Lance Armstrong Stripped of Tour de France Titles

[maninblack]

For what it's worth, USADA's now posted the details of whatever dirt they have on Armstrong:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19903716

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

It's a LOT of dirt -

"Lance Armstrong's reputation lies in tatters after the United States Anti-Doping Agency labelled him a "serial" cheat who led "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen."

US Postal team and a dozen cyclists, mostly from North America, including a number of respected "hero" names like Hincapie, Vaughters etc are all involved. It's brilliant news though for the future of the sport and hopefully it will really shake up the UCI which is coming across as more than a little corrupt and hopefully it will mean Pat McQuaid is kicked out or at least "asked" to resign.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Usada says it has "found proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Lance Armstrong engaged in serial cheating through the use, administration and trafficking of performance-enhancing drugs and methods that Armstrong participated in running in the US Postal Service Team as a doping conspiracy".

It added that his goal of winning the Tour de France multiple times "led him to depend on EPO, testosterone and blood transfusions but also, more ruthlessly, to expect and to require that his team-mates would likewise use drugs to support his goals if not their own".

It continued: "It was not enough that his team-mates give maximum effort on the bike, he also required that they adhere to the doping programme outlined for them or be replaced.

"He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team, he enforced and re-enforced it. Armstrong's use of drugs was extensive and the doping programme on his team, designed in large part to benefit Armstrong, was massive and pervasive.

"Armstrong and his co-conspirators sought to achieve their ambitions through a massive fraud now more fully exposed. So ends one of the most sordid chapters in sports history."

What a disgusting character.

[maninblack]

UCI should just award separate championships to dopers and nondopers, and be done with it.

Edited October 11, 2012 by maninblack

[brenchill]

I saw the best headline ever this morning in one of the tabloid newspapers.

Lance Armstrong: Drugs Peddler.

Get it?

[Noah]

Today's NineMSN Poll

Has the Armstrong evidence changed your opinion of him?

Yes 38 036

No 31 574

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Although those "No" votes will be spread between "No it doesn't, I thought he was dodgy anyway" and "I WUB WANCE!"

[HailtotheYo]

UCI should just award separate championships to dopers and nondopers, and be done with it.

Body Building does ...

[Noah]

Cycling chiefs cast out Armstrong

By Justin Davis

23:29 AEST Mon Oct 22 2012

Lance Armstrong's fate was sealed on Monday as cycling's under-fire

world governing body decided to back a life ban for doping and strip him

of his record seven Tour de France titles.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it supported the US Anti-Doping

Agency (USADA) decision to erase the rider's entire career after August 1998, as

president Pat McQuaid called the scandal "the biggest crisis" the sport had

faced."The UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France wins. Lance Armstrong has

no place in cycling... He deserves to be forgotten in cycling," McQuaid told a

news conference in Geneva, saying he had been "sickened" by the revelations.

Earlier this month the US body released a devastating dossier on Armstrong,

detailing over 202 pages and with more than 1000 pages of supporting testimony

how he was at the heart of the biggest doping program in the history of

sport.

The revelations, including evidence from 11 of Armstrong's former teammates,

plunged a sport which has been working hard to rid itself of its murky doping

past into crisis.

McQuaid succeeded Hein Verbruggen as president of world cycling after

Armstrong's seventh and final Tour victory in 2005 and is credited with boosting

the body's anti-doping program, notably with the pioneering blood passport.

The Irishman was under pressure to answer how Armstrong and his teams managed

to dope for so long without being detected. But he rejected calls to quit,

vowing to continue his work against the scourge of doping.

Armstrong's sporting reputation as the cancer survivor who fought back to win

cycling's most gruelling and celebrated race has been shattered since the

revelations, leading to sponsors leaving him in droves.

There has also been fears of a wider withdrawal of financial backing for the

sport after Dutch financier Rabobank said it was ending the sponsorship of its

professional cycling team after a 17-year association.

The sponsor described professional cycling as "sick" to its core and unlikely

to recover in the foreseeable future.

