I’ve been reading the confessions and press releases of all the riders involved in the Lance USADA investigation and I have thought about it for awhile and have to call bullshit.
Here is an article written yesterday, on October 10th, the day USADA released the information, about how each rider got into the culture and their regret and “cold turkey” quitting of using drugs.
It all just doesn’t fly. Why would each and everyone of the riders come to the same conclusions on their own and quit using drugs, even though each and every one of them had aspirations and dreams of continuing to race and compete on the highest level.
I think that it would be possible for, maybe, one of these guys to quit doping. But for all of them to have the same story, with a different spin on it, just seems beyond belief. The whole thing seems much too orchestrated. Actually, it is completely unbelievable.
Let’s take a look at Levi. (Here’a a wiki list of all his results.) Since 2007, the last date he has admitted to taking drugs, he rode 4 out of the next 5 years for the Bruyneel program. During this time he won the Tour of California a couple times, The Tour of Utah a couple time, The Tour of Switzerland, The Pro Challenge in Colorado, finished 2nd in the Tour of Spain behind Contador, and was 3rd in the Olympics. We’re to believe that Levi is such a naturally talented athlete that he can compete at this level, drug free, when he couldn’t attain those same results taking drugs. I think not. Here’s a quote by Levi from the Wall Street Journal piece he wrote – I am sorry that I was forced to make the decisions I made. I admit that I didn’t let doping deter me from my dream. I admit that I used banned substances. So now Levi has been “deterred” from the sport of cycling for 6 months during the winter. For his 2nd positive doping violation. Perfect.
It’s all bullshit. Why can these guys just admit it? Why can’t they just say, yeah, we took drugs and leave it at that? You know why? Because they still want race. They don’t think that taking drugs for 2, or 4, or 10 years is enough to disqualify them from competing in the sport. They want the get-out-of-jail free card. They want to race, mentor or coach or whatever in the sport.
Here’s a list of doping positives in cycling since day 1. I think there are somewhere between 50-100 guys that have turned up positive since 2006. There aren’t that many professional cyclists. That is a very high percentage. I guess we’re led to believe that George, Michael, Dave, Christian, Tom, Levi and the rest are so naturally talented that they don’t have to use drugs to compete against these “less moral” guys.
All these guys say they are advocating racing clean. By their accounts, they have had 6 years to come clean. Many of them have found the sanctuary of Garmin to do just that. But, in reality, what have they done to really do this? What have they given up, other than drugs, to make the sport drug free? If what they say has any truth, then what they did is compete in the sport just like the rest of us. Wow, huge sacrifice there. By those standards, I guess I’ve been sacrificing my whole life then.
What these guys needed to do, is when they pried themselves from under the needle of Lance and Bruyneel, they needed to raise their hands and say, “Hey, here is how it is. I used drugs. I need to serve a 2 year timeout and I would like to race again after that.” They needed to do this without a gun to their heads. After the fact, it seems disingenuous and contrived. I have to applaud the end result, the lies and reasons stink to high heaven. Here’s a piece of the Slipstream statement – They have made another brave choice, to speak honestly and openly with the appropriate authorities, to confront their own pasts and cycling’s past and to accept the consequences, all in a continued effort to help the sport evolve. Is that what they think really happened? The spin is incredible.
I say sorry. You guys are all rich. Very rich. Very rich compared to Americans and beyond extremely rich compared to the rest of the world. You get to walk away with all the money that you stole from friends of mine. You get to remember the life experiences that you experienced that others should have as their life experiences. You can’t give that back.
Now, all of a sudden, or maybe I should say, for some explained reason, 6 years ago, most of you decided to be moral. If you all are so moral, then maybe you should use those very morals and stop racing. You guys had your chances. You seemed to make the most of it. You have all the spoils. Just fade away and do something else. It seems like the right thing to do.
PS. I read that Lance was thinking about putting together a LiveStrong race series for endurance athletes. I would have no qualms about you getting back together with Lance and doing those. And I’m sure you could all have your own Gran Fondos, people forgive and forget so very easily.
It’s pretty hard to tell the difference in the sport of cycling today. Before and even after the “confessions”.
CORRECT STEVE !
There are no current Cycle Stars that are worth listening to about their ” CONTRITION “!
The guillable public will believe them ? Too many will , but , those like you and i know that this is only FODDERAL for the masses !
Only an ” AMNESTY in ALL SPORT ” will clear the decks !
