Yeah, I know, sorry. The world probably won’t be improved by another Lance thread. However…

According to No Fuss, they’ve had an email asking if he can ride in this year’s event. Assuming they’re not just having a laugh, how should they reply?

I’ll get banned if I say 😉

Why not? bit of publicity, gives folks a chance to ride with him and weep as the cry “for the love of god, why did you do it Lance, WHY?”

Got to be a piss take.

I wonder if he’ll use a big ring.

Why not, just go up and spectate.

I read one response which suggested that he’d better have his lawyers explain “banter” to him prior to the event.

I’d say yes feel free to come and ride.

The people charged with dishing out punishment for his violations have done that and by their ruling he’s free to ride this event. The man should be punished to the extent of the rules of his sport and the law of the land beyond that he should be free to live his life like anyone else, and that includes riding his bike.

He should be able to ride in any event other than the top professional level.

I would ambush him on the first real climb and pelt him with eggs,all the while shouting “Can’t you take a yolk big man?” 🙂

If the aim of justice is to rehabilitate wrongdoers once they have shown contrition rather than to “punish” them then of course he should be allowed to ride. If not then, yes, the egg thing.

If his bans don’t apply to the event – ie under the sport’s laws he’s allowed to compete, then of course. He’s a punter like anyone else.

Presumably his bans only apply to professional events.

Wouldn’t it be great to say that you’ve actually raced against Lance Armstrong….. Oh, no. Actually it wouldn’t.

Lets face it, you’d have a better chance of beating him now the playing field is more level against him.

Me and Lance are tied on Tour titles. 8)

I don’t think he should be allowed to enter. Full stop.

“I raced against lance and i was clean!”
he still beat me thou.

If the event is not sanctioned by the governing body in this case UCI, then he is not band from it.
Would be interesting to hear from the event sponsors, as to whether they would a take the “don’t want to be associated with him” or “there’s only one thing worse than being talked about” line

advertisers were paying big buck for the OW show last week.

If the aim of justice is to rehabilitate wrongdoers once they have shown contrition rather than to “punish” them then of course he should be allowed to ride

You appear to be all confused about what he “showed” in his PR stunt with Oprah.

“hora – Member
Me and Lance are tied on Tour titles.”

No i can think of one you’ve got over him 😀

He should be allowed, but he should have to come in fancy dress as a big performance-enhancing tablet….or something .. 😕

You appear to be all confused about what he “showed” in his PR stunt with Oprah.

lol, true, I couldn’t watch more than about 10 mins as he was pissing me off so much!

Good bit of marketing and PR from Frazer indeed 😛

I don’t think he should be allowed to enter. Full stop.

Why not?

He’s Joe Schmoe just like you and me. Unless the rules prevent him, he should be able to pay his fee and turn up on the startline just like anyone else.

Should David Millar be accepted? What about someone with a drink drive conviction, or a doping offence in another sport? How to decide who’s in or out?

Wouldnt it be better for the riders who all rode beside him to decide if he should compete again or not. They are the ones who have a clue about the sport, unlike STW that it.

He’s Joe Schmoe just like you and me.

Except he’s not. He’s a convicted drugs cheat currently serving a ban from all sanctioned sports covered by WADA. I’m sure it sends a really wonderful message if you allow such a person to compete in your event (making the completely unfounded assumption that such an e-mail came from Lance and is serious).

Should David Millar be accepted? What about someone with a drink drive conviction, or a doping offence in another sport?

Millar has served his ban is rehabilitated and is now allowed to compete in all sports. Why does everybody have to keep bringing him up as a strawman whenever Lance is mentioned? Somebody serving a ban for a doping offence in another sport is in exactly the same position as Lance. It’s really not anything like as complicated as you make out.

Wouldnt it be better for the riders who all rode beside him to decide if he should compete again or not.

Or how about – hold on to your hats, I’ve got a totally off the wall suggestion here – how about we let USADA / WADA decide?

If he is not breaking any rules he should be allowed to do it and we al know LA never breaks the rules 😉

Its interesting throughout all this I find myself suddenly becoming a bleeding heart liberal again – after months/years of saying burn him. he ha sbeen caught now lest deal with this.

You either believe in rehabilitation or you dont and this will define your answer
I believe in rehabilitation – its a very very long road for LA and, like most of you, I doubt i will ever believe him

Worse folk have reformed than him and everyone deserves a chance even him

I am suspecting this will be a popular view on here 😀

Wouldnt it be better for the riders who all rode beside him to decide if he should compete again or not.

I imagine a fair few would object. I’d also say LA isn’t in the clear to compete. Hes under investigation effectively where Millar is in the clear to do whatever he wants.

