Breaking news-Lance Armstrong is being prosecuted by the United States Anti-Doping Agency for blood issues from 2009 and 2010 tests that were “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.” This is the article at the Washington Post.
From Cyclingnews.com – In its letter, USADA says Armstrong used EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone, corticosteroids and masking agents as well as distributed them and administered them to others. Those are fightin’ words.
I guess he can’t compete anymore in Triathlons. Too bad for that sport. I wonder if this is going to change the results from Leadville in 2009? It’s not sanctioned, but you know.
I guess the saga continues. Here’s the article at Cyclingnews.com.
Looks like Lance might not of been playing fair with Dave.
Why did they wait 3 years to do anything about the 2009-2010 results? Doesn’t make any sense at all. I am sure he doped throughout his career, but I don’t particularly care anymore. Time to move on. And why is he not allowed to compete during the investigation? What if he’s found innocent? Sounds like he’s already being sentenced without a conviction. Lame.
is LA smoking a cig in that pic? does that count as doping?
when will it end?
RE: Lance Armstrong
Questions for USADA, U.S. federal prosecutors, UCI, and US Cycling:
1) Can you measure how much hope Lance Armstrong has given to cancer survivors?
2) Can you measure how much you will hurt those who have seen Lance Armstrong as a ray of hope as they suffer from cancer?
3) As a governing organization what have you done to improve the image of fitness and health in the USA?
4) What is the net-net if we prove Lance Armstrong a doper? What does the American people gain?
5) Who will be paying for this investigation? If it’s my tax dollars do I get a say?
My thoughts – focus on the positive and continue to foster hope for those diagnosed with cancer.
I want my tax dollars to go to teachers, cancer research (…) not making a care against Lance Armstrong. As much as I LOVE Cycling it is just a SPORT.
It doesn’t matter who you are. It matters what you did. AMERICA!!
From Lance’s official response quoted in cyclingnews: “I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance”.. that sounds like an unlikely claim going from barely finishing the tour to complete domination for seven years.
USADA didn’t wait three years. It didn’t have the testimony of eyewitnesses until the Federal grand jury investigation. How it got that testimony is a real mystery. But given that USADA has no statute of limitations, it doesn’t matter it’s three years or 30 years.
They are also going after Johan Bruyneel, Jose Pepe Marti, Michele Ferrari, Luis Garcia del Moral and Pedro Ceyala, hopefully they can get most of postal’s doping ring. Hopefully Bruyneel and Ceyala cannot be at the Tour for RadioShack. This is good.
I was getting my blood drawn a month or so ago and I don’t remember how the conversation turned to LA but the nurse said that she was aware of the accusations but deliberately chose not to believe them.
I asked her if she was aware that just about everyone that Lance ever defeated was eventually convicted or else confessed to doping. She said that she wasn’t but that she didn’t have a very hard time believing that either. Then I mentioned how thrilled I was myself when LA was in the yellow jersey on 4th of July the first time that he won the tour. Plus how (I may be in the minority here,) proof of doping really wouldn’t diminish what he accomplished in my eyes.
(I know this is a warped point of view, but the guy deserves some credit for not getting caught all those years and beating people who did get caught. You naturally make the assumption that he still would have won if everone was racing clean.)
So here’s where it gets interesting; I asked her if she would still feel the same way if it became public knowledge that Lance got the cancer BECAUSE he was doping? I mentioned the testosterone patches and the odds of a young world class athlete getting testicular cancer.
“No, that would certainly change everything,” she replied.
I told her that I had heard that story from a well connected Belgian sometime around 1998 and didn’t really pay any attention to it until Landis spilled the beans about HGH and testosterone usage after Lance had retired the first time.
So you’ll notice that pre-1998 doping is clearly part of the USADA case today.
That’s the real issue here going forward, that’s also Lance’s last line of defense. Leave that out of the equation and Lance Inc. is still a going concern.
That nurse could have grudgingly accepted the notion that LA had doped in order to defeat other dopers. But if the USADA makes that accusation stick and the mainstream media takes the story and runs with it, Lance becomes the greatest fraud since Charles Ponzi. Overnight.
The entire Lance industry would cease to exist almost overnight as well, IMO.
@IntheKnow, “The Post reported that in the letter, USADA alleged it had collected blood samples from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that were ‘fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.'”
That has nothing to do with testimony or anything else. If they had the samples from 2009-2010, why didn’t they do something about it? Positive tests aren’t enough anymore? They need positive tests AND testimony?
