http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=8691 Much more extensive article from 2005 about Simeoni. The reason Lance attacked Simeoni was because Simeoni was testifying aginst Dr. Ferrari, the biggest doping doctor ever IMO. Dr. Ferrari was Lance's "coach" and provided Lance with the PED's. Lance got upset when Dr. Ferrari was threatened by Simeoni's testimony. Lance, in an interview, said Simeoni was a big liar. Simeoni sued Lance for defamation. That really pissed Lance off so he set out to teach Simeoni a lesson.
i'll just add ... i love watching these grand tours ... it's ridiculous the amount of suffering these guys put themselves through ... i can also say, the racing is just getting better and better ... the most recent giro had like 5 contenders going into the final weekend ... it makes for way better racing when everyone competes on a level playing field ...
as for the drugs ... it's the same as mcgwire and bonds ... i really don't care if they cheated ... i understand that it may have been part of the culture back then and people did what they thought they had to do ... but when you are busted ... people need to have the integrity to own up to it ...
2012 - Manchester x 2, Amsterdam x2, Prague, Berlin x2, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen,
2014 - Sydney, EV Sydney x3
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Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,126
My only question in all of this is why do these allegations always seem to come out around the beginning of the Tour De France or the major cycling races?
Peace
*We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
so the DOJ drops the investigation after 2 years due to lack of evidence and now the USADA charges him!!!
he may come across as an ass, but he is not a drug cheat! 500+ negative tests in a career, both in competition and out is enough evidence for me.
For years there was no test for EPO and when they finally invented one, everybody switched to autologous blood doping (is that the right term in english?) which no test could detect for the next years. There you go....
Apart from that we already know that pretty much all of his high profile opponents used doping. There is no way he could beat all of them by a large marging year after year without using any illegal drugs. Thats just not possible. :nono:
2006:Arnhem,Bern,Berlin
2007:München,Düsseldorf,Nijmegen
2008:NY1,NY2,Mansfield1,Mansfield2
2009:London,Rotterdam,Berlin,Manchester,London
2010:NY1,NY2,Dublin,Belfast,Berlin
2011:PJ20,Montreal,TorontoI+II,Hamilton
2012:Amsterdam I+II, Prague, Berlin I+II, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen
2013: Phoenix, San Diego, LA I+II, Oakland
2014: Amsterdam I+II, Vienna, Berlin
2016: Philly I+II, MSG I+II
so the DOJ drops the investigation after 2 years due to lack of evidence and now the USADA charges him!!!
he may come across as an ass, but he is not a drug cheat! 500+ negative tests in a career, both in competition and out is enough evidence for me.
the DOJ isn't interested in whether he cheated ... they are only interested in trafficking charges ... it's different ... and he has failed drug tests - they've simply been covered up ... read the charges ... take into consideration all the evidence ... if you watch or understand pro cycling - then you will know that he cheated ...
I don't know if he was cheating...I do know this every once in a while an athlete comes along who for whatever reason...better genetic makeup or whatever just seems to be so superior to everyone else...Tiger Woods (who would probably already have 18-19 majors now if he didn't derail his own march toward the record, Wayne Gretzky shattered the NHL scoring record (was he cheating), Barry Sanders (who probably would have shattered the NFL rushing record), and the newly retired Niklas Lidstrom ( 7 Norris Trophies after the age of 30, retired at the age of 42 and was still considered a top 5 defensemen in the world), Jordan.
But the way I see it if your a supporter of Lance he didn't cheat, if you don't like him he cheated. Lastly if everyone was cheating at the time he was winning then who cares...they were all doing it.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
I don't know if he was cheating...I do know this every once in a while an athlete comes along who for whatever reason...better genetic makeup or whatever just seems to be so superior to everyone else...Tiger Woods (who would probably already have 18-19 majors now if he didn't derail his own march toward the record, Wayne Gretzky shattered the NHL scoring record (was he cheating), Barry Sanders (who probably would have shattered the NFL rushing record), and the newly retired Niklas Lidstrom ( 7 Norris Trophies after the age of 30, retired at the age of 42 and was still considered a top 5 defensemen in the world), Jordan.
