Lance Armstrong Lie

Garry H

[quote="mamba80 No, LA annoyed the authorities because he denied his guilt (and "seemingly" hoodwinked them all for so long) no doubt being a brash American in what is a traditional European sport didn't help him either.[/quote]

eh? he was nailed by Americans...

mamba80

no I meant the vitriol he attracts now

billreay

I think it's terrible you all denigrate LA. He won 7 Tours afterall. OK, he was on drugs but when I was on drugs I couldn't even find my effing bike never mind ride it.

TerryCTR

I think its ott how people go on as if it really effected them personally.

He doped just like others who have won the tdf, so regardless of how long he lied, his personality etc- he wasn't the only one.

If they want to strip him of his titles that's fine. They should also strip every last one of the other winners who were caught just the same.

TheHound

Anyone else having trouble watching this on 4od?

Elfed

Enjoyed the film, quite the eye opener.

morstar

Can't believe I'm replying to another LA thread but...
He was a cheat amongst cheats and a lot of people are very hypocritical in their attitudes to dopers. This is a fact.
However, LA did seem to benefit from assistance from the UCI so he did have an unfair advantage whilst his contemporaries were receiving bans.
The hatred, he generated great wealth and used this to force people to toe his line. I can think of very few sports people who have had so much power to set the agenda across an entire sport. That he so abused this power explains a lot of resentment towards him.
The money, people are suing him because he sued everybody else (or threatened to). He is reaping what he sowed. SCA is the perfect example. He took them to court to secure money they had justifiably withheld. Once that was proven, they went and got their money back.
I don't hate LA, but I do think he's a complete tool. The legal /financial mess is entirely his own making, the judgement of the court of public opinion is as fickle and inconsistent as ever.

damocles10

Take away the deceit and let them take as many enhancement drugs as they like, double the length of the races and make cycling the fastest physical sport on earth.

ugo.santalucia

morstar wrote:

LA did seem to benefit from assistance from the UCI so he did have an unfair advantage whilst his contemporaries were receiving bans.

Most top riders did... the famous Pantani incident in 1999 was due to an unexpected check from the Italian Police, unsupervised by the UCI. Normally teams were informed about checks ahead, so they could work out a strategy to clean up the riders.

morstar

ugo.santalucia wrote:

morstar wrote:

LA did seem to benefit from assistance from the UCI so he did have an unfair advantage whilst his contemporaries were receiving bans.

Most top riders did... the famous Pantani incident in 1999 was due to an unexpected check from the Italian Police, unsupervised by the UCI. Normally teams were informed about checks ahead, so they could work out a strategy to clean up the riders.

Fair enough, I suppose I'm alluding to the way his ex team mates consistently got busted within a short time frame of leaving for new teams whilst USPS continued regardless. I can't prove it but I am convinced LAs teams had more protection than others. There's also the allegations that LA was influencing the UCI to target his rivals.

dennisn

damocles10 wrote:

Take away the deceit and let them take as many enhancement drugs as they like, double the length of the races and make cycling the fastest physical sport on earth.

Sort of like bodybuilding. People go to see the freaky guys and they seem to be given pretty much all the latitude they need, to take what they need, to get that way. Then again the list of dead, by drugs / cancer, of muscle guys is a pretty long one.