I want to see Sean Yates , Matt White , Neil Stevens , Axel Merckx, Jon Vaughters ,Vinkourov, Ekimov, and so many others declare their past behaviour !
That some of them were never ” Dopers ” may be the case , but let them PUBLICLY Declare this so that those aDMITTING to Doping can pull them off their plinth if there is cause !
Noted your DECLARATION some weeks ago so feel sure we are on the same page !
Repeatedly, the USADA has said that Levi, Christian, etc… “came forward” and admitted their sins. That is total bull! They were given the option of either facing jail time for lying to a federal agency or get a slap on the wrist for confessing. That is not coming forward. That is making a deal to save your own back side.
I agree with Skippy: when does Vaughters get called out and get slapped with a meaningless sanction? Mr. “Clean and Ethical Cycling” needs to face the same scrutiny as the rest of his former teammates.
The reality is that you are only guilty if you get caught. Lance will never say he got caught. The other guys only admitted it because their “confessions” were the best deal they could cut.
Have to agree. Found it hard to swallow that they just found this as the appropriate arena to let it fly. BS. They found themselves in it deep is all. Also thought it was crap they all quit nearly the same time as well. We still get just as much omerta as they think they can legally get away with, that was clear.
“beyond belief” says it sll.
And did they all quit on the same day?
.
.
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Amen, completely agree!
Steve,
Spot on!!!! I read those confessions and was like – ok half truths – you rode dirty and then in 2006 decided to stop (though it’s funny how they all claimed to stop once Lance left – i guess the cheese stands alone). Levi was the one where I was really like – no way, this isn’t adding up.
Thanks for being you!!!!
Steve,
Nice call out to these guys. Also some of them had a chance to reveal what they were doing before they joined USPS but it looks like they passed on that chance.
Any chance you’ll be able to call out all the behind the scene staff who helped all this happen who are still involved in the cycling community.
But why are we excoriating these guys, when there’s 100+ other pro cyclists who didn’t give testimony that did the exact same stuff, or worse? Why are we focusing all our anger on these guys? I don’t get the calls for lifetime bans, or even two-year bans, for them at all. Are we gonna go back to cheering for Gilbert and Boonen, and the brave and noble Jens? Shit, y’all. It’s ridiculous to single out the one’s who opened a window into a world we don’t really wanna know about, just ’cause they opened the window. Big picture is that all the riders from these generations need to tell the truth if we’re ever gonna move on, and there’s gotta be positive pressure to do so. How does all this snipping help accomplish that goal? You can’t kick a few apples to the curb, smile, and walk away from the barrel that’s still mostly rotten thinking you’ve done something. That’s just dumb.
Joe Beer nailed it. Steve, this is the first step in what you’ve been wanting. So why the continued vitriol? Let’s build on this. This is a POSITIVE step. This is a critical moment in cycling. Time to move forward, make the culture transparent, and safe for others to come forward with their stories/confessions. It’s not going to be a tidal wave (although, at times, yesterday sure felt like one) but more a trickle of information.
I agree with your sentiment in general (Joe/Chris). It is however kind of lame to see all pick the same date, try to pin it all on Lance and none for themselves, and then try to walk away while saving a bunch of dignity at the same time.
No, maybe they dont deserve the full on bans since they cooperated, no problem there.
But I’ll be damned if I praise them as if they felt they should do the “right thing” and “now seemed the time”, oh, when that gun was at your head? Shocker.
Everyone who had not come out on their own already, would have taken this to the grave if given the choice.
when the Boss gets knocked out, the courageless underlings aren’t so afraid to speak. What a mob! I hope the promoters of the races they won demand their money back.
And where is the legendary coach Chris Pharmichael in all this? Why does he not suffer some consequence?
I hope the promoters of the races they won demand their money back.
And where is the legendary coach Chris Pharmichael in all this? Why does he not suffer some consequence?
Gut the UCI, the teams and reconstitute the sport
with a “no-tolerate policy” in place.
Too much favoritism and no transparency at
the higher levels of the sport.
Wipe the slate clean and start over.
“You get to walk away with all the money that you stole from friends of mine. You get to remember the life experiences that you experienced that others should have as their life experiences. You can’t give that back.”
