Steve, thank you for all of your postings regarding doping in the sport that we all love so much. I keep trying to see past what’s happened, but it’s difficult. LA should come clean. It would be great for him, and also great for the sport. Thank you for all of your perspective, especially as a guy that’s raced for years in the peloton.
– John
Daniel Russell
Greg should be heading up USA Cycling if not the UCI. Someone we can believe in and who has the best interest of the sport at heart.
John Goggin
I totally agree. We need someone, or an entity, that will bring the integrity of sport back to life.
Polk county bought part of the Green Swamp for $10,000 per acre! Now that is more than our farm is valued per acre! Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction! 🙂
Breakway Rob
Steve what is this deal with Indurain making comments about Armstrong adhering to the rules set forth? Didn’t Indurain work with Dr. Conconi who came up with the test to detect EPO and who also worked with Francisco Moser to break the hour record? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Conconi
For all you people who don’t think Lemond was the last clean Tour winner, read up on it. It is not hard to connect the dots at all. I promise you, had Lemond doped like Armstrong the journalist would have tore him apart by now. In fact this whole Armstrong saga is not new to me, as people like Jeremy Whittle and Paul Kimmage have written about it for years. If you want to know truth, do your research as there is plenty out there to discern it.
channel_zero
Again with the false Lemond allegations.
Let’s compare athletes for a moment, shall we?
Lemond: from the start an absolutely dominating bike racer, pre oxygen vector doping.
Armstrong: zero to hero depending on where he was on the oxygen vector doping cycle. Doped as a Junior by Chris Carmichael.
Lemond’s first attempt at the Tour de France: Third
Armstrong’s first attempt at the Tour de France: DNF
The worst part of this is there never seem to be any specific Lemond allegations…. Why don’t you man-up and post the doping claims? Oh, wait, you won’t because you’ve got nothing. Specifics or STFU.
Lemond is the only American Tour de France champion. Nice to be able to write that again…
Stefan Bennet
No I don’t think so, I know people who know him and they are confident he did not, but there are plenty of Armstrong’s peers who did which is why the issue won’t go away anytime soon. Test’s will continue to foster better fakes until top riders consistently come forward and denounce this culture…. they don’t because they know the truth and many are guilty of doing it. I’m done watching the tour until they fix this nonsense.
The Cyclist
When LA DNFed on his first TdF he was prob one of the few relatively clean riders. Has anyone seen the vid where Indurain literally flies past him on a TT stage? Times had changed since Lemond’s tour debut. Not surprising LA got pissed off and started doin EPO to get even.
“For all you people who don’t think Lemond was the last clean Tour winner, read up on it” is a really funny statement. Like there is a line of clean winners ending with Lemond. That’s a bit naive.
Mike Rodose
Two Words…
Andy Hampsten!
Clean.
So was Lemond. They avoided the anabolics…not much else helped, so avoiding steroids was racing clean.
Rich
Nobody talks about performance when judging whether a rider doped or not. Lemond and Fingon only had personal bests on alpe d’huez of 42:03 & 41:50 each if I remember correctly.
channel_zero
No. No. No. No. Lance never rode clean.
Carmichael was doping him as a Junior. Weisel’s a known doping organizer too. Between the two of them, Lance was never clean. Carmichael appears to have been very low-tech. Since this was pre-EPO, not much difference between drugs that “worked” and drugs that “didn’t.”
If you meant that the DNF was pre-EPO, then I’d agree. But, he was still on a huge program.
bhalls
Can professional cycling survive? Lemond is right ,this is the most critical time for the sport. Robobank issued a statement stating “We are no longer convinced the World of Professional cycling can make this a clean and fair sport”. Then pulled their sponsorship. Cycling has to convince more than the “hardcore cyclist”. IT has to convince fans of the sport and sponsors that it’s worth their time and energy. This is an uphill battle. We strive in cycling for every inch we can get of road space, TV time and fans . This is a critical time , we must act and support cycling. IF not we may all be using stem shifters again with 27 1/4 ” gum wall clinchers on steel rims. Cycling needs to move to higher ground.
old and slow
The day that Indurain caught Lance for three minutes, Lance still finished eighth on the day. And LA happens to have been starting one place behind Indurain in a Tour De France time trial. That’s not exactly screwing off on the job in my opinion?
There’s a lot of data that supports the Lemond was a far better natural talent than LA thesis but, youtube imagery aside this day isn’t high on that list. Look to pre-cancer Lance in the high mountains for the real meat of that story. The particular time trial would be a fine result if any American pro at the same age repeated the placing next summer.
