IdleJon, I realise that, I'm focussing on the public's obsession more than WADA or the UCI.
As a cycling fan, spectator, rider, etc. I am more concerned/interested that a guy who tested positive in last year Tour has just won the Giro.
I am more concerned/interested that a guy who tested positive in last year Tour has just won the Giro.
I don't think time travelling drugs are on the banned list though.
Wow, Ganic, where did I write I was mates with him? I met Lance and rode with him when he did the Paisley Twitter ride. Had a good wee chat with him on the ride but oddly he hasn't returned any of my thousand or so stalker calls since! Ha! Ha!
Like I wrote, I just don't care if he doped or not. If that was the price (and I'm not saying it is, I prefer to let folk have their day in court before breaking out the pitch forks) for the amount of good that has been done with the Livestrong Foundation then on balance I think that would be a fair price to pay. Professional sport and drugs go hand in hand, always have, always will. There will always be someone looking for the edge.
What's more intersting to me at the moment is the fall out if the Pro Teams split away from the UCI, the publication of the suspicion list and what will happen should the Swiss meeting as alleged actually took place and the content of it.
As before, Crazy Legs sums the current situation up perfectly.
aracer, sorry, is about to win this years Giro. Either way, the point is still there.
TJ - Andy Schlek and Bradley Wiggans, clean or dopers? Anyone in the current peloton that you think is clean?
I'm (or have been) a die-hard LA fan, but have to face it that its looking increasingly likely that he's a doper. Sports biggest fall from grace if it happens...
Armstrong is under investigation by the US Food and Drugs Administration because there is a suspicion that he committed Federal offences. He rode for US Postal at the time, which was sponsored by the US Postal Service, an independent agency of the Federal Government
From Sports Illustrated:
"Because government sponsorship is involved, if evidence suggests that Armstrong was directing illegal doping activity, the inquiry could result in charges against him of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking and defrauding the U.S. government."
The sporting implications of the doping allegations are serious enough, but in Armstrong's case, it is much worse. The Feds are all over him because of potential criminal charges, and you don't get off with that just because you retired!
I'd like to think they were clean Neither of them have won the tour. I think there probably are more clean riders now than there have been but considering how many of the top ten of recent years have been caught doping I wonder. Not seen any evidence of them doping tho.
I found an interesting table the other day showing how many of the top ten either failed drug tests or were now know to be doping. Can't find it now
Neither of them have won the tour.
Schleck might have done 😉
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tour_de_France&oldid=410243760
Hamiltons word is worth nothing!
Therefore anything he says has no value!
Cadel Evans is clean. A bit nutty but clean
I agree. Which I think is why he fades and then gets so ****ed off being asked about another bad day in the saddle. I think he would be right up there with a level playing field.
Their all at it! so it's a fair/level playing field 😉
for the amount of good that has been done with the Livestrong Foundation then on balance I think that would be a fair price to pay
there is some info on the foundations* accounts floating around the web about how much money was spent on legal fees, travel and non 'charitable' activities. it's a bit of an eye opener. (private jets, money for setting up the mellow johhnys bike shop etc)
*a foundation not a charity. livestrong is a publicity vehicle for lance armstrong. the 'foundation' would not pass the charity commissions guidelines on funding allocation if based in the u.k.
Let's see if I have this right.
A number of riders were so motivated by money that they took drugs to improve their cycling. (This is regarded as dishonest.)
They denied the drug taking vehemently, fought it through court and expensive PR campaigns.
But once convicted, they finally admit to taking drugs and sell their stories for more money.
Considering the amount of money on offer for good stories about any high-profile figures taking drugs, what do think is going to happen?
Amazingly, the dishonest dopers are somehow transformed into honest truth-telling pillars of society, and they're not doing this for the money, oh no.
Never believe a word that comes out of the lips of a money-grubbing doper.
a money-grubbing doper.
Like armstrong 🙂
How about Hincapie? What does he have to gain?
By all accounts Floyd Landis is bankrupt and anything he's getting money for now won't come close to changing that. IIRC similar for Tyler Hamilton.
Never believe a word that comes out of the lips of a money-grubbing doper.
Take with a healthy dose of scepticism but to dismiss outright is just silly.
TandemJeremy - MemberHow about Hincapie? What does he have to gain?
Not going to jail?
for me, looking at the accounts of livestrong in 2009 has been a real eye opener. circa 15 million dollars spent on legal fees, compared to 9 million given to grants and programmes. The directors committed to donate 5 million (which is tax deductable), they only donated 900,000. 4.5 million spent on advertising, only .5 million of that used for fundraising advertising... make what you will of it.
Oddly enough, I've just started re-reading Jeremy Whittles book 'Bad blood'. I once admired (and felt inspired by) Lance Armstrong, but the more I read about him, the easier it is to dislike him. Putting the suspicions of doping to one side, it's the other aspects of his persona that make me want to give him a shoeing - the way that people end up on his 'list' and are cut out of his life so completely, the raging paranoia, the way he treated Simeoni in the 2004 tour, I could go on. Basically, he doesnt come across as a particularly nice bloke, but I'm pretty sure he speaks highly of me as well.
make what you will of it
Looks like lots of people donating money to LA's public opinion fund!
Sanny - MemberHa! Ha!
Just so you know, that was a wee bit of an alarming "Ha! Ha!" there.