BUT, would those friends of yours have taken the same path given the same opportunity and pressure? Maybe not all of them, but surely some of them. Not every rider that joined USPS took this path and they returned to the US to ride on small domestic teams and have mediocre careers making 20K a year. I’d like to think that not but these guys were/are inherently immoral, just like friends of mine that would have loved the opportunity to ride for a division 1 team in all the big races in Europe. But I’m sure some of those friends of mine would have caved to the pressure of the culture and their desire to succeed would have trumped their desire to be virtuous. So yes, these now confessed riders stole the opportunity to be morally tested and perhaps fail that test from other people, even friends… maybe some will consider themselves spared.
OK, so there are people who have been caught and people who haven’t. Those that have are now working to position themselves the best they can for the future given the circumstances. Now that they are in the net, public apologies and copping to “just enough” details with the enforcers are part of that. I’d like nothing more than pure honesty from each of them (when they REALLY started doping, what they REALLY did, when they REALLY ended, etc.) but let’s face the reality, perfection is hard to come by. Reminds me of the Bill Clinton line, “I did not have sex with that woman.”. Yeah, just a few BJs under the desk, huh? All of them are acting because they have to, not because they wanted to. The most amazing thing is that Lance seems to think he’s teflon, and has his attack dog attorneys framing the argument as if it’s only Floyd, Tyler and 500 not failed tests that stand between him and immortality.
As for the many cyclists still outside the net, the reason most haven’t been caught yet is simply that circumstances haven’t aligned for them to fall into the trap the way they did for the Lance brotherhood. They are likely no less guilty, and I think the cycling community recognizes this. Some will never get caught, others might. How many get caught is a function of the zeal and resources that get applied. We have to ask ourselves if the preferred path/goal is to catch everybody from the past (how far back, what degree of offense, what level of racing, etc.) or change the sport. I’m definitely prioritizing the latter. Yes, I want cheaters outed/punished, but not just to remedy the past if it doesn’t help change the sport. I hate to even bring this up but resources are limited as well. There is a long list of people that should be brought into the light as several other posters have noted, I’m all for truth getting out. I just hope the primary outcome is change. Real change, and I hope that current events will help to make that happen.
Steve, your call of BS is insightful and on target. I fully concur with your outrage at having been cheated out of your rightful opportunity to compete fairly and earn the success you deserved (not that you didn’t achieve qite a bit of it in spite of the obstacles). You rode against dirty cyclists throughout your career and watched them ascend the ladder of fame and fortune. At least you can sleep at night, and I also hope you know how many of us recognize the value and integrity in how you handled yourself. It was obviously rare and extraordinary given the times. It sure would be great to have a list of truly clean cyclists we can all be 100% certain of, mybe you can create that given your experience in this. Let’s just hope the future is different. Since people don’t really change, and gaining an advantage is an all powerful motive, it will be up to the enforcers to manage this problem. The UCI has proven itself pitiful in that regard, and while the recent USADA effort can be commended it isn’t anywhere near the be all and end all. Racers, team owners, managers, doctors, event promoters, media, governing bodies, enforcers and more must be constantly vigilant and just like you call out BULLSHIT if we hope to win this one.
Trash that Trek.
Sent this to a few buddies. The response was that they never really thought of doping as stealing money from the clean racers. More ppl need to think of doping as STEALING and more clean riders need to say they are PISSED. In all sports.
Amen Steve!
I have come to the conclusion that we need to start over and make the sport amateur again. Make it illegal/impossible to make a living as a bike rider. At least then the financial incentive gets taken away and hopefully we are left with people that compete for the love of cycling.
I cannot see how the sport is going to clean up with the UCI & ASO. I dont trust a single rider in the pro peleton these days either. It is the same people, doctors, management, the same culture, the only thing that changes are the riders that come and go.
Oh, man this gets me sad. This eats away some of the passion I have about cycling. I am slowly becoming nihilistic about it all. Does it really matter? Why do I care at all?
Thanks for bringing these topics into the light though!
Tell it, Steve!
Hey you know what though? These scripted confessions, even though they are not “perfect”, they still serve the greater good I think. Maybe Tygart figured, hey it’s the best we can get so let’s take it for the greater good.
Or maybe it is all part of a personal vendetta against Lance. I have no idea.
I do agree, there are still plenty of dopers left in the sport. There always will be, we will always need police.
I guess you guys haven’t figured out yet that 2006 was 8 years ago and the statute of limitations on individual doping violations is 8 years. That’s why all the confessions only carried forward to 2006.
You can look at the glass as half full or half empty. I think that your rant above is filled with bitterness about your own long, mediocre and meaningless “career” in cycling. And, that shows in your negative comments about the racers who did confess.