Indurain was dishing out two minute ass-kickings to everyone back then. And the courses were substantially longer than today as well which helped him do it.
chuck martel
IT has to convince fans of the sport and sponsors that it’s worth their time and energy.
Really? How? It’s never been a particularly fan-friendly sport, except for the fact that there is no charge to watch, which is a problem in itself. And how does a sponsor measure the benefits that cycling might provide for its investment? Few sponsors take advantage of their investment in cycling in other ad campaigns. No one would have known, for instance, that Chipotle was a sponsor by dropping in for a burrito at one of their stores. I personally had no idea that HTC was a company that made cell phones until a rider informed me of the fact. And what about this time and energy that the fans expend on the sport? How much, really is it? You got season tickets?
josh taylor
All of everyone doubts and fears can be eased, their questions can be answered with one word here…you want fan friendly?? You want to charge fans to come to an event? You want fun and entertainment for the whole family??? You want mud, wrecks and racers giving 100%. No results being mailed in or sold to a competitor? No wins being gifted to someone else..??.. What side of cycling has had far fewer drug scandals??
I giyou Heaven on earth that is bicycle racing at its purest! And on the 8th Day, Confucious, Bhuddha, Zeus and Odin created ….CYCLOCROSS. strt me, it will cure what ails you.
Pee Oui Roubaix
Lance doesn’t owe cycling anything. He’s given it some of the greatest moments in it’s history. There is only one Lance Armstrong and he is a great human being.
If outstanding TdF AVS is proof of doping, then Lemond doped in ’89 when he scored one of the greatest AVS leaps.
We can all speculate about LeMond, but the facts remain that there are absolutely ZERO rumors (that I know of), accusations, former team-mates saying anything about his past. Lance is at the opposite end of that spectrum. All of this “news” about Lance isn’t really news either. Been out there for years and we all saw what happened to those that came out and said anything 10 years ago. LeMond also had a low 90 VO2 and was very competative in his first Tour. Lance is mid 80’s VO2 and was not competative in his first Tour. Completely different motivations as far as what was needed at Tour attempt #2. Will pro cycling survive after all this. Absolutely. Whether there are 10 Pro-Tour teams for 30, doesn’t really matter exept for the riders with Pro-Tour licenses and team staff. Their prospetive job market is getting smaller. More top candidates for increasingly fewer top jobs (welcome to the real world boys). There are already more pro-tour teams out there than most races even allow, so some get left out anyway. As Greg said in the video, “Its the people that buy there licenses, buy their own equipment, and watch the Tour on TV.” That’s the part of “cycling” that needs to survive this. The bike industry ultimately rely on those people to survive. The Marketing Dept’s of the big bike brands need to be prepared to redirect their attention more on educating the cycling public versus just supply’ing the most Tour teams. In turn, the cycling public need to be better educated about the products that are out there, and make decisions not solely based on what so-and-so team is running.
JR
Come join us triathletes, that’s where almost all of the bike technology comes from anyway.
Michael Smith
I don’t believe Greg ever recieved the respect and benefits he deserved. In all the years since his TdF victorys, there have been zero accusations of doping associate with him. His war with LA caused him to lose his business venture with Trek. Not his undercutting the market. Riders have always sold off equipment to make a little extra money and manufactures have always provided sweetheart deals to freinds and associates. I don’t think Trek charged former president Bush for his bike that he rode with LA. Cycling should embrace all those riders with a clean past and promote their ascension to positions of leadership in this era of trying to save this sport.
Stefan Bennet
Lemond was taking performance enhancing Snickers bars… why is there no investigation into that? What really hurt Armstrong was his personality… if he was a generous teammate there’s a chance we never would have heard about this. A lot of people think you might as well eliminate the top 20 riders because they were doping as well… and if you look at some of the past positive tests, it might be hard to argue….. what do you guys think? A friend of mine who is a pro coach once said “they all dope, they have to do it be competitive”
Rich
Lemond will not likey get a bike company. No doubt Trek CEO still loves Lance. He knew Lance was a doper a long long time ago, now Trek’s simply been forced to stop similar to NIKE getting busted for child labor in Pakistan, they still will do it if they can get away with it but the spotlight prevents it on one instance.
Sponsoring clean team sucks, clean teams dont win.
Time to close the past and START a New Future ! We owe the coming Generations an opportunity to AVOID the Criminal Element that Supplies & Distributes PED Products !
Join me in waking up WADA to their responsibilities and thus enable an ” AMNESTY for ALL SPORTS ATHLETES “!
