Lance Armstrong

[Miroir Noir]

I'd be interested in seeing the "analytical" and "scientific" data. Whatever the actual truth is, I can't particularly fault Armstrong simply because he has declined to participate further in a voluntary, extrajudicial proceeding that appears to have long ago turned any presumption of innocence upon its head.

[TomAz]

And which participation was costing him a fortune in legal fees and personal stress. Agreed.

[fatbastard]

One ball juicer.

[gaypalmsprings]

so glad to hear my hate for those livestrong bracelets were founded. kinda like when everyone realized tom cruise was gay. VINDICATION

Wait, what? Tom Cruise is gay?

[marooko]

The amount of negativity put toward doping is such a joke. The only rational arguments against it is that it tarnishes the legacy of the sport in question and makes old record-setters cry, which are two weak fucking arguments IMO.

There's a rational argument for it?

[psychic friend]

[algunz]

Bicycle Day!!!!


It's not until April though.

[kreutz2112]

There's a rational argument for it?

Yeah. It makes you better at the sport.

[blitzerdog]

Now Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven consecutive Tour de France titles, thanks to the persistent doping allegations against him. It's a sad day for the sport, but at least it vindicates all of the clean-riding cyclists who finished behind Armstrong. Right? So here are the runners-up who stand to inherit the yellow jerseys from the disgraced champ:

1999: Alex Zülle (confessed to EPO use)
2000: Jan Ullrich (suspended from 2006 Tour; banned this year and stripped of all results from 2005 on)
2001: Jan Ullrich
2002: Joseba Beloki (kept out of 2006 Tour while under doping investigation, later cleared)
2003: Jan Ullrich
2004: Andreas Klöden (accused of illegal blood transfusion in the 2006 Tour)
2005: Ivan Basso (confessed to attempted doping, suspended)


^ An unfortunate truth. I certainly wish they'd all ride clean, because every win by anyone has seemed so supect for so long now. But I am surprised Armstrong's thrown in the towel (unless he intends to try a different legal tack). Armstrong may be a prick, and I've no doubt he was doping along with everyone else, but he was still the best cyclist/doper of them all.

We have a running joke in our household about how Lance is precisely three times faster than my husband. He rode a pro-am race many years ago on the tramway road in Palm Springs with two young buddies, one of whom was an Olympic cyclist, the other a nationally ranked century rider. (1litro is certainly no slouch on a road bike either, though mountain biking is his thing.) This was in the early 90's and I don't remember if it was pre- or post-cancer, but Lance was a young guy. In the time it took the three of them to make one complete circuit up and down the tram road, Lance had done it three times, acknowledging them each time he passed. Which was both funny and slightly embarrassing, I guess. The guy was good, there is no denying that.

Hold on, how the fuck do you attempt to dope and then fail? I would think if everyone was doing it, someone would be kind enough to say this is how you do it.

[gaypalmsprings]

[mountmccabe]

Lance has a real different story now on some Oprah channel or streaming online.

[mountmccabe]

USADA claimed “the evidence against Armstrong arose from disclosures made to USADA by more than a dozen witnesses who agreed to testify and provide evidence about their first-hand experience and/or knowledge of the doping activity of those involved in,” the U.S. Postal Service team “conspiracy, as well as analytical data.”

It is pretty amazing that USADA thought to take and freeze urine and blood samples from years back thinking, hey, we'd have a test for EPO, etc. eventually!

“Additionally, scientific data showed Mr. Armstrong’s use of blood manipulation including EPO or blood transfusions during Mr. Armstrong’s comeback to cycling in the 2009 Tour de France.”

What might be the most amazing part of this is that while he is admitting to doping and blood bending and whatever the hell from the mid-90s through 2005 he is STILL claiming that he wasn't doping or anything in 2009.