“The entire Lance industry would cease to exist almost overnight as well, IMO.”
Nope. The United States is built on fraud, on the powerful screwing honest people over and over again. Armstrong is Wall Street in microcosm. It’s all in the finest tradition of the US. Cheaters *always* win … so far.
When is enough, enough?
In all honesty whether you love LA or hate him what good can come of this?
I cannot believe the rationale that some people offer for not wanting to know the truth, or not caring what that truth reveals. Seriously, Ryan, et al? LA, and Bruyneel & Co. committed sporting fraud on a massive, long-term scale – and some of you admire him for not being caught? Or that you “felt great” when he won the tour (by cheating, I remind you)? The word to describe your view is “enabling”, and you are part of the problem. Time to wake up.
Time to leave Lance alone, he has done more to combat cancer than any other athlete I can think of. It certainly is NOT like everyone else was clean at that point in cycling history. Bike racing has seemingly moved passed this era of doping; convicting LA will do nothing to further this progression except undermine his charity program. At this point, it does not matter whether he doped or not, though I’m sure all the serious bike racers will have a fit with that statement.
Furthermore, the irony is excruciating as guys such as Bjarne Riis, Eric Zabel, and countless others participate in various areas of professional cycling with doping convictions/confessions in their pasts. If we remove one, then remove them all from professional sports.
There are many honest, hard working people that fight cancer everyday, such as researchers, health care workers, cancer support groups. They have not obtained funds by lying and cheating. Just because Lance used his celebrity status to raise money for cancer survivorship, he is not excused from cheating/doping in bike races.
To believe that cycling is the only sport that involves doping is completely naive. Come on, what’s all this going to accomplish? In the end, NOTHING.
@Ryan, while I’m not a federal pound me in the a$$ prosecutor, I am taking a law class so I’ll answer your questions:
1)No, and if we go with that idea, do you know how many people have died because they were fighting a war on Gods “side”? Giving hope does not outweigh facts.
2) See answer number one. Lance is NOT your God.
3)Mission Statement: To be the guardian of the values and life lessons learned through true sport. We hold the public trust to:
Preserve the Integrity of Competition — We preserve the value and integrity of athletic competition through just initiatives that prevent, deter and detect violations of true sport.
Inspire True Sport — We inspire present and future generations of U.S. athletes through initiatives that impart the core principles of true sport — fair play, respect for one’s competitor and respect for the fundamental fairness of competition.
Protect the Rights of U.S. Athletes — We protect the right of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes to compete healthy and clean — to achieve their own personal victories as a result of unwavering commitment and hard work — to be celebrated as true heroes.
4)People gain the truth. Lance is just a person who doped to win. Who shot Kennedy? UFOs do exist. Monkeys can fly (I saw this on Wizard of Oz, so it must be true).
5) You’re paying and yes you DO get to vote. Do you?
Your tax money would indeed be spent more wisely if were allocated to teachers and cancer research. So please stop buying Lance related products.
Cycling is a sport, and as you like to point out, many times, it can also give hope to a country. And that can’t be measured. But, Lance’s bank account can be measured and I bet that’s in the tens of millions. That’s a lot of money for teachers and cancer research.
If there’s a case, lets go with it.
Rad Renner – good stuff and appears you know the exact details of what took place. I look forward to your testimony.
@BC – come on, seriously??? Have you read the UDSA letter yet? Read it. This is about much more than “just” doping
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/armstrongcharging0613.pdf
Joseph, really? What good? Well, the truth, for one thing. Or are you suggesting that we (you?) can’t handle the truth?
Am I the only one who has a problem with the government offering anonymity and immunity to guys who doped so that they would testify against Armstrong? That’s like if I robbed a bunch of banks and everybody knew it, but I was offered immunity for testifying against my neighbor (who may or may not have robbed a bunch of banks too). Not only that, but I can do all this anonymously!
Like I’ve said before, I believe Lance doped, but this investigation is out of control. Get some real evidence and go after him. Offering sweet deals to other people if they testify against Lance might get you the truth or it might get you the story you want to hear. Additionally, everybody needs to realize that this is not a criminal investigation. That was dropped a few months ago, so insinuating that Lance’s bank account could somehow go to teachers and cancer research after the case is a bit presumptuous.
Also, I think the USADA could have spent the money they are using to go after Lance and his gang to help develop new ways of detecting/preventing doping in the future.