But the way I see it if your a supporter of Lance he didn't cheat, if you don't like him he cheated. Lastly if everyone was cheating at the time he was winning then who cares...they were all doing it.
They weren't all doing it. Many clean riders never got the chance to have a win in cycling, or even a career in the pro European peloton due to the cheaters. Google Christophe Bassons and see what happened to him. I provided a link to an article in one of my previous posts. The dopers hurt other people in that they prevented the ones that wanted to ride clean from competing with them. It was wrong, and it was not a situation where nobody got hurt so who cares. Also, many riders felt pressured to dope in order to maintain or start a career in cycling. Who knows what adverse health affects there will be in the future.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. Ghandi
so the DOJ drops the investigation after 2 years due to lack of evidence and now the USADA charges him!!!
he may come across as an ass, but he is not a drug cheat! 500+ negative tests in a career, both in competition and out is enough evidence for me.
the DOJ isn't interested in whether he cheated ... they are only interested in trafficking charges ... it's different ... and he has failed drug tests - they've simply been covered up ... read the charges ... take into consideration all the evidence ... if you watch or understand pro cycling - then you will know that he cheated ...
i do watch and understand pro cycling, and have for some time, and it is my belief that he is innocent.
i do watch and understand pro cycling, and have for some time, and it is my belief that he is innocent.
then please explain to me how in 7 tdf - he NEVER had a bad day ... if you understand cycling like you say you do - you know every rider has bad days ... especially in 3 week grand tours ... he never had one in 7 years ... it's not possible ... he also dominated at a time when doping was rampant ... so, what you are suggesting is that he simply is soo good that he was able to not only beat all these doping cylists ... he dominated them clean ... and all this evidence against him is all lies ...
i get it tho ... people want to believe what they want to believe ...
and like riverrunner ... i was a fan of lance ... his story was remarkable ... how could anyone root against him!?? ... but i'm not gonna put the blinders on just cuz he survived cancer ...
Sam Sparks, of United States District Court, chastised Armstrong’s lawyers for submitting a lengthy complaint filled with allegations that “were totally irrelevant to Armstrong’s claims.”
Sparks said in his order that the court was left to presume that the allegations “were included solely to increase media coverage of this case, and to incite public opinion against” the antidoping agency and Travis Tygart, the agency’s chief executive, who is also named as a defendant.
“This court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong’s desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement or vilification of Defendants, by sifting through 80 mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material relevant to his claims,” Sparks said.
If I had known then what I know now...
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
Sam Sparks, of United States District Court, chastised Armstrong’s lawyers for submitting a lengthy complaint filled with allegations that “were totally irrelevant to Armstrong’s claims.”
Sparks said in his order that the court was left to presume that the allegations “were included solely to increase media coverage of this case, and to incite public opinion against” the antidoping agency and Travis Tygart, the agency’s chief executive, who is also named as a defendant.
“This court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong’s desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement or vilification of Defendants, by sifting through 80 mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material relevant to his claims,” Sparks said.
I haven't read the whole order, just bits and pieces that have been posted and in cycling articles, but I laughed and laughed. I hope that succeeds in bringing LA down a notch or two.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. Ghandi
For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
So what exactly does this mean? Has he admitted it? The way it is now, or was until today, its sort of been this limbo land, of him maintaining innocense and rightly pointing out all the evidence against him was non evidence and that he's never been caught or tested positive for anything. And he;s been dogged by these rumors and people going after him, whether you believe he is innocent or guilty, he's been chased and hounded to an extent few people on this issue ever have.
So im unclear at this point if todays development is a result of him giving up the fight so to speak, and not admitting guilt and maintaining innocence, and feels like he will be hounded and accused until he dies, or if he's admitted he has used and doped?
