L.A. Stripped

daviesee

Yup. Stripped of all his titles.

Wonder how this will play out over the weekend!

zippypablo

http://aol.sportingnews.com/sport/story ... hare=0d9d6

Hoopdriver

It'll do the boy good

CambsNewbie

Hasn't this been inevitable for the last few years now? Been too much smoke for years now to have been no flame..

Shame. Who is going to contribute to his charity now knowing the myth has been built on lies and doping?

BelgianBeerGeek

'Cos there will still be people who think that his cancer comeback was amazing and inspirational. Which, to be fair, it was.

Those people will gloss over the drugs cheating aspect. Which is more important, the clean-cut sportsman, or the inspirational motivator? Plus, he's done so much for charity, so he can't be a bad man, right?

slowbike

Tygart said. "It's a heartbreaking example of win at all costs".

Yes - seems like USADA are trying to win at all costs.

daviesee

To be fair, I don't think that he has taken performance enhancing drugs, which is why he never tested positive.

On the other hand, search the internet for the following subjects and draw your own conclusions.

Gene Therapy + Cancer
Gene Therapy + Athletes
Gene Therapy + Lance Armstrong
Gene Therapy + Livestrong

ShutUpLegs

Is The Sun printing the photos?

raymondo60

May as well strip every previous T de F winner (except Wiggo!), ever winner of the Giro, Vuelta, One-Day Classic, Paris-Nice, the whole lot - just rewrite the history books and start again. Just finished reading both David Millar's and Laurent Fignon's books - everyone was at it.

estampida

he used his charity to keep folk quiet

where will the money come from now??

cos he seems the greedy sort.......

MattC59

Interesting. Whatever your opinion of Armstrong, you can't deny that this has been a witch hunt, the USADA is out of order in it's conduct and has acted out of accordance with it's own rules, and the USADA doesn't have the authority to strip titles.

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty ?

Here's Armstrong's statement:
http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/lance-armstongs-statement-of-august-23-2012

pauldavid

MattC59 wrote:

Interesting. Whatever your opinion of Armstrong, you can't deny that this has been a witch hunt, the USADA is out of order in it's conduct and has acted out of accordance with it's own rules, and the USADA doesn't have the authority to strip titles.

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty ?

Here's Armstrong's statement:
http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/lance-armstongs-statement-of-august-23-2012

Have the USADA ever actually made any evidence public, how can we be sure that Tygert wasn't just bullied by Armstrong at school and is trying to get his own back.

ITV news have just reported that he has been stripped of all 7 tour wins but as Matt says surely USADA don't have the authority?

I say provide evidence that he doped once and for all publicly or leave the man alone.

Alain Quay

Lots of informed debate on the issue going on in Australia right now:

TommyEss

Friend of a Friend on Facebook
Lance Armstrong to be stripped of his 7 tour de France titles!!!!!!

This guy has passed all drug tests for years and the United States Anti Doping Agency still think he cheated.

What the fuck have they taken!!!!

Grow up and leave the greatest cyclist of all time alone!!!!

I think the last sentence gives away how long he's been following cycling, but I think the 3 lines above sum it up pretty well.

I'm not sure what it achieves really - I wanted so very hard to believe in Armstrong, and I guess the more you read around the area the picture paints itself.

On to the "Is he still a nice guy...?" type of question - well my nextdoor neighbour works at Nike; she's recently been diagnosed with lymphoma. The guys at Nike in Europe and the US put together a really nice video short with lots of people they found around the offices wishing her well. Lots of staff, and a number of well known athletes (Mo Farah, Rafa Nadal, Carl Lewis) - and yes, towards the end, Mr Lance Armstrong filming from his parked car. It's part of a very moving message for a young woman fighting something pretty nasty - and that side of things I don't think you can take away from.

I also don't think he'd be able to do that without the platform of the TdF though - so a good few shades of grey I reckon.

MattC59

Tygart said UCI was "bound to recognize our decision and impose it" as a signer of the World Anti-Doping Code.
"They have no choice but to strip the titles under the code," he said.

Surely admission that the USADA doesn't have the authority to strip the titles.

organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges.

So if that's the case, how can the UCI agree and strip the titles ?

ShutUpLegs

pauldavid wrote:

Have the USADA ever actually made any evidence public, how can we be sure that Tygert wasn't just bullied by Armstrong at school and is trying to get his own back.

ITV news have just reported that he has been stripped of all 7 tour wins but as Matt says surely USADA don't have the authority?

I say provide evidence that he doped once and for all publicly or leave the man alone.

Top trolling

rick_chasey

MattC59 wrote:

Interesting. Whatever your opinion of Armstrong, you can't deny that this has been a witch hunt, the USADA is out of order in it's conduct and has acted out of accordance with it's own rules, and the USADA doesn't have the authority to strip titles.

