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

[Eckybloke]

Michael Barry (ex Sky) just fessed up too.  Lance mate, its really really over now.

When you read "Sky's The Limit", Barry is fingered (by Landis I think) as a drugs cheat not long after the Sky Team is formed and he and Dave Brailsford are telling all and sundry that it's all lies.

The whole omerta thing of the peleton must seriously mean business.

[Dante Lavelli]

So, quick straw poll, are the current Sky team clean?

[Eckybloke]

So, quick straw poll, are the current Sky team clean?

Yes, I think they are.  The fact that observers of the Tour said this year's lacked the panache of outrageous attacks and it was almost attritional seems to suggest either everyone is doping to the same extent or everyone is now pretty much clean. 

[Dave Cooper please]

Told you!

How very humble of you.

Did I say humble? I meant smug.

This is such a shame for the sport. I've got unbelievable respect for the guys who ride the Tour de France and to find that basically a decade of the sport meant nothing because of institutionalised doping is so depressing.

Today isn't a day to celebrate. Especially when you consider that the UK leads the world in cycling at the moment and this will once again make the general public think that cyclists can't be trusted.

I just hope this is as bad as it gets and that no Brits are involved in anything.

Oh I see, when I'm right about something because I read up on the facts and studied the evidence then I'm being smug?

Oh, and I think it is a day to celebrate. Armstrong cheated his way to the top and now, in black and white for all to see, is the evidence. Cheats in sport need to be bought to book, it's a very, very good day for a sport that needs to draw a line under a very bad period and start afresh.

[TopDeck113]

The saddest thing is, as someone who loves the sport, is that, yet again, it makes it difficult to believe that great achievements are on the back of great talent and dedication.  Armstrong was an outstanding athlete and an amazing bike handler (drugs don't enable you steer at speed across a corn field...

). Yet he still felt compelled to cheat.

Someone said to me a few weeks ago that this just proves that the sport is totally corrupt and that British Cycling's tremendous last decade is the result of just being ahead of the game as far as doping is concerned.  I truly believe Cav, Wiggins, Hoy, Pendleton, et al's achievements are clean. However, I can see why someone with only a passing interest in the sport would question the whole edifice of professional cycling.

[Jon Crofts]

Armstrongs 2003 Tour winning Trek Madone was in the window of my favourite UK bike pornography shop (Sigma Sport) until yesterday, this morning it's been removed.

Anyway, onto other matters, Livestrong Foundation hasn't given any funding to cancer research for a few years now, I wonder how long it will be before the IRS & other interested parties start digging into that?
The UCI need to be investigated as well, how did the UPS team get away with it?  Sponsors money paying off officials at UCI has been rumoured & of course the principal sponsor is a US taxpayer funded goverment department.

[lovejoy]

I hope, if anything comes out of this, that the drug taking deniers, be it the UCI or the public who refused to believe Armstrong took drugs despite all the evidence pointing elsewhere, learn from their naiveity. Also the heads of the UCI If found to have wilfully covered up positive tests, are charged with the full force of the law.

[RunRickyRun]

how did the UPS team get away with it? 

It is strongly alleged that political pressure made the original Federal Investigation go away (certainly the prosecutors were left very frustrated).

[RunRickyRun]

Today isn't a day to celebrate. Especially when you consider that the UK leads the world in cycling at the moment and this will once again make the general public think that cyclists can't be trusted.

I disagree. It is a day to celebrate.

Armstrong was a sophisticated doper, terrified his rivals into silence, was an aggressive litigator and was immensely powerful (both inside the sport and politically). He still was brought down. It probably would not have happened at any other time (and arguably in any other country) so it shows the progress that has been made in catching cheats.

Many of the techniques developed to convict cheaters like him (freezing samples for future testing, blood passports, independent drug bodies etc) will be used across the board to catch drug cheats in the future.

 

[Jon Crofts]

Does anyone have any EPO I can borrow?  I'm doing a 116 mile Sportive Sunday, hilly one as well, 2600 metres of climbing.

[Ad@m]

Oh I see, when I'm right about something because I read up on the facts and studied the evidence then I'm being smug?

Nope.  Gloating about the demise of someone who was considered a legend to millions around the world and the immense damage caused to the reputation of cycling as a sport is you being smug.

It's absolutely right that he's been brought to book for cheating but gloating about any kind of severe negative is not particularly pleasant.

[lovejoy]

Adam I'd point your ire at being hoodwinked at Lance and the UCI rather than Plumbett.

Does anyone have any information on how the Livestrong foundation has spent it's money recently? Does it ALL go to cancer research?

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Am I alone in thinking/hoping that Armstrong did not do anything wrong?

[Jon Crofts]

Adam I'd point your ire at being hoodwinked at Lance and the UCI rather than Plumbett.

Does anyone have any information on how the Livestrong foundation has spent it's money recently? Does it ALL go to cancer research?

85c in every $ went to programmes in 2011, in 2011 no funding went to new research into cancer, 30 ongoing programmes were supported.
Other monies went on community programmes, survivor networks & education.

You can find their full reports online at livestrong.org

[paul_e]

Am I alone in thinking/hoping that Armstrong did not do anything wrong?

Hoping - I'd doubt it, with no cheating or evidence of it he's a marketing dream; recovers from a serious illness to win one of the prestigious sporting events 7 times in a row whilst gaining millions for charity.

Thinking - I can't believe any seriously thinks he's done nothing wrong, technically he has never been banned for failing a test (note I said banned not caught, which he has been at least once), that's irrefutable, but his samples clearly show large traces of Synthetic EPO (as confirmed by independent specialists) over a prolonged period of time and there is far too much witness testimony to ignore.

Ad@m - to me your argument reads as you being a little upset that you've been proven wrong.  If this is handled correctly cycling won't see much damage to it's reputation, it's not as if the sport was considered clean until this, there's been lots of news out there just not so high profile.  Personally I think it's fantastic news that even someone who was a 'legend' isn't above being brought to justice.  From everything I've read since this really hit the news it's been common knowledge in cycling circles for a long time but because anything against him was done in solitude he repeated 'the armstrong defense' (love that by the way) and threatened to sue.  He also ruined the careers of reporters by effectively banning them from the tour if they didn't report things as he wanted.  All in the guy comes across as a bit of a dick and I'm glad that the world at large is seeing him in a true light.

I'm not seeing many people defending Jimmy Saville right now and, whilst this is nothing like as serious, I don't agree with anyone trying to defend Armstrong, he's built a reputation on lying and cheating and is rightly seeing it fall apart, needs to happen to people like this far more often in my opinion.