Lance Armstrong to be stripped of Tour de France titles and banned for life

[Dave Cooper please]

*sigh* ALSO MATE. A can of coca cola,red bull,lucozade can put you in dangerous terrortory if you are a Proffesional Athlete, So go and *Sigh your Ass of*

Aye, Lucozade is stuffed full of banned performance enhancing drugs.

[Dave Cooper please]

This has been going on for years.  It's another implausibility that USADA are still just talking about evidence they claim to have and that none of this is in the public domain by now.

Absolutely loads of it is in the public domain, there have been books full of it from people like David Walsh, Paul Kimmage and Jeremy Whittle. Have a trawl around the internet just now, especially the cycling sites, they are pointing to articles written from 1999 to the present day that have all the allegations against Armstrong in black and white.
What was missing in many cases was physical evidence (paper trails etc), anecdotal evidence is one thing, what USADA are saying is they have e-mails, letters and even a forged prescription.
 Let's face it, if it's not in the public domain, how come I know about it?

[danlanza]

*sigh* ALSO MATE. A can of coca cola,red bull,lucozade can put you in dangerous terrortory if you are a Proffesional Athlete, So go and *Sigh your Ass of*

Aye, Lucozade is stuffed full of banned performance enhancing drugs.

You will find at least,at least four Banned substances in Lucozade according to IAAF regulations. Just because they run round the track with a brand in their hands does not make it legal for Proffesional Athletes to drink the shite. It is called a "Sales Pitch" and that means selling a product to the general population that will make them feel better.So *sigh* your ass off mate, look at the ingredients in the product before you *sigh*.

[Dave Cooper please]

Are you sure about that Dan?
Not being funny but.....Lucozade?

[Ad@m]

This has been going on for years.  It's another implausibility that USADA are still just talking about evidence they claim to have and that none of this is in the public domain by now.

Absolutely loads of it is in the public domain, there have been books full of it from people like David Walsh, Paul Kimmage and Jeremy Whittle. Have a trawl around the internet just now, especially the cycling sites, they are pointing to articles written from 1999 to the present day that have all the allegations against Armstrong in black and white.
What was missing in many cases was physical evidence (paper trails etc), anecdotal evidence is one thing, what USADA are saying is they have e-mails, letters and even a forged prescription.
 Let's face it, if it's not in the public domain, how come I know about it?

I don't class articles on the internet as evidence.  Nor do I class opinions in books as evidence either - David Icke's had loads of books published, do you believe what he says?

The only actual evidence out there are the hundreds, if not thousands, of negative drugs tests Armstrong has completed.  There's also been a criminal investigation in the US which resulted in no charges against Armstrong.

If the USADA genuinely do have evidence then great, let's see it, and he can be treated like all the other proven drugs cheats.  But until then I don't think it's fair to take anything away from him.

[paul_e]

*sigh* ALSO MATE. A can of coca cola,red bull,lucozade can put you in dangerous terrortory if you are a Proffesional Athlete, So go and *Sigh your Ass of*

Aye, Lucozade is stuffed full of banned performance enhancing drugs.

You will find at least,at least four Banned substances in Lucozade according to IAAF regulations. Just because they run round the track with a brand in their hands does not make it legal for Proffesional Athletes to drink the shite. It is called a "Sales Pitch" and that means selling a product to the general population that will make them feel better.So *sigh* your ass off mate, look at the ingredients in the product before you *sigh*.

Not in quantities that you can be banned for though.  If you drank shit loads of red bull or lucozade prior to a test you could fail but it's pretty unlikely, there's lots more things that could lead to that as well.  It's a professional athletes responsibility to make sure they know the levels and that, if they choose to take things containing them that they're very open about it and very careful to stick within the limits (for example there's pretty much nothing you can get for a sore throat that wouldn't get you banned in high quantities, ditto for lots of digestive medicines).

[danlanza]

Are you sure about that Dan?
Not being funny but.....Lucozade?

100000000000000% Mate. What you see in the Athletes hand is not what they are drinking.......by a long shot....... and i am 100% sure of that......it is a simple case of ADVERTISING, get it. If the Athletes drank what they Advertise they would never perform again, FACT. look up the IAAF list of banned drugs and then Lucozade,Coca Cola........ETC and you will be shocked.

[Dave Cooper please]

If the USADA genuinely do have evidence then great, let's see it, and he can be treated like all the other proven drugs cheats.  But until then I don't think it's fair to take anything away from him.

By refusing to answer the allegations he has condemned himself. USADA would now be quite within their rights to not release any evidence, the refusal is enough for a ban (under UCI rules as well by the way). But they are going to release it anyway.
 I always thought Armstrong was a fighter (a doped up one, but a fighter all the same), I for one can't believe he would rather be forever labelled a drug cheat (for effectively that is now what he is) rather than go the last step and answer the allegations.
 He has fought this for years, refuting every allegation, suing the arse off anyone daring to speak against him, bullying fellow cyclists who dared to say doping was widespread....now, just when he would get the final chance to once and for all clear his name, he gives up?

No, doesn't wash with me.

[Dave Cooper please]

FACT. look up the IAAF list of banned drugs and then Lucozade,Coca Cola........ETC and you will be shocked.

I have, can't find bugger all.
Caffeine IS a banned substance but you would probably need to drink a dozen cases of the Red Bull to be over the limit, can't see that being particularly performance enhancing before a race!
Taurine isn't banned but is on the 'impermissible' list, not recommended but not banned. Couldn't see owt else in the ingredients that WADA has banned.
Lucozade is specifically ON WADA's list of recommended hydration drinks.
Fuck knows what's in Coke though, in fact I'm not sure I want to know, evil stuff that is!

[Ad@m]

Because it's not the final chance.  If he went along with the arbitration, even if he won and the USADA were told to back down (as has been the case in the past) you can understand why he thinks they'd carry on.

For whatever reason, the USADA have shown they will not give this up.  Even when the UCI tell them there's no case to answer.  Even when a criminal investigation fails to find enough evidence to charge him with anything.  Even with a 100% successful track record with drugs tests.  It's entirely understandable that for the sake of his family and his finances he'd want to just get on with his life.

The alternative of course is that he's guilty as sin and the USADA is right to play the role of dog with a bone.  But the balance of the evidence seen to date suggests he's not guilty.

By your own admission you just 'believe' he's guilty.  I don't think there's anything anyone on here could say to change your mind.

[Dave Cooper please]

But the balance of the evidence seen to date suggests he's not guilty.

According to you.
Not according to many of his fellow cyclists, cycling journalists, doctors, team officials and other insiders in the sport though.

[Dave Cooper please]

Oh, and Dan.

Red Bull gets the thumbs up from the drug testers

[villan from luton]

Not read the posts before, wil merely say if I was being accused of the offences that Armstrong has and being stripped of his 7 titles, I would fight all the way to clear my name, however much it took (he obviously has the money)

[Ad@m]

But the balance of the evidence seen to date suggests he's not guilty.

According to you.

And the UCI.  And the US federal police.  And the hundreds of people who carried out drugs tests on him for the past 15 years.

[Dave Cooper please]

The UCI were to be called a witnesses for the prosecution namely for potentially taking bribes, hiding positive tests and they of course had a bit of an agenda to protect their biggest asset.

Dunno why the Feds were involved, enlighten me.

See posts passim for the amount of cyclists who passed tests only to admit they doped.