You either believe in rehabilitation or you dont and this will define your answer

You’ll have to explain your view of punishment and rehabilitation to me. Should he be punished, and if so, what punishment has he had? How can he be rehabilitated if he hasn’t been punished, he hasn’t (really) shown any remorse for his offences (“they were all doing it”, “I looked up cheat in the dictionary”) and he hasn’t changed?

@aracer yeah you’re right, someone whose ban is up is a different case

I think what the TBN organisers need to decide is if currently banned pros are allowed in their event. (Maybe they already have a rule or policy covering this).

Then they apply that.

What I don’t think they should do is make a special case for LA. The policy/rules apply to everyone, however it falls.

Part of his punishment is that he can longer participate in WADA sanctioned events. I’m not familiar with the tour of Ben Nevis but i assume that it’s not a WADA sanctioned event therefore he should be free to take part.

What I don’t think they should do is make a special case for LA. The policy/rules apply to everyone, however it falls.

I totally agree. They probably don’t get too many banned athletes wanting to compete at their events though (and I should point out it isn’t just pros drugs bans apply to – I’ve competed at events where people have been tested, and I’m certainly not and never have been a professional sportsperson)

Part of his punishment is that he can longer participate in WADA sanctioned events. I’m not familiar with the tour of Ben Nevis but i assume that it’s not a WADA sanctioned event therefore he should be free to take part.

So if it’s not a WADA sanctioned event you can take whatever drugs you like and the organisors and other competitors are totally happy with that? IMHO allowing athletes undergoing drugs bans to compete in any race is a slippery slope.

Hes under investigation effectively where Millar is in the clear to do whatever he wants.

Is he? USADA has delivered its verdict, the ban is in place and UCI has accepted it, stripping him of titles etc.

As far as TBN is concerned, it’s their event and they need to balance the likely positives and negatives of having LA involved. Fairness is a fine thing, but he’s not like any other athlete – he’ll bring them a media scrum which could affect the running of the event.

You’ll have to explain your view of punishment and rehabilitation to me.

OK but briefly lets not get side tracked as I dont have all the answers

Should he be punished, and if so, what punishment has he had?

ye she should – pretty sure the last few months have not been great – stipped, humiliated, lost sponsiorships cried on tv etc. He needs a competitive ban as well for sure and he needs to squeal more about what was going on. Baning at tthe top level may also be approriate as well so he can never really test himself. however he should be free to do other events- sportives for example – imagine the humiliation 😉
Perhaps for 5 – 10 years witha review so his behaviour can get “time off”

How can he be rehabilitated if he hasn’t been punished, he hasn’t (really) shown any remorse for his offences

Truth and reconcilliation and making sure it cannot happen again?
Its more about getting something positive from this than getting my pound of flesh- he does need punishing for sure its just what this should be that I am discussing.

(“they were all doing it”, “I looked up cheat in the dictionary”) and he hasn’t changed?

I took that more as him explaining his actions than trying to exonerate himself.

Like i said he is a cheating lying **** but we can turn this into a positive or we can punish him as an example to others

So if it’s not a WADA sanctioned event you can take whatever drugs you like and the organisors and other competitors are totally happy with that?

I doubt that the serious competitors would be happy, organisers? Maybe, depends on how they manage the publicity. People that are riding more as a day out rather than serious attempt to ‘win’ I’d guess they’d be split some would like the opportunity to be in the same event as Armstrong others would find the idea of him there repulsive and a fair few in the middle wouldn’t give a toss.

IMHO allowing athletes undergoing drugs bans to compete in any race is a slippery slope.

generally I’d agree with you, but if they have no rules currently in place to prevent riders serving WADA bans to participate then they should let him ride this year and then set about altering their entry requirements for next year, making a special case of anyone whether that be positive or negative discrimination is unjust.

My view remains that he should be punished to the full extent of the rules of the sport and the law of the land but beyond that he should have the same opportunities as everyone else.

If I was competing in an event and they let him in, I’d walk out.

i hear rabobank are sending a team…

Good men do bad things, bad men do good things…..

In the spirit of reconcilliation…I’d be happy to ride with him…

lazybike are you sure you’d be riding against a clean competitor?

I saw a stage-managed ‘confession’. No tears, breakdown or confession before he was caught.

Frazer must be delighted with this bouncing round the net… marketing WIN!

Letting him compete would make a mockery of the event and detract the attention from those genuine people who have entered and want to race. A race is a private event and the organisers have the right to refuse anyone they wish.

If I was in with a shout of winning a race and I saw Lance at the start line I’d be seriously annoyed.