USADA releasing Armstrong evidence today.

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

Not much on there yet, but I suspect it’ll make for some rivetting bed time reading later.

Heres the statement from the head of USADA

Today, we are sending the ‘Reasoned Decision’ in the Lance Armstrong case and supporting information to the Union Cycliste International (UCI), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.

The evidence of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team-run scheme is overwhelming and is in excess of 1000 pages, and includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team (USPS Team) and its participants’ doping activities. The evidence also includes direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in funding.

Together these different categories of eyewitness, documentary, first-hand, scientific, direct and circumstantial evidence reveal conclusive and undeniable proof that brings to the light of day for the first time this systemic, sustained and highly professionalized team-run doping conspiracy. All of the material will be made available later this afternoon on the USADA website at http://www.usada.org.

The USPS Team doping conspiracy was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices. A program organized by individuals who thought they were above the rules and who still play a major and active role in sport today.

The evidence demonstrates that the ‘Code of Silence’ of performance enhancing drug use in the sport of cycling has been shattered, but there is more to do. From day one, we always hoped this investigation would bring to a close this troubling chapter in cycling’s history and we hope the sport will use this tragedy to prevent it from ever happening again.

Of course, no one wants to be chained to the past forever, and I would call on the UCI to act on its own recent suggestion for a meaningful Truth and Reconciliation program. While we appreciate the arguments that weigh in favor of and against such a program, we believe that allowing individuals like the riders mentioned today to come forward and acknowledge the truth about their past doping may be the only way to truly dismantle the remaining system that allowed this “EPO and Blood Doping Era” to flourish. Hopefully, the sport can unshackle itself from the past, and once and for all continue to move forward to a better future.

Our mission is to protect clean athletes by preserving the integrity of competition not only for today’s athletes but also the athletes of tomorrow. We have heard from many athletes who have faced an unfair dilemma — dope, or don’t compete at the highest levels of the sport. Many of them abandoned their dreams and left sport because they refused to endanger their health and participate in doping. That is a tragic choice no athlete should have to make.

It took tremendous courage for the riders on the USPS Team and others to come forward and speak truthfully. It is not easy to admit your mistakes and accept your punishment. But that is what these riders have done for the good of the sport, and for the young riders who hope to one day reach their dreams without using dangerous drugs or methods.

These eleven (11) teammates of Lance Armstrong, in alphabetical order, are Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie.

The riders who participated in the USPS Team doping conspiracy and truthfully assisted have been courageous in making the choice to stop perpetuating the sporting fraud, and they have suffered greatly. In addition to the public revelations, the active riders have been suspended and disqualified appropriately in line with the rules. In some part, it would have been easier for them if it all would just go away; however, they love the sport, and they want to help young athletes have hope that they are not put in the position they were — to face the reality that in order to climb to the heights of their sport they had to sink to the depths of dangerous cheating.

I have personally talked with and heard these athletes’ stories and firmly believe that, collectively, these athletes, if forgiven and embraced, have a chance to leave a legacy far greater for the good of the sport than anything they ever did on a bike.

Lance Armstrong was given the same opportunity to come forward and be part of the solution. He rejected it.

Instead he exercised his legal right not to contest the evidence and knowingly accepted the imposition of a ban from recognized competition for life and disqualification of his competitive results from 1998 forward. The entire factual and legal basis on the outcome in his case and the other six active riders’ cases will be provided in the materials made available online later today. Two other members of the USPS Team, Dr. Michele Ferrari and Dr. Garcia del Moral, also received lifetime bans for perpetrating this doping conspiracy.

Three other members of the USPS Team have chosen to contest the charges and take their cases to arbitration: Johan Bruyneel, the team director; Dr. Pedro Celaya, a team doctor; and Jose “Pepe” Marti, the team trainer. These three individuals will receive a full hearing before independent judges, where they will have the opportunity to present and confront the evidence, cross-examine witnesses and testify under oath in a public proceeding.

From day one in this case, as in every potential case, the USADA Board of Directors and professional staff did the job we are mandated to do for clean athletes and the integrity of sport. We focused solely on finding the truth without being influenced by celebrity or non-celebrity, threats, personal attacks or political pressure because that is what clean athletes deserve and demand.”

Hincapie has come clean too:

http://www.georgehincapie.com/news/Statement-from-George-Hincapie/

The Clinic over at Cyclingnews must be exploding right about now.

For over 30 years I have dedicated my life to cycling. I have always been determined to compete at the highest level, in one of the most physically demanding sports. With hard work and success have come great blessings from the sport I love.

Teammates have become dear friends and I have worked hard to earn the respect of my competitors. I have been associated with managers and team officials whose professionalism is unparalleled. Wonderful fans have supported my family and me since I began this great journey. For all of this and more, I am truly grateful and proud.

Because of my love for the sport, the contributions I feel I have made to it, and the amount the sport of cycling has given to me over the years, it is extremely difficult today to acknowledge that during a part of my career I used banned substances. Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them. I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans.

