Lance Armstrong... greatest doper there was or ever will be

I've read the following use of English a couple of times now in what they've been saying:

It's subtle, but what he means to say is that 'Floyd has lied', or, better still, 'has been lying' to the public for years. The past tense in English means that the action described is finished and over, so what he's saying is 'Floyd lied to the public for years, and I'm implying that now he's telling the truth. Why should anyone believe him now?' Er, yes, why?

I suspect Bruyneel is using the past tense as he would use the past tense in Dutch or German, where it has a somewhat different function.

That's an overly logical interpretation of his use of language, Ollie - who'd have thought that of you (is that the past conditional?)? Whatever the semantics, he just means he lied before and so we can't trust him now. You are giving him too much credit for his use of English. The past tense can mean many things...