Kilworthfox Posted 17 October 2012 Posted 17 October 2012 Is there any other sports 'star' in the world that has raised as much as him tho? Maybe after being so close to death by this dreadful disease that's what drove him to cheat? If the funds raised by Armstrongs charity gone on to cure cancer would we forgive him? Would it make the fraud and deception worthwhile? I dislike Armstrong as much as the next person, i'm hating the fact his tarnished the sport but i'm just raising the above questions as i would love to hear peoples thoughts. It is not! Acording to various teammates statements he started cheating in 1995 after the Milan San Remo! I will write a detailed post later, as I finished reading the statements last night & they are utterly damming for the cycling era between at least 1995-2006 I'd say!
Kilworthfox Posted 17 October 2012 Posted 17 October 2012 It seems that in the early 1990’s doping practices became more sophisticated & doctors associated with cycling would look at ways of using drugs which would help endurance athletes performance. It seems that this practice either started in Italy or Spain.One of the teams which used these services was certainly the Spanish blind lottery sponsor O.N.C.E of which a rider (and later US postal team director 1999-2007) called Johan Bruyneel rode for between 1992-1995 and later in the 1998 season.In 1993 Lance Armstrong won stage 8 of le Tour de France, in 1994 he placed 2nd in Bastogne-Leige & 2nd again at San Sebastian, he was a rider who could produce results without using drugs. In 1995 the general consensus within the Motorola team was that the rest of the peloton was using Erythropoietin (EPO). Lance Armstrong rode for the Motorola team and was seen by many as a star of the future. In mid March 1995 the Milan – San Remo classic was won by Laurent Jalabert of O.N.C.E after this race Armstrong was quoted by many sources on his own team to say that, “this is bullshit, I’m getting my ass kicked†and was in favour of doing something about it, all of the Motorola riders were in favour of doing something about it![/fontThe reason that the Motorola guys were getting their asses kicked were that they were clean, in a sport that was becoming tainted & quicker by performance enhancing drug using professional cyclists. The drug which speeded up recovery, improved endurance, and most importantly of all, raised the level of oxygen carrying red blood cells in the blood was Erythropoietin (EPO). By August 1995 Armstrong had won the Clasica San Sebastian, In 6 months he had gone from an ass kicking to 1st at a UCI world tour event. In 1996 Lance won a stage victory in Le Tour de France. In October he was diagnosed with Testicular cancer! In 1998 Armstrong was ready to race again & was signed to the US Postal service team, In 1999 Johan Bruyneel arrived as the new Director Sportif (Team manager). Bruyneel brought with him Spanish doctors more interested in performance than riders health & raised the drug taking, performance enhancing bar at US Postal.Between 1999-2007 Lance Armstrong finished 1st at the Tour every year, which has never been done before. No other rider has won the tour more than 5 times & only 1 rider Miguel Indurain has won the tour 5 times consecutively. Armstrong & Bruyneels guilt goes much further than just doping to win however! In 1999 at le Tour de France Armstrong tested positive for Corticosteroid, a banned substance, but the team doctors said that Armstrong had saddle sore & then made a backdated prescription for him after being caught, this was accepted & he continued & won again.In 2001 at the Tour de Suisse Armstrong tested positive for EPO, however after a donation of 125,000 USD to the UCI the positive test was lost, & according to statements UCI president Hein Verbruggen took this money for anti doping equipment. Hein Verbruggen was the president of the Union Cycliste Internationale from 1991 till 2005, he was in a position to help bring the end of cheating in cycling, and it appears that he did not use his power for the benefit of clean cyclists.Bruyneel seemed to know when the drug testers would be coming! I can only assume where he got his information from, but it was accurate! There are many way to not test positive even after the new drug testing methods were implemented in 2001. If you are a cheat, & a tester comes to your home to test you don’t answer the door if you are likely to be testing positive. You will only be sanctioned if you miss 3 tests or more. Inject smaller doses of the EPO direct into your blood steam rather than larger doses into the skin & after 12 hours but definitely 24 hours it is undetectable! If you’re in a race & you will fail a test, drop out of the race, & you will not be tested! It is an understandable point of view that you would think that Armstrong & others may be innocent if they have never been tested positive, but given the chance of being caught with the information they had available at their disposal you would have been careless to have been caught! So it seems that it’s fine to win by cheating as long as you do not get caught! Unless your name is not Lance Armstrong... or you are anti doping... Tyler Hamilton was a top rider who at the 2004 Dauphine Libere finished 2nd to Iban Mayo (banned EPO user), & beat Armstrong into 5th. Armstrong