Steve, thank you for all of your postings regarding doping in the sport that we all love so much. I keep trying to see past what’s happened, but it’s difficult. LA should come clean. It would be great for him, and also great for the sport. Thank you for all of your perspective, especially as a guy that’s raced for years in the peloton.
– John
Greg should be heading up USA Cycling if not the UCI. Someone we can believe in and who has the best interest of the sport at heart.
I totally agree. We need someone, or an entity, that will bring the integrity of sport back to life.
If you guys believe LeMond didn’t dope with all the anecdotal evidence available today, I have some swamp land in Florida…
David,
Polk county bought part of the Green Swamp for $10,000 per acre! Now that is more than our farm is valued per acre! Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction! 🙂
Steve what is this deal with Indurain making comments about Armstrong adhering to the rules set forth? Didn’t Indurain work with Dr. Conconi who came up with the test to detect EPO and who also worked with Francisco Moser to break the hour record? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_Conconi
For all you people who don’t think Lemond was the last clean Tour winner, read up on it. It is not hard to connect the dots at all. I promise you, had Lemond doped like Armstrong the journalist would have tore him apart by now. In fact this whole Armstrong saga is not new to me, as people like Jeremy Whittle and Paul Kimmage have written about it for years. If you want to know truth, do your research as there is plenty out there to discern it.
Again with the false Lemond allegations.
Let’s compare athletes for a moment, shall we?
Lemond: from the start an absolutely dominating bike racer, pre oxygen vector doping.
Armstrong: zero to hero depending on where he was on the oxygen vector doping cycle. Doped as a Junior by Chris Carmichael.
Lemond’s first attempt at the Tour de France: Third
Armstrong’s first attempt at the Tour de France: DNF
The worst part of this is there never seem to be any specific Lemond allegations…. Why don’t you man-up and post the doping claims? Oh, wait, you won’t because you’ve got nothing. Specifics or STFU.
Lemond is the only American Tour de France champion. Nice to be able to write that again…
No I don’t think so, I know people who know him and they are confident he did not, but there are plenty of Armstrong’s peers who did which is why the issue won’t go away anytime soon. Test’s will continue to foster better fakes until top riders consistently come forward and denounce this culture…. they don’t because they know the truth and many are guilty of doing it. I’m done watching the tour until they fix this nonsense.
When LA DNFed on his first TdF he was prob one of the few relatively clean riders. Has anyone seen the vid where Indurain literally flies past him on a TT stage? Times had changed since Lemond’s tour debut. Not surprising LA got pissed off and started doin EPO to get even.
“For all you people who don’t think Lemond was the last clean Tour winner, read up on it” is a really funny statement. Like there is a line of clean winners ending with Lemond. That’s a bit naive.
Two Words…
Andy Hampsten!
Clean.
So was Lemond. They avoided the anabolics…not much else helped, so avoiding steroids was racing clean.
Nobody talks about performance when judging whether a rider doped or not. Lemond and Fingon only had personal bests on alpe d’huez of 42:03 & 41:50 each if I remember correctly.
No. No. No. No. Lance never rode clean.
Carmichael was doping him as a Junior. Weisel’s a known doping organizer too. Between the two of them, Lance was never clean. Carmichael appears to have been very low-tech. Since this was pre-EPO, not much difference between drugs that “worked” and drugs that “didn’t.”
If you meant that the DNF was pre-EPO, then I’d agree. But, he was still on a huge program.
Can professional cycling survive? Lemond is right ,this is the most critical time for the sport. Robobank issued a statement stating “We are no longer convinced the World of Professional cycling can make this a clean and fair sport”. Then pulled their sponsorship. Cycling has to convince more than the “hardcore cyclist”. IT has to convince fans of the sport and sponsors that it’s worth their time and energy. This is an uphill battle. We strive in cycling for every inch we can get of road space, TV time and fans . This is a critical time , we must act and support cycling. IF not we may all be using stem shifters again with 27 1/4 ” gum wall clinchers on steel rims. Cycling needs to move to higher ground.
The day that Indurain caught Lance for three minutes, Lance still finished eighth on the day. And LA happens to have been starting one place behind Indurain in a Tour De France time trial. That’s not exactly screwing off on the job in my opinion?
There’s a lot of data that supports the Lemond was a far better natural talent than LA thesis but, youtube imagery aside this day isn’t high on that list. Look to pre-cancer Lance in the high mountains for the real meat of that story. The particular time trial would be a fine result if any American pro at the same age repeated the placing next summer.
Indurain was dishing out two minute ass-kickings to everyone back then. And the courses were substantially longer than today as well which helped him do it.
