Lance Armstrong Charged

[Reed John]

Lance Armstrong Charged

I remain unconvinced either way. I just know that I no longer wish to follow tour cycling. All of this has made it a farce. If you cannot have any confidence that the apparent winner will stand as the winner, than it's not really a competition.

BMX appears to be the purest form of cycling.

[anton pulisov]

Lance Armstrong Charged

It's well known that the UCI are a joke. They are not concerned about cheating at all, they only start to clamp down when cyclists take so much of something that they start dying, introducing some kind of testing limit that prevents death, but still allows cheating.

Hopefully USADA uses the Armstrong investigation to get at the UCI.

[anton pulisov]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Reed John wrote: I remain unconvinced either way. I just know that I no longer wish to follow tour cycling. All of this has made it a farce. If you cannot have any confidence that the apparent winner will stand as the winner, than it's not really a competition.

Yes, I stopped following it a few years ago. I think around when Vino was caught.

[slackster]

Lance Armstrong Charged

I love the TdF, and see it as the pinnacle of major sporting endurance tests. I'm gutted that Armstrong has caved in and virtually conceded his doping guilt. His efforts seemed so awesome and heroic, I just so wanted him to be clean.

This has real "Say it ain't so, Joe" feel about it for me.

[loose cannon]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Lance has decided to hold onto whatever cash he has remaining instead of blowing it on eternal legal fees

Kimmage has often said that once caught permanent ban, that would have helped a long time ago

Vino winning the Olympic Gold in London was a latest new low

[anton pulisov]

Lance Armstrong Charged

slackster wrote: I love the TdF, and see it as the pinnacle of major sporting endurance tests. I'm gutted that Armstrong has caved in and virtually conceded his doping guilt. His efforts seemed so awesome and heroic, I just so wanted him to be clean.

This has real "Say it ain't so, Joe" feel about it for me.

I think his battle against a life threatening illness to come back to the peloton will forever remain inspirational. He will always be a bit of a hero in my mind for that, no matter what happens.

[treibeis]

Lance Armstrong Charged

BMX appears to be the purest form of cycling.

Artistic cycling's pretty clean too, I reckon. Why, former Kaiserlautern defender Harry Koch used to be shit-hot at it and he's as honest as the day is long.

[Incandenza]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Bryaniek wrote:

I love the TdF, and see it as the pinnacle of major sporting endurance tests. I'm gutted that Armstrong has caved in and virtually conceded his doping guilt. His efforts seemed so awesome and heroic, I just so wanted him to be clean.

This has real "Say it ain't so, Joe" feel about it for me.

I think his battle against a life threatening illness to come back to the peloton will forever remain inspirational. He will always be a bit of a hero in my mind for that, no matter what happens.

Along the lines of what Dave Zirin has written:

Call him a doper. Call him a cheater. Call him the dirtiest player in a sport that’s as dirty as they come. He’ll call himself the guy who keeps fighting to make sure people have the surgery, chemo, and doctors they need. For people like those in my own family who have through trials of unimaginable courage, earned the right to wear that LiveStrong rubber bracelet, that will always matter more.

I have to admit that I haven't been following this all that closely, so I don't know the exact details and timeline of this process, but is there any indication evidence/testimony the USADA has against Armstrong that the US attorney and the grand jury didn't? Is it something along the lines of the prosecutors weren't confident that they'd be able to prove a crime, but USADA could prove doping (with no criminal activity)? The US attorneys have not been hesitant to go after high profile athletes recently, so when they dropped their investigation, that seemed to be meaningful.

[Jimbags]

Lance Armstrong Charged

David Walsh has his say.

[jason voorhees]

Lance Armstrong Charged

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the otf peloton, aren't people supposed to stop caring about bicycles once they get their drivers license ?

[alyxandr]

Lance Armstrong Charged

There's apparently something about dressing up like a corporate-sponsored nylon sausage that hipsters find endlessly entertaining, in S.F. anyway. I dunno either.

[WOM]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Anyone waving the Livestrong flag should read the Outside article on it.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/athletes/lance-armstrong/Its-Not-About-the-Lab-Rats.html?page=all

[Borracho]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Call him a doper. Call him a cheater. Call him the dirtiest player in a sport that’s as dirty as they come. He’ll call himself the guy who keeps fighting to make sure people have the surgery, chemo, and doctors they need. For people like those in my own family who have through trials of unimaginable courage, earned the right to wear that LiveStrong rubber bracelet, that will always matter more.