was convinced that they were on a new better drug, & wanted these athletes tested! According to Landis’ statement after the Mont Ventoux stage Armstrong telephoned UCI President Hein Verbruggen on the team bus to say that “you have to get these guys Hamilton & Mayo, they are not normal, they are on some new shitâ€. Landis was friends with Hamilton & informed him of this conversation.Soon after that stage Hamilton got a call from the UCI saying that his sample blood test results showed possible manipulation & he would be paid special attention in the rest of the 2004 season. In September 2004 at the Vuelta Espania Hamilton tested positive for a blood transfusion & was banned for 2 years. Floyd Landis was also allowed to help Armstrong achieve, but as soon as Landis wanted better equipment at the expense of money that was for their drug program, this became an issue.In April 2004 Landis complained that US Postal was selling bikes that Trek had given to the team as they were a sponsor. US Postal sold these bikes to raise funds for their Drug program. Landis complained that there was a shortage of equipment & that “Lance Armstrong was flying around in a private jet, & they could not even get a proper bike to ride around onâ€. The 2004 tour was the last race Landis rode with Armstrong! Landis won the tour in 2006, but was stripped of his title due to an abnormal testosterone level in his drug sample after stage 17. After Landis was stripped of his title he was telephoned by Armstrong not to say anything about his own cheating.As soon as anyone who is bound by the omerta (cyclings code of silence regarding drug taking) & subsequently breaks their silence, Armstrong & his lawyers try to discredit the source & ruin their careers because they have sway over important sponsors & the inner circle of professional road cycling. Armstrong is a bully & will lavish those who help him & stay loyal, however those who gain a conscience & wish to tell the dirty secrets that they know become hated & have to be ruined. In 1998 French police caught a Festina team car with drugs in it. After that event the Festina team & their riders one by one admitted to doping. However only 8/9 riders were cheats on the team, Bassons was clean & refused to dope. He must have been a very good rider firstly to be a professional, & to be a member of a big team like Festina, but he was on their A team selected for the tour, & was the only one doing it without any forbidden help.Bassons moved on to the Francaise des Jeux & Jean Delatour teams after Festina. Armstrong hated Bassons, & forced Bassons to quit the tour after a stage on the Mont Ventoux. Christian Vande Velde recalls in his statement that “Lance was very upset with those who were openly critical of drugs in sport and seemed to take criticism of drug use personally. For instance in 1999 Lance was highly critical of French rider Christophe Bassons about whom Lance made demeaning & derogatory comments. I was present on several occasions when Lance criticised Bassons for speaking out against drug use in the pelotonâ€. My opinion was that Lance Armstrong was an incredible person to win 7 tours straight after having survived cancer. I was of the opinion that if he was not caught then he was not a cheat! I feel very much let down, by the man who was seen as a beacon of light in a time when cycling was shrouded by black drug clouds, it now seems that the darkest element of the whole era has now come to light & is far more damaging than the revelations from Riis, Zulle, Ullrich, Pantani, Virenque, et al... At least this group of riders have now come forward for the good of the future generations of riders. David Millar deserves credit for coming forward after being caught, all these riders who have bucked under the pressure of their team mangers to obtain results or lose their jobs. The sport of cycling is rotten & its not just doping, the whole points system to retain UCI world tour status, the need to please sponsors to retain their money & keep a team going is not productive to an environment of fair sport.The head of the UCI at the time looks about as credible person as the current head of FIFA. Corruption in sport it seems is everywhere & cycling is just another sport in the dock. I think as those who enjoy sports for entertainments sake want to believe so badly that these riders are terrible people & that the governing body want rid of doping. After what the USADA report & reading various statements I can only believe that those people at the head of the sport of cycling are good, & that the riders are spineless cheats is just a naive fantasy. Armstrong is a cheat, he is not a champion! He is a bully, he was only ever strong because he cheated his sports & fans to an extent that other athletes were not willing to go to or could not afford to go to. Armstrong now needs to be genuine & tell all for the good of the sport, it will be the only way he can retain any credibility in this world.After I read the USADA report I took off my Livestrong band, I will never put it back on, its good intentions & obvious help it provided & provides to genuinely ill people with cancer is fabulous & I can not be negative about that, but the association the band has with Armstrong means I can no longer on my wrist as I hate the sight of it now.
