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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Did Lance Armstrong Dope?

The answer is almost certainly "yes".

Landis has now thrown Armstrong under the bus in a series of e-mails to cycling officials. This has to be the final straw for anyone who still thinks Lance was clean... although I suspect it won't be.

Full text of the e-mails.

"He [Lance] and I had lengthy discussions about it on our training rides during which time he also explained to me the evolution of EPO testing and how transfusions were now necessary due to the inconvenience of the new test"

The reality is that in that era, doping was so prevalent you simply could not compete with the dopers without doping. Almost everyone who came close to Armstrong in those championship years has been caught doping, one by one. Is it really possible that Lance was so much better that he beat the best cyclists in the world doped but was clean himself? It strains credulity.

If we look at Lance's ex-teammates, well, they're a pretty sorry lot. Several have been caught doping, the most notable being Floyd Landis, Roberto Heras, and Tyler Hamilton. A few years ago, Frankie Andreu and one other admitted it outright. They claim they never saw Lance do it, but where there's this much smoke, can there really not be a fire?

And of course there is the 1999 positive test for EPO... there was no test available in 1999, but the samples were stored and later tested, and found to be positive. It was not an "official" test and his name was not supposed to be revealed, so the cycling folks had to apologize and not count it.

Some people won't believe it until it comes out of Lance's mouth. We want our heros to be good guys, clean guys who beat the evil dopers.

Sadly, the evidence does not support that.

7 comments:

answerphoned1,d6 said...

Maybe Armstrong should admit it.

It's like there were two competitions going on at the same - the bike races and the doping races. To win you had to be #1 at both, and he was! He was so good at doping he never got caught, unlike the others...

Jon P said...

Yup. It'll be interesting when they all eventually come clean some day to hear more about that "other" race.

Check this out, it's the top 10 in the classification from the 2005 Tour de France.

1) Lance Armstrong
2) Ivan Basso - doping suspension
3) Jan Ullrich - doping suspension
4) Francisco Mancebo - linked to Operation Puerto, denied entry to Tour de France
5) Alexander Vinokourov - doping suspension
6) Levi Leipheimer
7) Michael Rasmussen - doping suspension (missed test)
8) Cadel Evans
9) Floyd Landis - doping suspension
10) Óscar Pereiro - doping investigation but was dropped... suspicious

6/10 were suspended for doping, and it's really 7 (Pereiro is a cheat). That's what you had to do to compete back then (and probably still).

Anonymous said...

It is interesting that everyone who did not believe Floyd Landis when he said he didn't dope is now ready to believe Floyd Landis when he accuses Armstrong of doping.

Landis even wrote a book about how he didn't dope. Perjured himself seven ways from Sunday. Landis is an outright liar and this has been proven.

Until we have definitive proof that Armstrong doped (and relying on Landis certainly is not proof) then comment should be reserved

Anonymous said...

It is interesting that everyone who did not believe Floyd Landis when he said he didn't dope is now ready to believe Floyd Landis when he accuses Armstrong of doping.

Landis even wrote a book about how he didn't dope. Perjured himself seven ways from Sunday. Landis is an outright liar and this has been proven.

Until we have definitive proof that Armstrong doped (and relying on Landis certainly is not proof) then comment should be reserved

Anonymous said...

comment should be reserved?

Why? And how? This is a big deal. Much can be learned from collective information gathering. Most of the legends (5 time winners) won the tour on their first attempt and they managed 'only' 5 wins. In Lance's first 3 attempts he managed to finish the race once...I think he came 35th. Then he gets cancer and then wins 7 in row! Wow. If you don't know your cycling history it's easy to be fooled. Pre 1990, doping couldn't change a donkey into a race horse and cheats were easily caught as the old drugs were not so effective and easily detected.
Armstrong, as a rider, was like a Sean Kelly...he could win any one day race on any day. But Imagine if Kelly used EPO? He'd a won 10 Tours. There's actually too much circumstantial information that Lance cheated...way too much. But people (mostly ignorant/uninformed) believe he's innocent. It doesn't need to goto court...his brand is already tarnished. His 7 don't match up to Lemond's 3...in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

How can you take anthing Landis said as even remotely accurate. More sour grapes. Until there are facts, not allegations by Landis you have no business saying Armstrong Doped. All you "also rans" just cannot comprehend the possibility he did not. I pity you.

Jon P said...

There is far more evidence than just Landis... see the Sports Illustrated article. But better yet, read this article, from a previous Lance believer not unlike yourself:

http://www.bicycling.com/news/pro-cycling/lance-armstrongs-endgame

There isn't any doubt in my mind that Lance doped.