Does anyone really think if he won this latest fight that this would have been the end...I doubt it would be. Is this agency that was going after him a government agency? If so! I think they would have kept after him, forcing him to court...making lawyers very rich.
I myself don't know if he cheated...he never failed a test and was the most heavily tested athlete of all time.
So who knows...ultimately he has to live with himself.
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.' For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today — finished with this nonsense.
I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA's charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA's motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.
If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA's process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and — once and for all — put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colours. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?
From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs. I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own eight-year limitation. As respected organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges. The international bodies governing cycling have ordered USADA to stop, have given notice that no one should participate in USADA's improper proceedings, and have made it clear the pronouncements by USADA that it has banned people for life or stripped them of their accomplishments are made without authority. And as many others, including USADA's own arbitrators, have found, there is nothing even remotely fair about its process. USADA has broken the law, turned its back on its own rules, and stiff-armed those who have tried to persuade USADA to honour its obligations. At every turn, USADA has played the role of a bully, threatening everyone in its way and challenging the good faith of anyone who questions its motives or its methods, all at U.S. taxpayers' expense. For the last two months, USADA has endlessly repeated the mantra that there should be a single set of rules, applicable to all, but they have arrogantly refused to practice what they preach. On top of all that, USADA has allegedly made deals with other riders that circumvent their own rules as long as they said I cheated. Many of those riders continue to race today.
The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced. The idea that athletes can be convicted today without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves. It's an unfair approach, applied selectively, in opposition to all the rules. It's just not right.
USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart.
Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year-old on the planet."
I have certain rules I live by ... My First Rule ... I don't believe anything the government tells me ... George Carlin
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
Does anyone really think if he won this latest fight that this would have been the end...I doubt it would be. Is this agency that was going after him a government agency? If so! I think they would have kept after him, forcing him to court...making lawyers very rich.
I myself don't know if he cheated...he never failed a test and was the most heavily tested athlete of all time.
So who knows...ultimately he has to live with himself.
he did fail drug tests ... they were covered up by the UCI which basically was operating with a conflict of interest ... promoting the sport but also policing it? ...
i've been following this story for years ... the dude definitely cheated ... all his teammates have been busted ... landis, hamilton, hincapie ... vaughters has admitted to doping ... vandevelde ... etc ... all these guys were his teammates ...
anyways - this guy is a douche who basically rode the coattails of his cancer to make himself something he really isn't ... he has been a flat out liar for years and is not someone i would say should be a role model for anyone ... fuck, even his livestrong foundation is a fraud ... it's really about promoting him ...
also ... all his peers at the time doped ... ullrich, kloeden, etc ... so, when he starts talking about how he won those tours and that he was the strongest ... it's true ... he was ... his main competitors doped so, it's sort of like ben johnson era ... everyone doped so he doped so he was the strongest when the majority doped ...
but the reality is he did dope ... he isn't fighting this because he was for sure going to lose ... the usda case was pretty much rock solid ... and the evidence that would have been published publicly would be pretty brutal to him ... so, he's not gonna fight it ...
edit: it should also be pointed out that the usda charged other people too involved with the case ... and 3 of them have accepted their lifetime bans ...
“It’s just wrong that guys who were riding the race clean and never appeared in the top 20 were screwed by a corrupt system and in my view a system that couldn’t not have remained corrupt without the complicity of the people who run the sport, the race organisers, the sponsors, the cycling journalists. Too many people turned a blind eye to something that was obviously wrong and they did it for all the wrong reasons.”
So what exactly does this mean? Has he admitted it? The way it is now, or was until today, its sort of been this limbo land, of him maintaining innocense and rightly pointing out all the evidence against him was non evidence and that he's never been caught or tested positive for anything. And he;s been dogged by these rumors and people going after him, whether you believe he is innocent or guilty, he's been chased and hounded to an extent few people on this issue ever have.