marko Posted 22 October 2012 Posted 22 October 2012 Officially stripped of his Tour de France titles!
AKCJ Posted 22 October 2012 Posted 22 October 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk...ycling/20008520 Lance Armstrong stripped of all seven Tour de France wins by UCI Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the sport's governing body. The International Cycling Union (UCI) has accepted the findings of the United States Anti-Doping agency's (Usada) investigation into Armstrong. UCI president Pat McQuaid said: "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling. He deserves to be forgotten." McQuaid added Armstrong had been stripped of all results since 1 August, 1998 and banned for life. On what he called a "landmark day for cycling", the Irishman, who became president of UCI in 2005, said he would not be resigning. "Cycling has a future. This is not the first time cycling has reached a crossroads or that it has had to begin anew," he said. "When I took over [as president] in 2005 I made the fight against doping my priority. I acknowledged cycling had a culture of doping. Cycling has come a long way. I have no intention of resigning as president of the UCI," McQuaid said. "I'm sorry that we couldn't catch every damn one of them red-handed and throw them out of the sport at the time." Armstrong, 41, received a life ban from Usada for what the organisation called "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen". The American, who overcame cancer to return to professional cycling, won the Tour de France in seven successive years from 1999 to 2005. He has always denied doping but chose not to fight the charges filed against him. Usada released a 1,000-page report earlier this month which included sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team and the doping activities of its members. Usada praised the "courage" shown by the riders in coming forward and breaking the sport's "code of silence". Armstrong, who retired in 2005 but returned in 2009 before retiring for good two years later, has not commented on the details of Usada's report. His lawyer Tim Herman, however, has described it as a "one-sided hatchet job".
21st Century Fox Posted 9 January 2013 Posted 9 January 2013 He's going to be appearing on Oprah next Thursday to "address" allegations. It's going to be streamed worldwide on the internet on Oprah's website at 2am.
notnow john Posted 9 January 2013 Posted 9 January 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk...ycling/20008520 Armstrong to appear on the Oprah show next Thursday ( the 17th), could he finally come clean?
Aus Fox Posted 9 January 2013 Posted 9 January 2013 Armstrong to appear on the Oprah show next Thursday ( the 17th), could he finally come clean? On the Oprah show not likely, we will all be made to feel sorry for this 'hero' and he will move on like nothing has happened.
SOCCERROO FOX Posted 10 January 2013 Posted 10 January 2013 Any one read that he tried to "donate" (more like bribe) the anti doping agency wiht $250k
ozleicester Posted 10 January 2013 Posted 10 January 2013 Armstrong to appear on the Oprah show next Thursday ( the 17th), could he finally come clean? Oooh, He must be nervous about this interview theres gonna be some mighty tough questioning from Oprah. Cant wait for the part where he jumps up and down on the couch and tells the world he loves them.
