Lance Armstrong

The one thing that many should thank Lance for is that he is clearly being branded as the biggest cheat in cycling history and as such perhaps with that level of interest the governing bodies will also have to clean up their acts and it may just be a first step into a cleaner sport and actually mean it though

Like the fa in football..it's easy to blame individuals but if the governing bodies know shit happens, allow it and continue to benefit ...then they are possibly the worse culprits of all

I hope it all works out though and to be honest there is little to be had by attacking Lance other than to make the usda feel good

LA has damaged a lot of careers by his attitude :

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/bet ... wilderness

USADA are not the bad guys here, Armstrong is.

UCI have not come out of this smelling of roses.

USADA may have been obsessive about this but sometimes you have to be to dig out the truth.

It is often easier to blame the messenger when you don't like the message.

We are all responsible for Lance Armstrong in one way or another;

1. Cycling authorities choosing not to regulate cycling more fully.

2. Ridiculous amounts of money swilling around - a massive incentive to win whatever the cost.

3. TV audiences wanting more epic stages, faster mountain stages and more records broken.

4. A wider audiences' need to believe in epic sporting narratives with larger than life characters.

I'm glad that this whole tawdry affair has surfaced so finally we can all grow up and accept that pro cycling is at a cross roads and needs to change.

It reminds me of Football in England during the 80's, which had a profound image problem and needed to change as its survival was at stake. However what is needed is not more TV money (football) but less.

Did lance dope?

Probably. The evidence and carefully worded statements "i have never tested positive" are not exactly a clean bill of health.its so much easier to say ~"i have never taken performance enhancing drugs" of course only if it is the truth :/

should the USADA have gone about it in a better manner - hell yes. it does look like a crusade against lance and the deals ct for testimony is a bit caccky.

Lance however is increasingly looking like he did it - so many people are coming forward (or rater are actually being listened too now) that his character and acts are pretty poor examples of how to behave.

Tazio":3rjipa78 said:

sylus":3rjipa78 said:

But I will think of this..if some think by dealing with a scapegoat retired racer who no longer competes will remove drugs from cycling...then they are more dellusional than the usda

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But what it will do is send out a message that nobody is too big to not be caught and punished. And I think that is perhaps the aim of it.

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But if you can introduce a friend, you get a discount!

Of course they're going to stab him in the back; they're cheats too.

I find it hard to understand why so many are getting their tits in a tangle over LA, yet no doubt seems to be cast upon the achievements of other previous multiple winners. Perhaps because Lance is viewed as an arrogant tosser while the others aren't? Certainly, that seems to be his main crime amongst those who "knew" he cheated all along.

it amazed/saddened me when i look at the list of TdeF winners how many have been stripped of their wins, furthermore i have been astonished at the odd occasion that i have come across ebayer's buying histories that record the fact they felt the need to buy epo and accompanying instruments to ''improve'' their sporting abilities.
all i hope is that characters like wiggins and obree show that bloody hardwork and talent gets you everywhere.

joe careless":a09efk30 said:

it amazed/saddened me when i look at the list of TdeF winners how many have been stripped of their wins, furthermore i have been astonished at the odd occasion that i have come across ebayer's buying histories that record the fact they felt the need to buy epo and accompanying instruments to ''improve'' their sporting abilities.
all i hope is that characters like wiggins and obree show that bloody hardwork and talent gets you everywhere.

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I buy epo all the time for my Mrs.........evening primrose oil

Correct me if i'm wrong but you won't find Erythropoietin on the bay!

Tazio":smyh09se said:

The flaw in your theory Juice is that cyclists now are slower than before, quite significantly on the real measures of it, such as Alp d'Huez and Mont Ventoux.

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@ Tazio:I guess you are right about the absolute numbers in form of a slower winning time but - and i have absolutely no data to proof this - it would be really interesting to compare the average speed of the whole bunch throughout the years. And especially the average speed of let's say the last 5 riders of the field who finished the tour. Somewhere in those numbers the significance of getting faster and faster can be found for sure i think.

Where can Lance go from here? He has to come clean surely? but I just can't see it.