Lance Armstrong gets life ban,loses 7 TDF,confesses he doped

dave_1
dave_1 Posts: 9,512
edited January 2019 in Pro race
all done. Move on folks. Joke of a sport
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Comments

  • love the sport - hate the professional side of it. this is what happens when a pasttime becomes a job.
  • Yellow Peril
    Yellow Peril Posts: 4,466
    love the sport - hate the professional side of it. this is what happens when a pasttime becomes a job.

    I purposefully avoid the possibility of this by being a sh1t rider.

    Can anyone summarise what happens to the status of those 7 Tours? I suppose any wealth accrued by LA in endorsements remains his unless there is/was any contractual breach.
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  • love the sport - hate the professional side of it. this is what happens when a pasttime becomes a job.

    I purposefully avoid the possibility of this by being a sh1t rider.

    Can anyone summarise what happens to the status of those 7 Tours? I suppose any wealth accrued by LA in endorsements remains his unless there is/was any contractual breach.

    I accept them, thank you. I shall now retire to give Wiggo and the other lads a chance next year.
    'I started with nothing and still have most of it left.'
  • carl_p
    carl_p Posts: 989
    My take is those 7 years never happened. You can ignore the fact no-one won those races but also any amazing attack you witnessed was probably a result of the drugs/doping or whatever as well. The guys in 2nd and 3rd were probably also cheating. Great sport!
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  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    Anyone know if the actual runner up to those seven titles will be given the win or whether they've actually been caught themselves and the win being awarded to someone further down the field?
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,678
    It's up to ASO to decide if USADA remove his titles.
    They'll probably just erase the results and leave it as "no winner", which is the right way to do this.

    Probably a good job Lance hardly bothered with any other races :-(
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  • indjke
    indjke Posts: 85
    How USADA can give away titles???
    It's local national agency, it's not the UCI, not even WADA.
    I can't understand
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  • ALaPlage
    ALaPlage Posts: 732
    Copy from BBC News.

    Page last updated at 07:03 GMT+01:00, Friday, 24 August 2012
    Armstrong ends drug charge fight

    Lance Armstrong retired from professional cycling in 2011
    US cycling star Lance Armstrong has announced he will no longer fight drug charges from the US anti-doping agency, ahead of a Friday deadline.

    In a statement, the 40-year-old maintains he is innocent, but says he is weary of the "nonsense" accusations.

    The US anti-doping agency (USADA) now says it will ban Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his seven Tour de France titles.

    Armstrong retired from professional sport in 2011.

    USADA alleges he used banned substances as far back as 1996, including the blood-booster EPO, steroid and blood transfusions.

    Armstrong sued in federal court to block the charges but lost.

    'Heartbreaking' case

    "There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.' For me, that time is now," Armstrong said in the statement.

    "I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999.

    "Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's [USADA's chief executive] unconstitutional witch hunt.

    "The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today - finished with this nonsense."

    Armstrong had been given until 06:00 GMT on Friday to decide whether to continue fighting the USADA charges.

    The agency has said that 10 of Armstrong's former teammates are prepared to testify against him.

    The cyclist has accused USADA of offering "corrupt inducements" to other riders.

    USADA also accuses Armstrong of being a "ring-leader" of systematic doping on his Tour de France winning teams.

    Mr Tygart said shortly after Armstrong's statement that his agency would ban Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his titles, according to AP.

    The chief executive described the case as a "heartbreaking" example of a win-at-all costs approach to sports.

    However, Armstrong disputed that the USADA has the power to take away his titles.

    "USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges," his statement said.

    The cycling governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI) - which had backed Armstrong's challenge to challenge USADA's authority - has so far made no public comments on the latest developments.

    Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer prior to his record-breaking Tour wins, retired after the 2005 Tour de France but made a comeback in 2009.

    He retired for a second time in February 2011.

    He now says he will be focusing on the work with his cancer charity.
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  • It's really galling to see him try and spin accepting these charges as some sort of hard luck story of him being victimised and with it attempting to sully USADA's credibility... all to avoid having witness testimony made public to alienate anyone who still admires him.

    I was about to type out a huge rant but its all been said before, the man is a coward and a bully and as soon as somebody paints him into a corner he takes his ball home. He has no interest in accounting for that era of cycling only for being able to be seen to save his own skin.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    The thread title is a wee bit incorrect - while he's been banned and stripped of the titles and says he won't contest, he also claims that USADA don't have the authority to do this - only his buddies in the UCI - so he doesn't quite "accept" it.

