Lance may be getting a little more attention than he wants from this bike, the Trek Madone he rode in the final stage of the 2009 Tour de France.  Designed by controversial artist Damien Hirst, the butterfly wings on it are real, and this has animal rights activists up in arms.
Citing “horrific barbarity” over the use of dead butterfly wings, Sam Glover of PETA said this “ruined the very essence of this (Armstrong’s) spirit.”
Hirst said he was approached by U2 singer Bono to make the bicycle and that he (Hirst) wanted to use real butterfly wings because of the way they shimmer in the light.  He said Armstrong “loves it.”
This bike, along with the other custom designed frames (See Exhibits A, B, C, D, E and F) are on exhibit at Stages09 through mid-August.  They will be auctioned off in October to raise money for Livestrong’s anti-cancer programs.
Hit ‘more’ to see close-ups of the butterflies on the bike…
Click images to enlarge:
This isn’t Hirst’s first occurrence of shocking people’s sensibilities.  In 1992 he suspended a full size shark in formaldehyde, followed by his diamond-encrusted human skull.