ozleicester Posted 15 January 2013 Posted 15 January 2013 well, apparently has admitted to doping. That hardass interviewer Oprah mustve got to him. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/more-sport/lance-armstrong-apologises-to-staff-at-his-livestrong-cancer-foundation/story-fnduixme-1226553992130
clare Posted 15 January 2013 Posted 15 January 2013 The Discovery Channel are showing it live at 2am our time. Means I can record it and watch it on Friday! Personally, I think he is not confessing because he is sorry, he is doing it because he wants to compete in triathlons again. I bet his lawyers are doing deals with the people who have so far brought cases against him. This article from the Guardian sums it up perfectly for me: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/jan/15/lance-armstrong-cost-benefit-analysis-confession
Jordan Posted 15 January 2013 Posted 15 January 2013 Apparently, Armstrong will cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice investigation into this whole matter; that should yield much more interesting information than an Oprah interview. It is absolutely insane just how far this went and shows how big of a joke the UCI, WADA, and USDA are to only have figured out what to do so long after the fact. That's besides the extent of the fraud Armstrong pulled, which must be the biggest con in sports history. That said, though, part of me wonders if this controversy will be regarded as quaint a generation or two from now, when doping becomes more sophisticated and safer.
breadandcheese Posted 15 January 2013 Posted 15 January 2013 Nicole Cooke has it right. Read this article covering her retirement from cycling the other day. It expresses everything about drug cheats in cycling far better than I could and convinces me why Lance Armstrong shouldn't be given a seemingly calculatied rehabilitation through Oprah. Nicole Cooke, the first rider in cycling history to win Olympic and world road race titles in the same year, marked her retirement with a stinging attack on the drug cheats who have helped destroy the sport’s reputation. Cooke, who has been racing since the age of 12 and first encountered doping in her first months as a 19-year-old professional, insisted she had been clean throughout her career and delivered a coruscating rebuke on those who had succumbed to the temptation. Nobody was spared in her attack on Monday, which included Lance Armstrong, the doper-turned-whistleblower Tyler Hamilton and female riders who had effectively deprived her of titles with their abuse of performance-enhancing substances. Perhaps her angriest criticism was reserved for Hamilton. “Tyler Hamilton will make more money from his book describing how he cheated than I will make in all my years of honest labour,†she said, aiming her first blow at the American who failed three drugs tests and denied them all before selling his explosive memoirs. “Please don’t reward people like Hamilton with money. That is the last thing he needs. Donate his literary prize and earnings to charity. There are many places infinitely more deserving than the filthy hands of Hamilton.†Cooke then turned her attention to Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion who is set to confess to using drugs to Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview this week. “And when Lance Armstrong ‘cries’ on Oprah later this week and she passes him the tissue, spare a thought for all those genuine people who walked away with no rewards - just shattered dreams,†she added. “Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.†Cooke also related the story of Geneviève Jeanson, a top Canadian woman rider, who was an undetected doper and rival from the age of 16 but denied all in the style of Armstrong until admitting to her crimes in 2007. “Jeanson won while I came second,†she said. “While I earned $80,000 (£50,000) in my best years at the peak of my career, she was making $400,000 (£250,000). Now she has ‘confessed’ and this is newsworthy. They are going to make a film and Jeanson, who cheated, will make money from others for a second time, telling the tale of how she robbed and lied. I can’t help thinking that the cheats win on the way up and the way down.†Cooke delivered her parting shot from a prepared script, a seven-page document she had composed herself in anticipation of her retiring, and also trained her sights on the male riders whose cheating had effectively cost women’s cycling precious money in sponsorship. “I am appalled by the fact that so many men bleat on about the fact that the pressure was too great,†she said. “Too great for what? "This is not doing 71 mph on a motorway when the legal limit is 70. This is stealing somebody else’s livelihood. It’s theft, just as much as putting your hand in a purse or wallet and taking money is theft. “I do despair that the sport will ever clean itself up when the rewards of stealing are greater than riding clean. If that remains the case, the temptation for those with no morals will always be too great. “I have been robbed by drugs cheats, but am fortunate, I am here with more in my basket and more jerseys than I dreamed off as a 12-year-old girl. But for many people who do ride clean, some are going through horrific financial turmoil.