IT has to convince fans of the sport and sponsors that it’s worth their time and energy.
Really? How? It’s never been a particularly fan-friendly sport, except for the fact that there is no charge to watch, which is a problem in itself. And how does a sponsor measure the benefits that cycling might provide for its investment? Few sponsors take advantage of their investment in cycling in other ad campaigns. No one would have known, for instance, that Chipotle was a sponsor by dropping in for a burrito at one of their stores. I personally had no idea that HTC was a company that made cell phones until a rider informed me of the fact. And what about this time and energy that the fans expend on the sport? How much, really is it? You got season tickets?
All of everyone doubts and fears can be eased, their questions can be answered with one word here…you want fan friendly?? You want to charge fans to come to an event? You want fun and entertainment for the whole family??? You want mud, wrecks and racers giving 100%. No results being mailed in or sold to a competitor? No wins being gifted to someone else..??.. What side of cycling has had far fewer drug scandals??
I giyou Heaven on earth that is bicycle racing at its purest! And on the 8th Day, Confucious, Bhuddha, Zeus and Odin created ….CYCLOCROSS. strt me, it will cure what ails you.
Lance doesn’t owe cycling anything. He’s given it some of the greatest moments in it’s history. There is only one Lance Armstrong and he is a great human being.
If outstanding TdF AVS is proof of doping, then Lemond doped in ’89 when he scored one of the greatest AVS leaps.
We can all speculate about LeMond, but the facts remain that there are absolutely ZERO rumors (that I know of), accusations, former team-mates saying anything about his past. Lance is at the opposite end of that spectrum. All of this “news” about Lance isn’t really news either. Been out there for years and we all saw what happened to those that came out and said anything 10 years ago. LeMond also had a low 90 VO2 and was very competative in his first Tour. Lance is mid 80’s VO2 and was not competative in his first Tour. Completely different motivations as far as what was needed at Tour attempt #2. Will pro cycling survive after all this. Absolutely. Whether there are 10 Pro-Tour teams for 30, doesn’t really matter exept for the riders with Pro-Tour licenses and team staff. Their prospetive job market is getting smaller. More top candidates for increasingly fewer top jobs (welcome to the real world boys). There are already more pro-tour teams out there than most races even allow, so some get left out anyway. As Greg said in the video, “Its the people that buy there licenses, buy their own equipment, and watch the Tour on TV.” That’s the part of “cycling” that needs to survive this. The bike industry ultimately rely on those people to survive. The Marketing Dept’s of the big bike brands need to be prepared to redirect their attention more on educating the cycling public versus just supply’ing the most Tour teams. In turn, the cycling public need to be better educated about the products that are out there, and make decisions not solely based on what so-and-so team is running.
Come join us triathletes, that’s where almost all of the bike technology comes from anyway.
I don’t believe Greg ever recieved the respect and benefits he deserved. In all the years since his TdF victorys, there have been zero accusations of doping associate with him. His war with LA caused him to lose his business venture with Trek. Not his undercutting the market. Riders have always sold off equipment to make a little extra money and manufactures have always provided sweetheart deals to freinds and associates. I don’t think Trek charged former president Bush for his bike that he rode with LA. Cycling should embrace all those riders with a clean past and promote their ascension to positions of leadership in this era of trying to save this sport.
Lemond was taking performance enhancing Snickers bars… why is there no investigation into that? What really hurt Armstrong was his personality… if he was a generous teammate there’s a chance we never would have heard about this. A lot of people think you might as well eliminate the top 20 riders because they were doping as well… and if you look at some of the past positive tests, it might be hard to argue….. what do you guys think? A friend of mine who is a pro coach once said “they all dope, they have to do it be competitive”
Lemond will not likey get a bike company. No doubt Trek CEO still loves Lance. He knew Lance was a doper a long long time ago, now Trek’s simply been forced to stop similar to NIKE getting busted for child labor in Pakistan, they still will do it if they can get away with it but the spotlight prevents it on one instance.
Sponsoring clean team sucks, clean teams dont win.
Let’s stop squabbling Folks !
Time to close the past and START a New Future ! We owe the coming Generations an opportunity to AVOID the Criminal Element that Supplies & Distributes PED Products !
Join me in waking up WADA to their responsibilities and thus enable an ” AMNESTY for ALL SPORTS ATHLETES “!
http://t.co/jUwet4To
Suppliers & Distributors will have NO Market but will be subject to Prosecution from Info supplied by those seeking AMNESTY !
Already tweeted Greg with this Link !