So im unclear at this point if todays development is a result of him giving up the fight so to speak, and not admitting guilt and maintaining innocence, and feels like he will be hounded and accused until he dies, or if he's admitted he has used and doped?
Anyone clear this up?
it basically comes down to this ...
the evidence that the usada had against him was pretty much going to nail him ... so, instead of fighting it, have the evidence made public (which it still may if bruyneel goes to arbitration) - he's taken the path that is best suited for lance ...
he has indeed tested positive for drugs ... don't let that rhetoric fool you - the UCI never tested for EPO and when WADA came in and retested - his samples were positive ... the problem is that the UCI was protecting lance from the get go ... so, they used their authority in the sport to prevent that positive test from mattering ... the solution to EPO testing was blood doping ... the UCI has been shown to have showed up at lance's trailer for a blood test and been told to wait 2 hrs ... that's absurd but they waited ... like everything else - there is big money in cycling and when your biggest star is a cheat - it's bad business ...
for those who weren't following ... all the doping scandals were never uncovered by the UCI but external bodies ...
if you look at all the guys that rode for us postal at the time ... guys like vaughters, hincapie, hamilton, landis, etc ... all admitted to doping and they were all his teammates ...
“It’s just wrong that guys who were riding the race clean and never appeared in the top 20 were screwed by a corrupt system and in my view a system that couldn’t not have remained corrupt without the complicity of the people who run the sport, the race organisers, the sponsors, the cycling journalists. Too many people turned a blind eye to something that was obviously wrong and they did it for all the wrong reasons.”
Hmmm ... a source that is profiting off of the alleged scandal.
Is this similar to getting scientific climate change data from globalwarminghoax.com?
Well if what you say is true, he won those titles on a level playing field. :ugeek:
Greatest cyclist of all time!
yes and no ...
yes - his main competitors doped ... that was the culture ... but there were cyclists that didn't ... a lot actually ... hard to say where they would have ended up if the playing field was indeed level ...
i would never take away what lance did as a cyclist - all things being equal, he probably would have won multiple tdf's ... and i would never take away his fortitude ... but at the end of the day ... he's a liar and a fraud ... which in my world is far more important than what he accomplished as a cyclist ...
then please explain to me how in 7 tdf - he NEVER had a bad day ... if you understand cycling like you say you do - you know every rider has bad days ... especially in 3 week grand tours ... he never had one in 7 years ... it's not possible ... he also dominated at a time when doping was rampant ... so, what you are suggesting is that he simply is soo good that he was able to not only beat all these doping cylists ... he dominated them clean ... and all this evidence against him is all lies ...
i get it tho ... people want to believe what they want to believe ...
and like riverrunner ... i was a fan of lance ... his story was remarkable ... how could anyone root against him!?? ... but i'm not gonna put the blinders on just cuz he survived cancer ...
A lot of that was do to the fact he had the best team in cycling. As much as it is an individual sport you cannot win the Tour without a great team. You stick Lance on a low budget team during those years and he wouldn't have won.
He was well protected all those years and had the guys around him to pull him through the mountains when he was struggling. Unless he was at the lead of a mountain stage he was never alone.
Comments
thanks ...
as for the drugs ... it's the same as mcgwire and bonds ... i really don't care if they cheated ... i understand that it may have been part of the culture back then and people did what they thought they had to do ... but when you are busted ... people need to have the integrity to own up to it ...
he may come across as an ass, but he is not a drug cheat! 500+ negative tests in a career, both in competition and out is enough evidence for me.
I wave to all my Friends... Yeah!
