lance armstrong: new doping charges

[lovelygamer]

http://bicycling.com/blogs/dailylanc...agency-report/

Boy, this guy can't catch a break. I fully agree with his language in this article. These are the same trumped up charges from years ago.

I don't see how an endurance athlete who competed for that many years (and still does) and passed that many drug tests can be doping in the way they are saying he did.

What do you think?

It is really a shame that he is now banned from Tri's, which he took up after he retired.

[Crankin]

I don't know what to think.
I want to believe him. My whole family started cycling right around the time he won his first Tour. It was a major influence, I think, especially on my son.
On the other hand, it's quite possible he is smart enough to have had clean tests and still be doing something funny.

[Tri Girl]

ahhhh... it's Lance-hating season again.
Seems they go through this every few years.
I want to believe he's clean. Nobody has been tested more than he has. I can't imagine that you could fake your way through 500 drug tests and come clean in every one. But who knows...
Here we go again.

Lance's response

[HillSlugger]

I've always wondered about all the allegations, but something isn't right here. If he was dirty in 2009 and 2010, why wasn't he charged then? I certainly don't like that USAT has already convicted him and suspended him; guilty until proved innocent? The usual punishment for these sorts of violations is a 2 year suspension, so why is USAT suspending him now?

I don't want to say "vendetta", but something isn't right.

[redrhodie]

ahhhh... it's Lance-hating season again.
Seems they go through this every few years.

ALWAYS right before the tour de France. This really bugs me. It's like they wait for the middle of June on purpose.

[Blueberry]

ALWAYS right before the tour de France. This really bugs me. It's like they wait for the middle of June on purpose.

And right before he was supposed to race an Ironman, which he is now automatically banned from

Don't know if he did it - but really sick of hearing about it. This ship shoulda sailed a long time ago.

[OakLeaf]

I don't know why he didn't just stay retired. He had to know this stuff would come up again. What does he have to prove?

[HillSlugger]

I don't know why he didn't just stay retired. He had to know this stuff would come up again. What does he have to prove?

Driven athletes find it VERY hard to walk away and retire.

I just read another article and realize I had it a bit wrong in my earlier post: he's banned from WTC (Ironman) events, but not from USAT events. The article says that WTC rules dictate an athlete is ineligible to compete during an open investigation.

There needs to be a statute of limitation on drug-test allegations.

[jobob]

Here's an interesting take on the matter.

http://inrng.com/2012/06/usada-charges-armstrong/

I really enjoy the Inner Ring blog, I think the articles there are informative & well reasoned. And the comments are often worth reading.

[lovelygamer]

I too, assume he is extremely driven and competitive. I'm going to read these other article links. Thanks! Interesting conversation.

[OakLeaf]

Driven athletes find it VERY hard to walk away and retire....

There needs to be a statute of limitation on drug-test allegations.

The tests in question are two or three years old. The older ones are just "pattern and practice," as they say.

As far as whether it would be easy to walk away, that goes without saying. Same reason Casey Stoner's retirement was so stunning - not that anyone thought it's a bad time in his career to make that choice, only that so few athletes retire from the pinnacle. I guess if someone told Lance that he was taking the easy way out by continuing to compete, maybe that would be the incentive he needs. "Prove to us you can do something REALLY hard." I'm obviously not the only one who's sick of hearing about him.

[SadieKate]

While I'm tired of what is appearing more and more to be a witch hunt, this article is rather interesting about the implications for the UCI.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/usad...-ashenden-says

[7rider]

Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in:

Baseball. Is Clemens the LA of baseball?
Someone(s) even put up a list of those suspended. It's long.

Mixed Martial Arts. (shocking! Just shocking!)

NASCAR (they race trucks??)

Football. (really, where is the outrage?)

Track.

I suppose with Google, I could go on. Horse racing, anyone? Skeet? Hockey? Luge? If you look for it - you will find it. So why the drama over a dead team and a retired cyclist? Why the front page news whenever The Big LA is mentioned? (and not even that..."leaked" more like it)?

Except for the Clemens' case - which is more about perjury than taking PEDs - why don't any of these cases make the front page of the Washington Post? Is it because Americans truly hate cyclists and cycling and want to take us/them down? Is it to sell papers to all those "I hate those pansy lycra wearing Lance Wannabe's who get in my way" in their big gas guzzling cars? Is it because we are so cynical that we don't want to believe a cancer survivor did anything positive? We probably all know someone who didn't survive cancer. Makes us want to think - hey, Uncle Charlie (or dad) couldn't beat it....why you??

Personally, I think the fact that this tired stuff makes the news says more about society than it does about drugs, cycling, or justice.

[Savra]

Just a thought - This is right after her pushed VERY hard to add $1 on to the price of cigarettes in Ca. to fund cancer research. He pissed off some very powerful people with that one and almost won. While these things always do happen right before the Tour I do wonder if any of those powerful people he pissed have anything to do with this.

[e3rdpower]

Most of all I'm annoyed with the amount of tax payer $$ that in my mind, USADA is wasting, not just on LA but so many other items.