Dave Zirin seems to be missing the point that Armstrong was only able to get so many people to sign up to his charity because of his seven tainted Tour wins. No one's going to buy yellow bracelets in their millions for some bloke who has just finished 215th in L'Enfer du Nord.

God help Armstrong if and when the likes of George Hincapie -- let alone Dr Michele Ferrari -- go public.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Why does Lance Armstrong have an $11m private jet?

[anton pulisov]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Syringes aren't allowed on commercial carriers.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Where's that 'like' button?

[Reed John]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Rogin the Kitten Minder wrote: Why does Lance Armstrong have an $11m private jet?

Cause that's how much they cost.

[Flynnie]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Analogue Bubblebath II wrote:

Call him a doper. Call him a cheater. Call him the dirtiest player in a sport that’s as dirty as they come. He’ll call himself the guy who keeps fighting to make sure people have the surgery, chemo, and doctors they need. For people like those in my own family who have through trials of unimaginable courage, earned the right to wear that LiveStrong rubber bracelet, that will always matter more.

Dave Zirin seems to be missing the point that Armstrong was only able to get so many people to sign up to his charity because of his seven tainted Tour wins. No one's going to buy yellow bracelets in their millions for some bloke who has just finished 215th in L'Enfer du Nord.

God help Armstrong if and when the likes of George Hincapie -- let alone Dr Michele Ferrari -- go public.

Why would he finish 215th in L'Enfer du Nord if cycling wasn't a cesspool of drug abuse?

[Borracho]

Lance Armstrong Charged

It wasn't really meant to be interpreted quite as literally as that.

[Flynnie]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Analogue Bubblebath II wrote: It wasn't really meant to be interpreted quite as literally as that.

But that's a big deal. Cycling is rife with drug abuse, and call me the voice of the common idiot here, but I don't really think you can possibly cycle around fucking France in three weeks and NOT be doped up to your eyeballs.

Now I have NEVER given a crap about drugs in sport, because I think it pretty much comes with the territory, and there's all sorts of ninja shit going on that we don't even know about. But I couldn't care less about what a bunch of twats from the USADA think about Heroic McOneBall, and it doesn't really change my opinion of him.

[Janik]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Flynnie wrote: Cycling is rife with drug abuse, and call me the voice of the common idiot here, but I don't really think you can possibly cycle around fucking France in three weeks and NOT be doped up to your eyeballs.

Drug abuse was rife, certainly. It might still be, but as with all other eras, if things are tainted that will only come out with time.
As for it not being possible to ride the tour without dope, well you've got some high profile support from the Anquetil line from a televised debate with a government minister which translates as something like 'Only a fool would imagine it was possible to ride Bordeaux-Paris on just water'. That, and 'Leave me in peace; everybody takes dope.'

[Borracho]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Flynnie wrote: call me the voice of the common idiot here, but I don't really think you can possibly cycle around fucking France in three weeks and NOT be doped up to your eyeballs.

Well, Greg LeMond did it.

I was reading a piece by Richard Williams earlier today in which he wrote that the cyclists were now going at noticeably lower speeds* in the Tour than they used to, with nobody flying up l'Alpe d'Huez the way that Armstrong (or, infamously, Stephen Roche) used to. He said this was also reflected in the event's official statistics.

So if the riders are posting consistently slower times, and if there is now an absence of Pantani-style insane breakaways at 60kph, then so be it. They'll never fully stamp it out though.

* There are isolated exceptions, e.g. this year Bradley Wiggins posted a higher average speed during the race than Armstrong's 2000 win.

[Borracho]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Here's an interview with Paul Kimmage about all this.

The UCI have been suing him for damages since the beginning of this year, believe it or not.

[Borracho]

Lance Armstrong Charged

And here's Kimmage's own article.

"Armstrong did not disguise his contempt. "Poor Jonathan and his stupid little French team," he spat. "What the fuck are you like? If you had stayed with me, this would have been taken care of but now you are not going to finish the Tour de France because of a wasp sting."

Cunt.

[Jimbags]

Lance Armstrong Charged

Flynnie wrote: But that's a big deal. Cycling is rife with drug abuse, and call me the voice of the common idiot here, but I don't really think you can possibly cycle around fucking France in three weeks and NOT be doped up to your eyeballs.

Christophe Bassons thought you could. So the dopers, headed by Armstrong, kicked him out of the sport.