Oh and can you PLEASE give it a rest on those silly arguments you make about how you and your buddys (who were robbed of their glory) were just as fast or faster than the real pros (if the real pros were not on PEDs).
Its getting old, it is all speculation (your own) and maybe it is time to move on for you.
While I applaud all of the cyclists who came forward to corroborate what we all already knew, it is hard for me to feel sorry for any of them, except for maybe Dave Z, and that is a personal flaw of mine, but their apologies and contrition are total bullshit. It’s akin to saying “I’m sorry I let all my friends, family and fans down. I actually did rob that bank and take all of other people’s money. But I can’t give any of it back. I already bought a nice big house in the wine country, and my Porsche is paid off. Sorry bout that.”
i gotta admit, i stopped reading when you wrote “everyone” when you meant “every one.” Each and everyone. i laughed. then stopped
AT no amount of doping by pros or anyone else should ruin the joy you feel riding a bike. That joy is yours, and it shouldn’t come from anywhere but inside you.
Damn I sound like a hippy.
The USA loves bullshit. It propelled Lance and friends for a decade and it’s now working for Romney.
Yeah it sucks when someone doesn’t win a bike race that should of but now it’s about to really hurt millions of people.
@Joey
“2006 was 8 years ago”
your math is wrong
I like CVV’s “won before doping, won after doping, never won during doping” nonsense. Sounds like he is protecting his wins.
Hey y’all. Remember that cycling is not the only sport to have drug issues…. If any of us think that ANY sport is “clean” think again. Especially, big money sports and the big American sports. NFL, MLB, NCAA, NBA. If cycling, where you earn ~$40k per year has cheating, but we believe sports where many make millions is clean we are terribly naive.
Here’s a fun list, excluding the US sports because their players union actually has some sort of power and want to keep it all under the rug because bad press= lower revenues….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_sport
EXACTLY!!!!
Thanks for articulating a point of view that is so true for those of us who competed in sports at an international level and never took performance enhancing drugs. I often wonder how the landscape of international competition would have felt if it were not slanted in favor of the cheaters. They cheated, they won, they walked away with the money, the prestige, the sponsors, and the adulation of the naive public (which sadly persists in Lance’s case).
They’ll never have to reconcile their lying, cheating transgressions with those who competed clean, and were thus often robbed of an equal opportunity to stand high on the podium and enjoy the rewards of such an accomplishment.
If any sport wanted to get rid of the influence of cheating, it would make the consequences of such so severe that perhaps the lure of it wouldn’t be so enticing to so many.
Their collective mea culpa is not believeable. My question is , will there be civil law suits filed to recover the money they earned through fraudulent means ? Especially the USPS riders and managers. That was taxpayer money. Civil suits, like the USADA, needs only to prove by a preponderance of the evidence. You want to send a message ? Take away their ill gotten gains. I’ll call bullshit on this one too.
I am vexed. One side of me says it’s just guys riding bikes. Who gives a flying f@ck. I like to race and I like to watch racing but I don’t have so much invested in the sport (or anything else save one for that matter) that I’m losing sleep over the issue. But the other side of me can’t look away. It’s the proverbial “can’t look away from the gruesome auto accident”. I have all these feelings and emotions. I agree for the most part with all that you say yet I’ve gone into deep dark corners of my heart and understand “the sin that so easily besets us”. We want justice and yet if I got all that I deserved for things done (and things thought) I’d be pretty much screwed.
Where do we extend grace and mercy and where do we draw the line? Big George, Jens (yeah, I’m including him) and others are (were) loved by many because they are stand-up guys. Loyal, descent, nice individuals that fell prey to a system that is driven by the one thing that ruins everything. Greed. But we are complicit because we buy the products, buy the bikes, and go to the races and ring the cow bells, we “drive the machine”.
I guess how I’m looking at this is that ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” and it seems that there are people that fall on both sides of that fence in regards to this issue.
While I agree with you in general, I’m not necessarily sure I can fault these guys for keeping their mouths shut for awhile. Consider what became of Hamilton and Landis when they decided to speak out.
Agreed Steve. Unfortunately it looks like your ” shit storm” got downgraded some.
Wonder how much longer USA Cycling gona fly that LAJRS info on the juniors page…
Well said!
Also, where do I get one of those livestrong condoms, pictured at the end of the story?
What I want to see is Floyd’s take on all this.
“What this sport needs is more Floyd. ”
VeloReviews is right. These guys get more than a pass – they got to avoid the dunning Tyler and Floyd endured.