Quietly, and in the way I know best, I have been trying to rectify that decision. I have competed clean and have not used any performance enhancing drugs or processes for the past six years. Since 2006, I have been working hard within the sport of cycling to rid it of banned substances. During this time, I continued to successfully compete at the highest level of cycling while mentoring young professional riders on the right choices to make to ensure that the culture of cycling had changed.

About two years ago, I was approached by US Federal investigators, and more recently by USADA, and asked to tell of my personal experience in these matters. I would have been much more comfortable talking only about myself, but understood that I was obligated to tell the truth about everything I knew. So that is what I did.

Cycling has made remarkable gains over the past several years and can serve as a good example for other sports. Thankfully, the use of performance enhancing drugs is no longer embedded in the culture of our sport, and younger riders are not faced with the same choice we had.

I am proud to be part of the cycling community, and believe we continue to make positive changes to our sport. I applaud the extraordinary achievements of my fellow riders on and off the bike. Cycling is an incredible sport that not only requires unbelievable physical ability to ride hundreds of miles a day for many days on end; it also requires a certain type of dedication, ambition and character. I have been fortunate to compete with teammates whose commitment and talent will be hard to match. As a rider I have dedicated a large part of my career to helping those teammates succeed. As I begin the next chapter in my cycling life, I look forward to playing a significant part in developing, encouraging and helping young riders to compete and win with the best in the world.

Hincapies Statement

Michael Barry statement:

ormondroyd

Michael Barry:

Cycling has always been a part of my life. As a boy my dream was to become a professional cyclist who raced at the highest level in Europe. I achieved my goal when I first signed a contract with the United States Postal Service Cycling team in 2002. Soon after I realized reality was not what I had dreamed. Doping had become an epidemic problem in professional cycling.

Recently, I was contacted by United States Anti-Doping Agency to testify in their investigation into the use of performance enhancing drugs on the United States Postal Service Team. I agreed to participate as it allowed me to explain my experiences, which I believe will help improve the sport for today’s youth who aspire to be tomorrow’s champions.

After being encouraged by the team, pressured to perform and pushed to my physical limits I crossed a line I promised myself and others I would not: I doped. It was a decision I deeply regret. It caused me sleepless nights, took the fun out of cycling and racing, and tainted the success I achieved at the time. This was not how I wanted to live or race.

After the summer of 2006, I never doped again and became a proponent of clean cycling through my writing and interviews.

From 2006 until the end of my career in 2012, I chose to race for teams that took a strong stance against doping. Although I never confessed to my past, I wrote and spoke about the need for change. Cycling is now a cleaner sport, many teams have adopted anti-doping policies and most importantly I know a clean rider can now win at the highest level.

I apologize to those I deceived. I will accept my suspension and any other consequences. I will work hard to regain people’s trust.

The lessons I learned through my experiences have been valuable. My goal now is to help turn the sport into a place where riders are not tempted to dope, have coaches who they can trust, race on teams that nurture talent and have doctors who are concerned for their health. From direct experience, I know there are already teams doing this but it needs to be universal throughout cycling.

Progressive change is occurring. My hope is that this case will further that evolution

I wonder how many more of these statements we’ll see today?

I’m deeply saddened by all this… I was a big fan of George Hincapie’s, not so much Armstrong, Landis, Barry et al.

A sad day for cycling indeed.

Interesting that several who doped and were still competing have retired this year (Hincapie, Barry)… methinks this has to have been forced upon them rather than a personal choice of their own making.

And as for those still competing – Leipheimer, Zabriskie, Van de Velde, Danielson etc… good to see they’re all banned now.

Recently finished ‘The Secret Race’ – sad even if it was a predictable read.

Is this it?

That is indeed it. Reading it just shows the extent of what was going on. Pretty convincing stuff.

The USADA statement quoted above is available here[/url] as well as the Reasoned Decision and all of the supporting documents on the appropriate tab.

How long before “USPS The Movie”?

Suggestions for the lead role?

Suggestions for the lead role?

Stallone, plenty of drug use experience 😉

anyone still think Lance was clean? (apart from Lance that is)

I need to have a word with Jr’s school about pedalling this kind of propaganda in their Year 1 reading books… 😉

For those that only have a vague interest in this, can someone please explain what evidence is in the USADA report other than testimonies please?

For starters, financial records of big transfers of cash to convicted doping supremo Dr Michele Ferrari, even after Armstrong claimed the relationship had ended. Why, does the testimony not convince you?

More than just rider testimony.

the reasoned decison is one of the worst constructed documents ive ever set eyes on.

think LAs lawyer response will be more amusing

If its so badly constructed why did he not choose to contest it?

I find it heartening that riders who hadn’t been caught came clean and told their stories.

I don’t see how the “I never failed a test” defense can be taken very seriously now.