Peace
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
Apart from that we already know that pretty much all of his high profile opponents used doping. There is no way he could beat all of them by a large marging year after year without using any illegal drugs. Thats just not possible. :nono:
2007:München,Düsseldorf,Nijmegen
2008:NY1,NY2,Mansfield1,Mansfield2
2009:London,Rotterdam,Berlin,Manchester,London
2010:NY1,NY2,Dublin,Belfast,Berlin
2011:PJ20,Montreal,TorontoI+II,Hamilton
2012:Amsterdam I+II, Prague, Berlin I+II, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen
2013: Phoenix, San Diego, LA I+II, Oakland
2014: Amsterdam I+II, Vienna, Berlin
2016: Philly I+II, MSG I+II
the DOJ isn't interested in whether he cheated ... they are only interested in trafficking charges ... it's different ... and he has failed drug tests - they've simply been covered up ... read the charges ... take into consideration all the evidence ... if you watch or understand pro cycling - then you will know that he cheated ...
But the way I see it if your a supporter of Lance he didn't cheat, if you don't like him he cheated. Lastly if everyone was cheating at the time he was winning then who cares...they were all doing it.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
They weren't all doing it. Many clean riders never got the chance to have a win in cycling, or even a career in the pro European peloton due to the cheaters. Google Christophe Bassons and see what happened to him. I provided a link to an article in one of my previous posts. The dopers hurt other people in that they prevented the ones that wanted to ride clean from competing with them. It was wrong, and it was not a situation where nobody got hurt so who cares. Also, many riders felt pressured to dope in order to maintain or start a career in cycling. Who knows what adverse health affects there will be in the future.
i do watch and understand pro cycling, and have for some time, and it is my belief that he is innocent.
I wave to all my Friends... Yeah!
then please explain to me how in 7 tdf - he NEVER had a bad day ... if you understand cycling like you say you do - you know every rider has bad days ... especially in 3 week grand tours ... he never had one in 7 years ... it's not possible ... he also dominated at a time when doping was rampant ... so, what you are suggesting is that he simply is soo good that he was able to not only beat all these doping cylists ... he dominated them clean ... and all this evidence against him is all lies ...
i get it tho ... people want to believe what they want to believe ...
and like riverrunner ... i was a fan of lance ... his story was remarkable ... how could anyone root against him!?? ... but i'm not gonna put the blinders on just cuz he survived cancer ...
Sparks said in his order that the court was left to presume that the allegations “were included solely to increase media coverage of this case, and to incite public opinion against” the antidoping agency and Travis Tygart, the agency’s chief executive, who is also named as a defendant.
“This court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong’s desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement or vilification of Defendants, by sifting through 80 mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material relevant to his claims,” Sparks said.
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
I haven't read the whole order, just bits and pieces that have been posted and in cycling articles, but I laughed and laughed. I hope that succeeds in bringing LA down a notch or two.
:shock:
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
ORGAN DONATION SAVES LIVES
http://www.UNOS.org
Donate Organs and Save a Life
So im unclear at this point if todays development is a result of him giving up the fight so to speak, and not admitting guilt and maintaining innocence, and feels like he will be hounded and accused until he dies, or if he's admitted he has used and doped?
Anyone clear this up?
8/28/98- Camden, NJ
10/31/09- Philly
5/21/10- NYC
9/2/12- Philly, PA
7/19/13- Wrigley
10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
10/21/13- Philly, PA
10/22/13- Philly, PA
10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly
Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly
I myself don't know if he cheated...he never failed a test and was the most heavily tested athlete of all time.
So who knows...ultimately he has to live with himself.
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.' For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today — finished with this nonsense.
I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA's charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA's motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.
If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA's process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and — once and for all — put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colours. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?
From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs. I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own eight-year limitation. As respected organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges. The international bodies governing cycling have ordered USADA to stop, have given notice that no one should participate in USADA's improper proceedings, and have made it clear the pronouncements by USADA that it has banned people for life or stripped them of their accomplishments are made without authority. And as many others, including USADA's own arbitrators, have found, there is nothing even remotely fair about its process. USADA has broken the law, turned its back on its own rules, and stiff-armed those who have tried to persuade USADA to honour its obligations. At every turn, USADA has played the role of a bully, threatening everyone in its way and challenging the good faith of anyone who questions its motives or its methods, all at U.S. taxpayers' expense. For the last two months, USADA has endlessly repeated the mantra that there should be a single set of rules, applicable to all, but they have arrogantly refused to practice what they preach. On top of all that, USADA has allegedly made deals with other riders that circumvent their own rules as long as they said I cheated. Many of those riders continue to race today.