The strongly-worded comments went to the heart of claims of failings at the

UCI and in particular to McQuaid, who has been criticised for failing to see the

extent of doping within the sport.

Verbruggen, who stepped down in 2006 but remains honorary president, ran the

UCI during Armstrong's golden era - a time when USADA's report says Armstrong

and teammates evaded dope tests either by hiding or being tipped off in

advance.

The Dutchman has also been accused of protecting Armstrong - even accepting a

donation to cover up a positive dope test. McQuaid on Monday said the UCI

"absolutely deny" that Armstrong bought off the body.

Armstrong's cancer backstory and Tour triumphs from 1999 to 2005 were seen as

key to restoring cycling's tattered image after a string of high-profile doping

scandals in the 1990s.

His Tour victories are unlikely to be re-awarded, the race's director

Christian Prudhomme has said. The void would prevent further headaches, given

that most riders who finished on the podium in that time have since been

implicated in doping.

But the final decision will come in a special UCI meeting on Friday.

Armstrong on Sunday spoke briefly to some 4,300 cyclists at the Livestrong

Challenge charity benefit, a 160km race in his hometown of Austin, Texas.

"I've been better but I've also been worse," said Armstrong. "Obviously it

has been an interesting and difficult couple of weeks."

Since the USADA report, sponsors have fled Armstrong and he was forced to

resign as chairman of the Livestrong cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997

over concerns his tarnished reputation could hurt the cause.

Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer that had spread to his brain and

lungs to achieve cycling stardom, inspired more than $500 million in donations

to Livestrong and pushed other cancer survivors to battle the condition.

No criminal charges were filed against Armstrong from an 18-month US federal

probe that ended earlier this year and evidence from that case was not given to

USADA.

[Noah]

Goobadash 23 minutes ago

Lance doesn't deserve this, he should keep his titles because

the feats are still impressive and he's a hero to thousands. Even if he is

guilty that doesn't mean when you are doping you are instantly guaranteed first

place and the fact that other cyclists do it also doesn't mean Lance should be

bullied like this. The USADA are acting like immature children, I think Lance

should keep his titles but be banned from the sport I think that's fair enough.

Adam Hurrelbrink 1 hour ago

The evidence against Armstrong has been shown to be

overwhelming and to ignore it and cling to the idea that he is a "sporting hero"

is simple, childish willful ignorance. The testimonies of team mates given (at

the expense of future careers & regard in the eyes of their peers, I might

add), along with new dope testing technologies & the financial records

showing pay-off's in excess of $150 000 to the UCI leave absolutely no room for

doubt. Lance Armstrong is probably the most disingenuous, deliberately cold

blooded, methodical cheat, not just in cycling but in sporting history. He has

gutted hundreds of thousands of admirers and supports. In the pursuit of

adulation & ego-stroking, he has transformed his chosen sport into a

travesty & himself into an utterly hateful scumbag, deserving of complete

anonymity. His hell will be the sight of other peoples backs.

Matt Atkin 28 minutes ago

What evidence, Adam? He's still never failed A SINGLE TEST. Until the day he does fail a test he is a Larry Zbyszko & he's done more to help his fellow man than you will ever do.Matt Atkin28 minutes agoWhat evidence, Adam? He's still never failed A SINGLE TEST. Until the day he does fail a test he is a Larry Zbyszko & he's done more to help his fellow man than you will ever do.What evidence, Adam? He's still never failed A SINGLE TEST. Until the day he does fail a test he is a Larry Zbyszko & he's done more to help his fellow man than you will ever do.

A couple of comments attached to the article above. Gotta love the word filter.

[maninblack]

Sadly, I can see the UCI execs who turned a blind eye to Armstrong (and took his "donation money") not getting any significant punishment, if any are going their way.

EDIT: They really should recheck Contador too.

Edited October 23, 2012 by maninblack

[Lineker]

Alberto Contador, the two-time Tour de France winner banned for two years for doping, thinks Lance Armstrong has been treated unfairly over cheating claims.

"He is being humiliated and lynched, in my opinion. He is being destroyed," said Contador.

"At certain times and places Lance is not being treated with any respect."