What have you been smoking?

rick_chasey

pauldavid wrote:

I say provide evidence that he doped once and for all publicly or leave the man alone.

It would have been had Armstrong contested it.

Blacktemplar

I don't think he's officially been stripped of anything as yet. Most of the news wires are running with "USADA strips Armstrong of 7 tour wins" type headlines. As far as I can see the UCI have made no comment as yet.

I'm not a fanboy and I don't condone doping in sport, but this just reeks of self-righteous witch hunt. It certainly won't harm sales of Floyd Landis' book either.

At a time when we should be celebrating success stories in cycling, once again doping dominates the headlines. And as someone has already said, where's the evidence? Armstrong never failed a doping test, so the evidence is at best circumstantial - doesn't it have to be 'beyond reasonable doubt' to stick?

rick_chasey

Blacktemplar wrote:

I don't think he's officially been stripped of anything as yet. Most of the news wires are running with "USADA strips Armstrong of 7 tour wins" type headlines. As far as I can see the UCI have made no comment as yet.

I'm not a fanboy and I don't condone doping in sport, but this just reeks of self-righteous witch hunt. It certainly won't harm sales of Floyd Landis' book either.

At a time when we should be celebrating success stories in cycling, once again doping dominates the headlines. And as someone has already said, where's the evidence? Armstrong never failed a doping test, so the evidence is at best circumstantial - doesn't it have to be 'beyond reasonable doubt' to stick?

Anti-doping authority says "We have enough evidence that we want to ban you. Either you contest it, which we're happy for you to do, or you take the ban"

He took the ban.

The evidence will come out in time. For sure.

bartman100

daviesee wrote:

To be fair, I don't think that he has taken performance enhancing drugs, which is why he never tested positive.

bearfraser

As someone previously said " no smoke without fire " and the rumour mill has had him guilty for years . Surley it's time the evidence is shown or is it all bolleauxscience that no one will be able to translate .??

BelgianBeerGeek

Guys, guys, guys.
LA would like to draw a line under this and move on, so perhaps we all should?

bartman100

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

Guys, guys, guys.
LA would like to draw a line under this and move on, so perhaps we all should?

agreed. In fact, I've already forgiven him.

tim_wand

This isn't just about Lance and the Livestrong organisation.

This is about the man who was a poster boy for our sport for over a decade and inspired a generation of new cyclists.

By not going into open court and fighting the USADA and these charges he's betraying the sport and opening it up for the likes of Wiggo to have to face questions about doping from TWAT journalists in every post race interview he does.

Armstrong has the money, the legal team and the expertise to dismiss these allegations, He also has a duty to the sport and all those who believed in him to do so.

bartman100

tim wand wrote:

This isn't just about Lance and the Livestrong organisation.

This is about the man who was a poster boy for our sport for over a decade and inspired a generation of new cyclists.

By not going into open court and fighting the USADA and these charges he's betraying the sport and opening it up for the likes of Wiggo to have to face questions about doping from fool journalists in every post race interview he does.

Armstrong has the money, the legal team and the expertise to dismiss these allegations, He also has a duty to the sport and all those who believed in him to do so.

Well said.

daviesee

bartman100 wrote:

........................

Neatly ignoring the rest of my post. :roll:

bartman100

daviesee wrote:

bartman100 wrote:

........................

Neatly ignoring the rest of my post. :roll:

sorry, so you *don't* think he took performance enhancing drugs then?

MattC59

Guilty or not guilty, that is somewhat irrellavent. The USADA appear to be intent on ignoring their own procedures and rules, one man is acting as judge jury and executioner, and they (he) are going to find LA guilty without providing evidence or a trial.

I'd place money on the fact that the USADA never release their evidence.

ilm_zero7

bartman100 wrote:

tim wand wrote:

This isn't just about Lance and the Livestrong organisation.

This is about the man who was a poster boy for our sport for over a decade and inspired a generation of new cyclists.

By not going into open court and fighting the USADA and these charges he's betraying the sport and opening it up for the likes of Wiggo to have to face questions about doping from fool journalists in every post race interview he does.

Armstrong has the money, the legal team and the expertise to dismiss these allegations, He also has a duty to the sport and all those who believed in him to do so.

Well said.

+1. He knew they game was up. Shame follows, rather than shame and humiliation.

bartman100

MattC59 wrote:

Guilty or not guilty, that is somewhat irrellavent. The USADA appear to be intent on ignoring their own procedures and rules, one man is acting as judge jury and executioner, and they (he) are going to find LA guilty without providing evidence or a trial.

I'd place money on the fact that the USADA never release their evidence.

So the fact that folks from all walks of the cycling fraternity are lined up and ready to testify means nothing? Still 'one man acting as judge, jury and executioner'?' Why do you think Lance has given up? He can afford the best legal team money can buy.