What am I on? I’m on my bike, eight hours a day. (And a number of drugs that make me fast, way faster than I’d be, otherwise, and make you fools buy Nike and Trek and all the other crap I use because they pay me because I cheat.)
What are you on?
Joel, correction… those aren’t Livestrong condoms, they are c*ckrings.
One should thank Lance for making the c*ckring a household item for every man woman and child in the USA. God bless him and my willy says thank you too.
YES, YES, YES!!! Thank you Steve for calling out BS. I came up in the sport the same time you did. At the time we were all drilling parts and replacing steel bolts with aluminum et al to gain that little edge. We didn’t know drugs could be used to enhance performance. In fact, this beneficial ignorance kept the temptations of cocaine, pot, speed, etc. away during college years in the late 70’s. I have told many that the racers just a few years after my time would have a much harder time just saying no than I ever did. Now that I have reentered competition as a 50+ master I do wonder how many are cheating even at that level. Fortunately I have reached inner peace and believe that the cheaters will get their comeuppance sometime in the future, be it in this life or the afterlife.
If they gave some money back to the guys they beat while on drugs then I would believe there sincerity.
Tilford keep writing!
I love it.
Jeremiah Bishop
It’s fine to pissed and everything, but to me the only question is “what makes this better.” Everyone was on the gear in 2003, freaking everyone. It’s totally hypocritical to condemn the guys stepping up now, whatever their motives, and look the other way for everyone else. So if we can’t compel statement from the 500 guilty riders, how do we cleanse this shit from our system? A: Lighter sanctions for speaking out, not tougher sanctions.
If you admit to a doping offense in the past, you get a six-month off season penalty, to be served any time of your chosing in the next five years. If you get caught from this moment forward, your entire team loses it’s ProTour license (or gets shuffled down a notch). Do this, and doping’s a thing of the past.
You know how we know the UCI doesn’t care about doping? Because sanctions only apply to the riders. When that changes, then you’ll know they’re serious.
Yeah, it’s BS. Just like the feds letting some mob underling continue to commit crimes while gathering details on the big boss. Sucks big time – but how would YOU build a case to bring down what looks like the biggest fraud in cycling, if not in sport in general? How many of these guys would have flipped if they thought they’d be banned for life or even two years? My guess is not enough of ’em to really make this an open-shut case against BigTex. It ain’t pretty but it IS better than letting BigTex off the hook, thereby proving if you have the best lawyers and most money you can get away with all the cheating you want. Perhaps all of your friends should join in a class-action lawsuit against the cheaters to recoup monetary damages?
One more thing Steve – as I scrolled up your page I noticed some names of what I assume are sponsors? A company starting with S, another with T and one with B. Do you think perhaps those folks, who raked in a pile o’dough from the BigTex daze just might have known something was not-so-kosher there at USPS/Discovery? They did nothing, except for one of ’em who told a critic to shut up and more-or-less shut down his bike brand over his allegations of doping by Tex. Are you going to call BS on any of them? Maybe find some sponsors who are interested in clean sport more than $$? Just wondering.
The statute of limitations can be tolled by concealment: “Equitable tolling allows a plaintiff to file a claim beyond the limitations period if, due to some action or misrepresentation by the defendant, he was unaware that the cause of action existed. Similarly, equitable estoppel is available when defendant misrepresents a material fact, reasonably believing plaintiff will rely on that information, and plaintiff does so rely to his detriment.” http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/factors-that-toll-the-statute-of-limitations-1
Looks like LA can get nailed clear back to 1998… As for the rest, I’m sure LA will be spending millions to have investigations done on their activities post-2006 in order to show that they have made material misrepresentations of fact in order to discredit them as witnesses against him, so the truth will eventually come out on them as well. I don’t see LA walking away from this without one hell of a fight.
Per LarryT: what’s it gonna be Steve? Everyone else: vote with your hard-earned dollars.
@DalaiLama: The very purpose of spirituality is self-discipline. Rather than criticizing others, we should evaluate and criticize ourselves.
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Everyone keeps talking about focusing on the “new or next Generation” that is on the road. Problem is what kind of message did they just send them about what happens when you dope. A 6month suspension in the off-season??
What happened to ownership and integrity?
Everyone keeps talking about focusing on the “new or next Generation” that is on the road. Problem is what kind of message did they just send them about what happens when you dope. A 6month suspension in the off-season??