†Cooke also revealed that on four occasions she had to take her employers to court to secure payment of her wages as sponsors and money men disappeared from women’s cycling. Even this year, as she prepared to defend her Olympic title, her wages abruptly stopped in March. She did, however, concede that doping had been an issue in women’s cycling and even if she was in a financial position to invest in the sport she would think twice. “I have had days where temptation to start on the slippery slope was in front of me. In my first women’s Tour de France, when I was 19, as the race went on my strength left me. “I was invited into a team camper and asked what ‘medicines’ I would like to take to help me and was reminded that the team had certain expectations of me during the race and I was not living up to them with my performance over the last couple of stages. I said I would do my best until I had to drop out of the race, but I was not taking anything.†Perhaps it is not surprising that Cooke was occasionally considered a spiky and awkward individual consumed with the urgent need to win, with that blazing anger at the injustice of everything a huge motivating factor. The only way she could hit back was by winning and winning clean and, blessed with a stellar talent, she achieved that with some regularity. As a junior Cooke was a world champion on the road, track and cycle-cross and once she found her feet in the senior ranks she virtually flew the flag alone for the then impoverished GB road team regularly winning medal at the World Championship and also claiming a World Cup title. Great Britain finally gathered a credible team around her in 2008 and that was her annus mirabilis. Cooke’s Olympic gold medal in monsoon rain kicked off the ‘Great Haul of China’ in Beijing and was a tactical masterpiece. Those golden memories are untainted and, as she contemplates the first day of retirement, that will offer much consolation. This article is from Telegraph http://www.telegraph...-Armstrong.html
Guesty Posted 15 January 2013 Posted 15 January 2013 I read something about the main reason (aside from triathlons) he's doing it is because he wants to try and become Governor of Texas. Now everyone believes he's guilty and he can't really deny it anymore this is his one final move - wouldn't suprise me - not like he's admitting anything for the good of anyone else but himself. The bloke comes across as a psychopath - I wonder if Oprah will ask him about all the peoples lives he destroyed who tried to show him for what he was (inbetween the bouts of tears and his troubled chldhood).
Ozwin Posted 15 January 2013 Posted 15 January 2013 http://www.outsideonline.com/templates/Outside_Print_Template?content=167790055 Read this a few months back, sounds like an absolute head case.
ozleicester Posted 16 January 2013 Posted 16 January 2013 Nicole Cooke has it right. Read this article covering her retirement from cycling the other day. It expresses everything about drug cheats in cycling far better than I could and convinces me why Lance Armstrong shouldn't be given a seemingly calculatied rehabilitation through Oprah. Nicole Cooke, the first rider in cycling history to win Olympic and world road race titles in the same year, marked her retirement with a stinging attack on the drug cheats who have helped destroy the sport’s reputation. Cooke, who has been racing since the age of 12 and first encountered doping in her first months as a 19-year-old professional, insisted she had been clean throughout her career and delivered a coruscating rebuke on those who had succumbed to the temptation. Nobody was spared in her attack on Monday, which included Lance Armstrong, the doper-turned-whistleblower Tyler Hamilton and female riders who had effectively deprived her of titles with their abuse of performance-enhancing substances. Perhaps her angriest criticism was reserved for Hamilton. “Tyler Hamilton will make more money from his book describing how he cheated than I will make in all my years of honest labour,†she said, aiming her first blow at the American who failed three drugs tests and denied them all before selling his explosive memoirs. “Please don’t reward people like Hamilton with money. That is the last thing he needs. Donate his literary prize and earnings to charity. There are many places infinitely more deserving than the filthy hands of Hamilton.†Cooke then turned her attention to Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion who is set to confess to using drugs to Oprah Winfrey in a televised interview this week. “And when Lance Armstrong ‘cries’ on Oprah later this week and she passes him the tissue, spare a thought for all those genuine people who walked away with no rewards - just shattered dreams,†she added. “Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.