The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced. The idea that athletes can be convicted today without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves. It's an unfair approach, applied selectively, in opposition to all the rules. It's just not right.
USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart.
Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year-old on the planet."
"Life Is What Happens To You When Your Busy Making Other Plans" John Lennon
he did fail drug tests ... they were covered up by the UCI which basically was operating with a conflict of interest ... promoting the sport but also policing it? ...
i've been following this story for years ... the dude definitely cheated ... all his teammates have been busted ... landis, hamilton, hincapie ... vaughters has admitted to doping ... vandevelde ... etc ... all these guys were his teammates ...
anyways - this guy is a douche who basically rode the coattails of his cancer to make himself something he really isn't ... he has been a flat out liar for years and is not someone i would say should be a role model for anyone ... fuck, even his livestrong foundation is a fraud ... it's really about promoting him ...
but the reality is he did dope ... he isn't fighting this because he was for sure going to lose ... the usda case was pretty much rock solid ... and the evidence that would have been published publicly would be pretty brutal to him ... so, he's not gonna fight it ...
edit: it should also be pointed out that the usda charged other people too involved with the case ... and 3 of them have accepted their lifetime bans ...
Greatest cyclist of all time.
All the haters can hate.
:ugeek:
Tom O.
"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
-The Writer
there is proof and there was proof ...
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/david-w ... as-charges
“It’s just wrong that guys who were riding the race clean and never appeared in the top 20 were screwed by a corrupt system and in my view a system that couldn’t not have remained corrupt without the complicity of the people who run the sport, the race organisers, the sponsors, the cycling journalists. Too many people turned a blind eye to something that was obviously wrong and they did it for all the wrong reasons.”
it basically comes down to this ...
the evidence that the usada had against him was pretty much going to nail him ... so, instead of fighting it, have the evidence made public (which it still may if bruyneel goes to arbitration) - he's taken the path that is best suited for lance ...
he has indeed tested positive for drugs ... don't let that rhetoric fool you - the UCI never tested for EPO and when WADA came in and retested - his samples were positive ... the problem is that the UCI was protecting lance from the get go ... so, they used their authority in the sport to prevent that positive test from mattering ... the solution to EPO testing was blood doping ... the UCI has been shown to have showed up at lance's trailer for a blood test and been told to wait 2 hrs ... that's absurd but they waited ... like everything else - there is big money in cycling and when your biggest star is a cheat - it's bad business ...
for those who weren't following ... all the doping scandals were never uncovered by the UCI but external bodies ...
if you look at all the guys that rode for us postal at the time ... guys like vaughters, hincapie, hamilton, landis, etc ... all admitted to doping and they were all his teammates ...
Is this similar to getting scientific climate change data from globalwarminghoax.com?
the only thing similar between this and global warming is that the truth lies (no pun intended) in one's ability to think critically ...
all his teammates doped ... all his rivals doped ... he has failed drug tests ... but feel free to believe in this fraud ...
Greatest cyclist of all time!
yes and no ...
yes - his main competitors doped ... that was the culture ... but there were cyclists that didn't ... a lot actually ... hard to say where they would have ended up if the playing field was indeed level ...
i would never take away what lance did as a cyclist - all things being equal, he probably would have won multiple tdf's ... and i would never take away his fortitude ... but at the end of the day ... he's a liar and a fraud ... which in my world is far more important than what he accomplished as a cyclist ...
A lot of that was do to the fact he had the best team in cycling. As much as it is an individual sport you cannot win the Tour without a great team. You stick Lance on a low budget team during those years and he wouldn't have won.
He was well protected all those years and had the guys around him to pull him through the mountains when he was struggling. Unless he was at the lead of a mountain stage he was never alone.