I agree with Rod..they really didn’t really come forward on their own free will. Suddenly they play the “victim card” and end up cycling martyrs.
Again some are in the popular group with organizations while others are alienated. Are these riders really that different from Ricco or Rasmussen?
What happened to ownership and integrity?
I have joined in this thread late. I have spent some time reviewing the actual affidavits and records contained in the USADA investigation file. The website is “http://cyclinginvestigation.usada.org” .
Please, please go to the website and review the evidence. No one can come away with any other conclusion that LA and Bruyneel were up to their eyeballs in doping.
I feel quite sorry for people like David Zabriskie, who tried to stay clean (given his family history of his father being addicted to drugs), but were almost compelled to go along with the doping program.
I challenge anyone to look at the incredible amount of evidence collected by Travis Tygart and come up with any opinion that conflicts with him or Mr. Tilford.
I also call BS, with a capital B and a capital S!!
This is all great reading, but the bottom line is this for me: Even though I have raced since the mid ’80’s, and made it fairly high up the ranks (Cat. , 2x Olympic trials participant), and still race at the Masters’ level in the Southeast, I really don’t care about all this doping at the PRO level. It’s still fun to watch the races, whether the guys were doped up or not. I look at the PRO level races as entertainment. Even if they are doped, it still takes a lot of training time and effort to do what they do. It’s not like they can go ride an hour every other day and then be able race and win on Sunday. Don’t take it so seriously. Even you, Steve. I know you were affected by this many many years ago, but you’re living a free and easy life now, so just enjoy your life and don’t be so bitter about the past.
Hey, Euro, the trouble is that the US Postal Service team was subsidized to the tune of millions of dollars by US taxpayers. That’s bad enough, but when the people involved get caught perpetrating a massive fraud, there needs to be accountability for their bad acts. Not only did they screw over honest riders, they screwed over the American people.
Again, as earlier stated above…where is chris carmichael in all of this?
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H Luce
US Postal Service got their money back ten-fold. With Armstrong winning all those tours, Postal got all the publicity they wanted, and thensome..
If Armstrong had flopped, all those millions would have been lost.
Which ever way you look at it cycling is fecked.
Still supporting LA is like saying the Hell’s Angels, are angels because they collect toys for kids once a year!
Trek, Nike, Oakley, $$$$ is all they care about. Not cancer or anything else.
Aww shit. Your analysis is spot on Steve. Fuckers kept on cheating. Where is the breaking point of clean, pure racing??? FUCK
FromWiki
U.S. Postal (2000–2001)
Leipheimer joined the US Postal team in 2000. His breakthrough came in the 2001 Vuelta a España, his first Grand Tour, in which he was riding in support of team leader Roberto Heras. Going into the final stage, an individual time trial in Madrid, Leipheimer was fifth, trailing his leader, who was third, by about a minute. During that time trial, Leipheimer moved ahead of two riders, including Heras, in the general classification to finish third overall, the first American to reach the podium in the Vuelta.
I remeber when this happened and knew that very moment that he was CRANKED THE FUCK UP
Bob Bleck – funny you mention your questions regarding local yokels. Ours are putting in better times than pros on Strava. Interesting that our local top racers are; a drug rep, two local doctors, and a biomedical engineer.
Just read the stuff on cyclingnews about how Stijn and Jurgen are shocked. These guys are just as bad as these 6 guys. Anything and anybody that Johan and the Belgium Mafia touched should be looked at with scrutiny (like that 40 year old that won California in 2011). When is this going to go beyond the riders and Ferrari and Fuentes? The ownership of US Postal and USA Cycling were tied at the hip and had to be aware of what was going on. There were also connections to this group and the Phonak management team in Floyd and Tyler’s days there. I’m sure they help orchestrate this production to save their butts.
From what I gather Pro cycling has ALWAYS been dirty from damned near day one. US Postal just learned how to do it better than the rest.
After reading Levi’s affidavit (which made my skin crawl and jaw drop), I’m totally on board with you Steve. Do to cycling what we should do with Congress…purge the whole lot of them and start anew.
total bullshit.bunch of liars.
so if these guys were really morally against it, they could have used the time to come out in defense of Tyler/Floyd. More show of poor character. If they truly had quit by then, what better time to show the world they had learned their lesson and were ready to move on?
The desperate act that caused them to dope and not be left behind is no different than this desperate act to save their bacon as much as possible and throw anyone ELSE under the bus as much as they can. Sad, but apparently true.
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