The elephant in the room.

[FMJ]

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.

Unlike the contest of who has the best doctor / drugs it has been since the late seventies (when the state sponsored East German witch doctors came out of the woodwork) till now?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. You can't ride like that (recover from riding like that quick enough is more appropriate) without Juice. Sponsorship deals demand results. The end justifies the means.

 

[kaiser]

Legalising would only increase the risk to the riders, remember the heyday of EPO? People dying in their sleep because their blood thickened so much, it would be a return to those days!

 

[highlandsflyer]

It depends on what drugs were allowed.

I have often thought there should be a Drugged Olympics.

The runners in the 400M Relay trying to light the baton; marathon runners sitting around twiddling daisies in their hands, certain they are talking to them, and weight lifters going over to help each other because, "We are all human beings, we are all in this together," might just discourage kids from taking drugs.

I remember the hero worship of Bjarne Riis back in the day when I lived in Denmark, what I wonder now is where are the athletes who are NOT taking drugs? Seems there are just those who have not been caught, those that got away with it and will never be caught and those who struggle on without seeking that advantage, and maybe never achieve the cheats' 'greatness' as a result.

 

[al]

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.

If Armstrong had ridden a full season like most pro cyclists have to, then maybe he would have failed a test.
The fact Armstrong picked one or two big pay day races and cycled one Grand Tour per year has meant that he was able to dodge a lot of 'In competition' testing.

Most of Armstrong's season was spent training with a small team of athletes, Doctors and but munches around him.

Yes It's very hard to believe a man can compete and win races against riders that take drugs. Super human or Super cheat, time will tell.

al.

 

[grahame]

Armstrong "never failed a drugs test"

Except for that awkward one he failed for steroids, but was (against the UCI's rules) allowed to submit a retrospective prescription for a skin cream "to treat a boil" for.

Off the top of my head, 3 others who never failed a drug test:
David Millar
Bjarne Riis
Richard Virenque
amongst many others. They all confessed later.
So that seems a pretty weak defence to me.

 

[FMJ]

Just watched Tyler's interview and the conjoined investigative report (with interviews/statements from Hincape amd Andreau) on 60 Minutes. "Suspicious" urine test results with similarities to other's EPO use results at the 01 Tour of Switzerland. Subsequent "donations" to the UCI ($25,000, then $100,000) by Lance for "promoting drug testing". The US Government is even considering fraud charges (there was a moral turpitude clause in which the sponsorship money hinged on the team being clean) against the US Postal Team. This is one storm Lance isn't going to survive unscathed.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Frankly, even were that the case, he is no worse than anyone else, and who can blame him for trying to keep it quiet?

 

[David B]

The way I see it is thus:

If he was on drugs and he beat everyone who was on drugs = Disappointing but nonetheless impressive.

Trouble with this option is that it also implies beating those riders who weren't on drugs but who were still at the top of their game (e.g. David Moncoutié) which is the aspect that really stinks.

David

 

[FMJ]

Live by the syringe, die by the syringe.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7366962n

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a8Mb0J-htw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVoYLCkxA7k

 

[Carge]

Possibly his avoiding races was part of a pharmaceutical strategy?

But there is a program of out of competition testing - the WADA guys knock on the door anytime and the althlete has to give a sample.

I think Armstrong was about to take his wife to hospital as she'd gone into labour, when the WADA guys knocked - and he had to give the sample.

As a side, I would not be surprised if Armstrong had taken EPO at some point. It was invented to boost red blood cells after the effects of chemo.