matter on Twitter, while his 'nemesis', journalist Paul Kimmage, is also keeping schtum...