I would really like to know who they were. Because if they knew what they were getting into, and they got into it all the same, they are heros.

+1 to that.

Ned/Lazybike. Read Rough Ride, it’s a good start. It would appear Chris Boardman was generally regarded as a clean athlete of the time, just imagine what he could have done at the Tour had the dopers not been rampant around him.

Ashendon’s tests of the 99 samples actually showed a pretty low % of drug taking. It’s amazing that Lance’s lies are still being believed by some.

Where’s that infographic of the top ten finishers in the “Lance Years” where pretty much everyone has been done for takings preformance enhancing drugs?

before the lance years,what were they on Indurain etc Lemond?

He won in a culture of epidemic drug within the peleton so i guess he’s as guilty as the rest of his team mates and fellow competitors

What about all those who refused to dope and where fired straight back out of the sport for doing so?

Whatever the argument about morality and code of sporting conduct, I can’t get behind the case that he defrauded his sponsors.

While the myth rolled on, and while he did everything he could to make sure it continued to roll, his sponsors made money from his [ill-gotten] success. He cashed in, they cashed in. Everyone cashed in.

+1
The other people to cash in were the UCI – European road cycling reached parts it had never previously managed to break into, namely America. Everyone won because Lance was bigger than the sport. He was initially hailed (by most) as the saviour of the Tour after the debacle of the Festina affair (when most of the peloton were certainly doped up in well-organised team-managed doping rings). It’s why the UCI are just as culpable in this as the riders, the doctors and the managers but unfortunately, LA has handed them a get-out-of-jail-free card wiht that “confession”.

All that happened was that dopoing went underground. Before Festina, no-one asked becasue no-one wanted to know – even though it was generally accepted. After Festina, everyone was under pressure to at least look squeaky clean, the charade slightly hindered by the fact that EPO has just come onto the scene and is undetectable. So the UCI put in place an arbitrary 50% haemoglobin limit which the teams treat as effectively a licence to dope up to 50%. LA and Postal (as he correctly says) weren’t doing anything that wasn’t available to other teams (although LA seems to have managed to pay Ferrari enough money to ensure he’s only treating Postal riders).

It’s the way that the whole sorry tale has grown from several regularly repeated lies right through to this staged confession that has really hurt the sport and I think that LA is being held up as the king of doping while all those around him were poor unfortunate victims which certainly isn’t the case. I’d like to see a degree of consistency – lets strip Virenque of his numerous polka-dot jerseys, strip Ullrich, Riis, Pantani and Contador of their wins…

lets strip Virenque of his numerous polka-dot jerseys, strip Ullrich, Riis, Pantani and Contador of their wins…

I agree in principal….but where do you stop?

before the lance years,what were they on Indurain etc Lemond?

No real rumours but he failed an asthma inhaler once but was cleared-forget the exact details. I thing most accept he was a physiological freak tbh.

as for asking about whether le Mond did drugs 😯

no one thinks he cheated

LeMond is a longtime anti-doping advocate and a vocal opponent of performance-enhancing drug use. He first spoke on-record against doping in cycling after winning the 1989 Tour de France,[128] but LeMond attracted more substantial attention in 2001 when he publicly expressed doubts about the legitimacy of Lance Armstrong’s success after learning of his relationship with Dr. Michele Ferrari.[129][130][131] The intense criticism LeMond was subjected to for his comments placed him at the center of an anti-doping controversy.

LeMond has consistently questioned the relationship between riders and unethical sports doctors like Ferrari,[132] and has pointed out that the professional cyclists who make use of doping products are ultimately victimized by the process, likening their treatment to that of “lab rats.”[133] Said LeMond: “The doctors, the management, the officials, they’re the ones that have corrupted riders. The riders are the only ones that pay the price.”[133] LeMond’s most contentious or notable conflicts have been with fellow Tour de France riders Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador.

LeMond has also been directly critical of the UCI and its president, Pat McQuaid. In December 2012, LeMond claimed that a change needed to be made at the head of leadership for the UCI, and stated if called upon he would be willing to take the position himself if necessary to lead cycling out of the mire of doping. Said LeMond:

“It is now or never to act. After the earthquake caused by the Armstrong case, another chance will not arise. I am willing to invest to make this institution more democratic, transparent and look for the best candidate in the longer term.”[134]

LeMond was one of the first prominent professional cyclists to openly decry the sport’s descent into the corruption of doping.[citation needed] In response to LeMond’s call for new leadership, McQuaid rebuffed LeMond, preferring to focus on LeMond’s lack of administrative background, rather than defend his own record at the UCI. Said McQuaid: “The last 25 years, where has he been? Nowhere. Not involved in cycling. He is outside cycling, shouting at it looking in.”

I think Lemond “injected” himself with a bullet once…was Andy Hampsten clean? I liked him.

Where’s that infographic of the top ten finishers in the “Lance Years” where pretty much everyone has been done for takings preformance enhancing drugs?

Well like I said, 99 appeared to be quite a clean year, then Lance’s methods seem to have dragged it down into the pit. Maybe it would have happened anyway, but the financial allure and marketing of the cancer beating hero seemed to galvanise the UCI’s compliance.

How about a real hero who was robbed of his potential, Grahem Obree

I think it was Hamilton that said the tour was mostly clean in 99 as all the European teams were worried about the gendarme after Festina in 98, and that Postal came in fully prepared and blitzed them.