†Cooke also related the story of Geneviève Jeanson, a top Canadian woman rider, who was an undetected doper and rival from the age of 16 but denied all in the style of Armstrong until admitting to her crimes in 2007. “Jeanson won while I came second,†she said. “While I earned $80,000 (£50,000) in my best years at the peak of my career, she was making $400,000 (£250,000). Now she has ‘confessed’ and this is newsworthy. They are going to make a film and Jeanson, who cheated, will make money from others for a second time, telling the tale of how she robbed and lied. I can’t help thinking that the cheats win on the way up and the way down.†Cooke delivered her parting shot from a prepared script, a seven-page document she had composed herself in anticipation of her retiring, and also trained her sights on the male riders whose cheating had effectively cost women’s cycling precious money in sponsorship. “I am appalled by the fact that so many men bleat on about the fact that the pressure was too great,†she said. “Too great for what? "This is not doing 71 mph on a motorway when the legal limit is 70. This is stealing somebody else’s livelihood. It’s theft, just as much as putting your hand in a purse or wallet and taking money is theft. “I do despair that the sport will ever clean itself up when the rewards of stealing are greater than riding clean. If that remains the case, the temptation for those with no morals will always be too great. “I have been robbed by drugs cheats, but am fortunate, I am here with more in my basket and more jerseys than I dreamed off as a 12-year-old girl. But for many people who do ride clean, some are going through horrific financial turmoil.†Cooke also revealed that on four occasions she had to take her employers to court to secure payment of her wages as sponsors and money men disappeared from women’s cycling. Even this year, as she prepared to defend her Olympic title, her wages abruptly stopped in March. She did, however, concede that doping had been an issue in women’s cycling and even if she was in a financial position to invest in the sport she would think twice. “I have had days where temptation to start on the slippery slope was in front of me. In my first women’s Tour de France, when I was 19, as the race went on my strength left me. “I was invited into a team camper and asked what ‘medicines’ I would like to take to help me and was reminded that the team had certain expectations of me during the race and I was not living up to them with my performance over the last couple of stages. I said I would do my best until I had to drop out of the race, but I was not taking anything.†Perhaps it is not surprising that Cooke was occasionally considered a spiky and awkward individual consumed with the urgent need to win, with that blazing anger at the injustice of everything a huge motivating factor. The only way she could hit back was by winning and winning clean and, blessed with a stellar talent, she achieved that with some regularity. As a junior Cooke was a world champion on the road, track and cycle-cross and once she found her feet in the senior ranks she virtually flew the flag alone for the then impoverished GB road team regularly winning medal at the World Championship and also claiming a World Cup title. Great Britain finally gathered a credible team around her in 2008 and that was her annus mirabilis. Cooke’s Olympic gold medal in monsoon rain kicked off the ‘Great Haul of China’ in Beijing and was a tactical masterpiece. Those golden memories are untainted and, as she contemplates the first day of retirement, that will offer much consolation. This article is from Telegraph http://www.telegraph...-Armstrong.html
marko Posted 17 January 2013 Posted 17 January 2013 Anyone up for a game of Lance bingo? http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/interactive/2013/jan/17/lance-armstrong-oprah-interview-bingo?CMP=twt_gu
Kitchandro Posted 17 January 2013 Posted 17 January 2013 http://www.outsideon...ntent=167790055 Read this a few months back, sounds like an absolute head case. That would make a damn good movie.
Guesty Posted 17 January 2013 Posted 17 January 2013 Dunno if anyones interested but the Oprah interview's on the Discovery channel at 2am tonight and tomorrow same time as it goes out in USA.
ozleicester Posted 18 January 2013 Posted 18 January 2013 link here http://ownspecial.oprah.com/lancearmstrong.html
21st Century Fox Posted 18 January 2013 Posted 18 January 2013 Difficult to judge this, from reading articles by journalists who knew him, defended him and stood up for him on his behalf, he's a world class liar.
Guest MattP Posted 18 January 2013 Posted 18 January 2013 This is vile. A bully, liar, cheat and a thief.
ozleicester Posted 18 January 2013 Posted 18 January 2013 and still misleading and not accepting respionsibility... cvnt
SOCCERROO FOX Posted 18 January 2013 Posted 18 January 2013 Got this on record will watch it when i get home. Looking forward to hating the guy even more.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.