Its the doctors, particularly Michele Ferrari that I am most pi__sed off with. They have effectively stolen our sport and potential heros from us

Its the doctors, particularly Michele Ferrari that I am most pi__sed off with. They have effectively stolen our sport and potential heros from us

I blame MacDonalds. There must be at least one overweight American out there who could’ve been the next [drug-free] Armstrong, if it wasn’t for Big Macs.

🙄

I’ve still got 190 pages to read before I give my opinion.
Even if he did cheat (as well as all the others) which is wrong. We should also remember all the good he has achieved with LiveStrong as well. And I’m not just saying that we should forget or condone cheating if he did.
Sad news about Hincapie though. Was another hero of mine

The UCI are complicit in all of this and McQuaid should go.

As a very minimum, how can they possibly accept large donations from Armstrong without being compromised?

IMHO they tried to appear to be doing something about doping (getting riders to sign up to meaningless health charters etc) while protecting the sports biggest star.

Cant say my heart has been in reading what for me appears to be a ‘case’ based on evidence from by their own admission ‘users of banned substances’ and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s view that no one can be that good without ‘using banned substances’.

For me it comes down to a few simple questions

Did Lance use banned substances? quite possibly
Did other Tour riders use banned substances? quite possibly
Did Lance get caught? No he never tested positive

So does the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency have a taste of sour grapes in their mouths? quite possibly

Given that history can’t be un-done, books can’t be un-written…

Buts all ok the following cyclists finished second to Lance Armstrong during his seven consecutive victories

1999: Alex Zulle, Switzerland
2000: Jan Ullrich, Germany
2001: Jan Ullrich, Germany
2002: Joseba Beloki, Spain
2003: Jan Ullrich, Germany
2004: Andreas Kloden, Germany
2005: Ivan Basso, Italy

Did other Tour riders use banned substances? quite possibly

not “quite possibly” but definitely – e.g. read David Millar’s excellent book. What’s appalling is how relatively young riders were pressured to take drugs often when they were at their very lowest physical and emotional points

Did Lance get caught? No he never tested positive

Yes he did, it got covered up. Have you been following the case at all, other than just believing every tweet by the messiah?

Even if he did cheat (as well as all the others) which is wrong. We should also remember all the good he has achieved with LiveStrong as well. And I’m not just saying that we should forget or condone cheating if he did.

I think it would be a lot easier to do that if he admitted the obvious truth and stopped being such a dick about it. That’s kind of the sad thing, he obviously was/is an amazing athlete regardless – but I think most people would have a lot more respect for him if he showed a bit of honesty/humility now.

FRS supplements were advertising using LA’s image and calling him “7 times winner” only yesterday on MTBR forums. Are they owned by Lance? I’d be worried if I sold sports supplements and he was the face of them right now!

Will the sentence handed to Lance also be handed to the others involved? Will riders from other teams in the tour during the ‘Lance@ years be investigated as thoroughly? Not sure what, if anything, this is proving or achieving for anyone?

Kona TC – Member
Cant say It breaks my heart has been in reading what for me appears to be a ‘case’ based on evidence

FTFY

I really don’t see what all the fuss is about, this wasn’t the first time we’ve had drugs in sport and it won’t be the last.

Kona TC – Member

Did Lance get caught? No he never tested positive

The report explains why he never tested positive. Hard to lose a game of poker when you hold all the cards.

something that has been bothering me for a long time now – what is Livestrong?? Im a cancer ‘survivor’ as the medical profession profess to call me and for the life of me I cant actualy work out or have been told (despite emails to them) what Livestrong actually do that is so good – they are not involved or pay anything into research, all I can see that they do is give cancer awareness talks around the US and fly around in private jets..?! And then tell everyone theyre doing a top job for hte cancer community!! LA aside this is something Im quite eager to find out as an awful lot of money is turned over by them…

votchy – Member
Will the sentence handed to Lance also be handed to the others involved? Will riders from other teams in the tour during the ‘Lance@ years be investigated as thoroughly? Not sure what, if anything, this is proving or achieving for anyone?

It shows that even if you get away with it at the time there is every possibility you will get caught in the end.

Hopefully give the UCI a kick up the arse.

Which other US riders should the USADA be investigating then?

USADA, only have jurisdiction over American teams and riders, they can’t investigate any of the others.

I truly hope these revelations will smash the UCI wide open and that a more honest and fair sport emerges.

It would also be nice if it served as a warning to other organisations and they removed their heads from their arses, yes FIFA I am looking at you.

ESP with MSP

They have effectively stolen our sport and potential heros from us

Well, no because surely if everyone was doing it then it just made it a level playing field, so its still fair competition, they just got to the finish line a bit quicker.

I think it would be a lot easier to do that if he admitted the obvious truth and stopped being such a dick about it. That’s kind of the sad thing, he obviously was/is an amazing athlete regardless – but I think most people would have a lot more respect for him if he showed a bit of honesty/humility now.

+1