Well said MSP, Graeme Obree is the genuine article when it comes to cycling, he walked away from earning hundreds of thousands per year in when the team he signed for expected him to dope for the tour de france…

“I still feel I was robbed of part of my career. I was signed up to ride in the prologue of the Tour back in 1995, but it was made very obvious to me I would have to take drugs. I said no, no way, and I was sacked by my team. So there I was, 11 years later, sitting there waiting for the Tour cyclists to come by, and something welled up in me. I feel I was robbed by a lot of these bastards taking drugs. I also hate the way that people think anyone who has ever achieved anything on a bike must have been taking drugs.

I say hang lance out for the crows to pick his bones- then rip through every other suspected doper who still denies, strip them of all their wins, strip them of all the money they have made from cycling, strip them of whatever dignity they attempt to carry around.

Has anybody got a link to the first part of the interview that hasn’t been closed yet?

You know for me the worst thing about Lance Armstrong is the myth that you have to be a **** to win, he perpetuated that myth, and fathers have been teaching their sons and daughter that myth.

He won in a culture of epidemic drug within the peleton so i guess he’s as guilty as the rest of his team mates and fellow competitors

Like Simeoni and Bassons? I think you need to educate yourself a bit more on road cycling history before you come out with misinformed glib statements like that.
Actually it’s the Internet so carry on.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/lancearmstrong/9810883/Lance-Armstrongs-body-language-an-expert-analysis.html?frame=2455348

Can’t say I’ve really followed the armstrong case other than being disappointed he cheated someone out of that moment of glory which is very sad, like that shot puter who lost out on her moment at the olympics.

Surely anyone who completed the tour 7+ would have had a good chance of winning without drugs???

If Nike etc sue him for the money he earned, surly this should go back to the customers who bought their products as they liked lance.

Watching this on the Discovery Channel at the mo. He seems somewhat deluded by his own tapestry of lies and intimidation.

MrSmith
WTF? Well considering you sound so well read we might as well all give up now. I shudder….

Sorry Daisy, he is actually right. There is a huge amount of history to all this, Some of us are actually anal enough to read through the finer details, it’s quite important to us.

Re read my post especially your words I put I bold type.
Nothing wrong in having an opinion, even a contrary one but to suggest every rider was doping? That’s just naive (and incorrect)

Just in case any of the enablers feel they want to reach out you can give your support here.
http://www.lancesupport.org/blog/messages-of-support.html

Given all the requests for where to watch the interview, am I the only one deliberately not watching this interview (I’m happy to read transcripts, but that’s not the same thing)? It might not make any real difference, but I can’t help think that watching it is in some way enabling him.

I read the transcript and , by chance, caught the last 20 minutes or so.

You get a much better feel watching it than reading it.
He came over more sincere and open in person
he is still a **** and really should have been pushed on his treatment of others.

Jesus faced a mob that was eager to execute a woman caught in adultery. He put a stop to it with a simple challenge: anyone who has no sin in their life should step forward and throw the first stone. That sentence is often cited as a reminder to avoid judging others when there are faults in your own life that need to be addressed.

‘Those of you who have won the tour under the effects of epo and blood transfusions and have robbed the career’s of other speak now! Otherwise STFU as youve no idea what I’ve done!

I’m calling Oprah, there’s a few things I need to get off my chest.

Sputnik +1

Jesus isn’t real.

The Lance interview should of ended with him pedaling away on a tiny bike with training wheels

People believed him, they saw him perform miracles and heal the sick, they became disciples are bore his mark on their wrists and suffered persecution because of their faith.
Bit like Jesus then. (except the $250million fortune he conned out of people)

There are politicians who do far worse on a daily basis.

Jesus v Lance heard it all 🙄 so we can’t criticise or Judge Lance because we haven’t got our own houses in order. Get back on your soapbox.

lance needs to be Stoned with old 9sp cassettes 12-23 or 11-32 (well im not gonna use new one’s,you seen the price of good cassettes these days)

There are politicians who do far worse on a daily basis.

But they are no worse than you? I mean you squashed a fly once, you took a life just like that and we are all equal under the eyes of the lord?

Here’s a biblical word for you: Hippocrite

There are politicians who do far worse on a daily basis.

I dont agree and even f true everyone knows two wrongs dont make a right

I feel I need to confess to Oprah for all the recreational drugs I took from 1991 – 2001 , I didn’t win any tournaments but did cycle to work during those times. I also went out with a 50 mile an hour tailwind to blag a top Strava segment. 🙁

Anyone else feel cheated once again by lance with these interviews? They looked as though they were going to reveal something but there is nothing. He is upset that he got a lifetime ban when others got 6months but when he got that chance he turned it down and went after the USADA instead. He thinks he has ended up ‘in a place not of his making’ but I suspect many would disagree with that

anyone got a youtube link for part 2 ?

During the bit where he choked up while talking about his kids, I found myself wondering whether this was just someone doing a convincing impression of emotion. The ability to fake emotion to manipulate others is another classic psychopathic trait.
The most revealing moment for me was in part 1, where he described “apologising” to Betsy Andreu. He admitted calling her crazy and a bitch, but was indignant that she “wrongly” claimed he also called her fat. That wee anecdote spoke volumes about the man, his absence of normal self awareness, and how contrite he really is.