    Either way, a good result and it would be nice to think that this would draw a line under the whole shambles but it won't. Like a fat drunk on a unicycle, the sport will wobble its way to its next doping crisis, like its always done.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • I'm not an Armstrong fan at all, I actually dislike the guy but stripping him of the titles come across as petty and vindictive. Especially as the entire peloton was at it. The only clean riders to complete those tours were on camera motorbikes.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,708
    Don't we have a thread on this already?
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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  • milton50
    milton50 Posts: 3,856
    It's really galling to see him try and spin accepting these charges as some sort of hard luck story of him being victimised and with it attempting to sully USADA's credibility... all to avoid having witness testimony made public to alienate anyone who still admires him.

    It's amazing isn't it? Even when effectively admitting that his guilt can be proved he still surreptitiously puts enough doubt into the non-cycling public's mind that this is all a big witch hunt and he can't continue to defend himself because of his family.
  • chadders81
    chadders81 Posts: 744
    Sorry if this is a ridiculous question but why can't the authorities draw a line under everything let's say pre-2006 and acknowledge that loads of people were doping then and move on by making sure that their tests are now as effective as possible and hammering the cheats they catch now?

    This can't be good for the sport.
  • ALaPlage
    ALaPlage Posts: 732
    Here is the full statement from LA.

    http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/l ... st-23-2012
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  • alanjay
    alanjay Posts: 363
    I'm not an Armstrong fan at all, I actually dislike the guy but stripping him of the titles come across as petty and vindictive. Especially as the entire peloton was at it. The only clean riders to complete those tours were on camera motorbikes.

    Did you see some of those camera angles?
  • fat_tail
    fat_tail Posts: 786
    So it really was not about the bike but about the EPO ? :shock:
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  • ShutUpLegs
    ShutUpLegs Posts: 3,522
    Does this mean refunds for all those MADONE owners :?:
  • TMR
    TMR Posts: 3,986
    I was about to type out a huge rant but its all been said before, the man is a coward...

    I have to disagree. I don't think he's a coward, I think he's stupidly brave given his fight with cancer. I will agree that he's a bully and an egotistical arse though. Oh, and a cheating scumbag as well.
  • Gazzetta67
    Gazzetta67 Posts: 1,890
    Paul Kimmage & David Walsh must be "Skipping" to work this morning. :mrgreen:
  • raymondo60
    raymondo60 Posts: 735
    Technically he has not been stripped of his T de F titles as yet
    Raymondo

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  • At least it should make the US Pro Challenge coverage a bit more interesting, tonight. :P
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    Raymondo60 wrote:
    Technically he has not been stripped of his T de F titles as yet

    Somebody's been busy on Wiki this morning - they've struck through all his TdFs, Tour de Suisse and Dauphine Libere results already.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • Gazzetta67
    Gazzetta67 Posts: 1,890
    At least it should make the US Pro Challenge coverage a bit more interesting, tonight. :P


    You must be joking - Smith was a team mate of Armstrong....it will all be "ehhhhhhh Hmmmmm cough cough oh look at those lovely mountains" and Kirby will be too busy laughing at his own jokes.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Sad times.
  • KaRsKiN
    KaRsKiN Posts: 31
    Am I missing a trick here. Don't really know much about this to be honest.

    He's never tested positive, so how can they claim he was taking drugs? Surely if the drugs tests come back negative then that should be that. If not then what's the point in having them?
  • rdt
    rdt Posts: 869
    KaRsKiN wrote:
    Am I missing a trick here. Don't really know much about this to be honest.

    He's never tested positive, so how can they claim he was taking drugs? Surely if the drugs tests come back negative then that should be that. If not then what's the point in having them?


    Have you been living under a rock for the past half dozen years?
  • Can anyone elucidate? How can the USADA, which has no jurisdiction over international cycling, strip Armstrong of his TdeF titles? Surely that can only be the UCI (or the organisers of the TdeF)?
  • chevinhawk wrote:
    Can anyone elucidate. How can the USADA, which has no jurisdiction over international cycling, strip Armstrong of his TdeF titles. Surely that can only be the UCI (or the organisers of the TdeF)?


    His license was with US Cycling who employ USADA for their anti-doping programme. When he signed up to his license each year he signed up to their jurisdiction and rules.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent