The elephant in the room.

[cchris2lou]

the current lawsuit is all about perjury not so much doping , so he might get done for it .

 

[classen]

Just wait until Hincapie spills the beans... then it's all over.

They're all doping anyways. Pro cycling should just legalize everything (except for drugs that are illegal for other reasons). The assign a special doctor/druggist to each rider to make sure they all have access to teh same drugs. Then the advantage will be taken away and we can all just enjoy the riders and the races again..... sorta like Saturday Night Live's All Drug Olympics.

http://youtu.be/VPcBIw2422U

 

[FST4RD]

What I don't get though is all these people that have been caught doping, and say that Armstrong did the same thing with them etc.
Assuming they all got the same testing, how come Armstrong has never had a positive result?
Innocent until proven guilty?
Hard to accept for some people that he might be the greastest road cyclist, and not have taken drugs.

 

[Tazio]

Hard to accept for some people that he might be the greastest road cyclist, and not have taken drugs.

Greatest TDF rider ever, but didn't do enough other races for my liking. I still think Merckx is the best ever.

Possibly his avoiding races was part of a pharmaceutical strategy?

 

[FST4RD]

Hard to accept for some people that he might be the greastest road cyclist, and not have taken drugs.

Greatest TDF rider ever, but didn't do enough other races for my liking. I still think Merckx is the best ever.

Possibly his avoiding races was part of a pharmaceutical strategy?

That's why I said "might". I guess if you ask anyone walking down the street to name a road race and a famous road cyclist they're going to say Lance Armstrong and the Tour De France, so maybe that makes him the most famous

 

[kaiser]

You could argue that he was a level above the testing at the time. If everything is to be believed about Ferrari his methods could have been so
far ahead of the pack that he would not have been caught or knew how to get round them. Also the biggest thing Armstrong brought to the peloton was the team structure and race specific attitude. He could have the team doped and pull him up the hills and spilt the peloton. If the UCI and WADA are as incompetent as the appear with a bit of planning surely you could get past them?

 

[renaldo]

I've also never understood how he could have never tested positive if he has been using PEDs - surely if you suspect someone is using them you can catch them?
I think the problem with legalising doping would be that it might then become a contest of who has the best doctor / drugs, and the amount or strength of drugs used might escalate.

 

[KeepItSteel]

You could argue that he was a level above the testing at the time. If everything is to be believed about Ferrari his methods could have been so
far ahead of the pack that he would not have been caught or knew how to get round them.

+1

On the subject of sudden gains over mediocrity, Linford Christie (and Ben Johnson to some degree) and pretty much most of the British track atheletes spring to mind. Along with that Irish female swimmer & the Greek 100m winner.
Atheletics is riddled.

The only one I trust is Jonathan Edwards, a true legend and Gothenberg 95 is easily one of the best sporting highlights I can think of. Along with Michael Johnson, who's character lends me to think he was simply a marvel.

 

[tintin40]

somebody once said, "it's only cheating when you're doing something nobody else is doing"...

It does seem that the roadies like their drugs.

I'd need drugs to ride those bikes.

 

[rosstheboss]

somebody once said, "it's only cheating when you're doing something nobody else is doing"...

It does seem that the roadies like their drugs.

I'd need drugs to ride those bikes.

A mate of mine is a regularly competing triathlete, he rides his road bike hundreds of miles competitively every year. He rode one stage of the TDF a few years ago and it destroyed him!!!! The level of athleticism to finish, let alone compete, let alone win the TDF is mind boggling. With all the drugs and training and back up in the world I don't think 99% of us could hold a candle to someone like Lance or Miguel or any other of the greats.*

Cheating is still cheating though - I remember watching an interview with Greg Lemond about how open drug use was back in the day, he was talking about looking around the peloton and seeing people ramming hyperdermics into their legs!!

I also agree with Kaiser, if you can get away with it, why admit to it?

*Throw cancer in there too and it's even more mind boggling!!!