Lance finally throws in the towel on his fight against doping charges

[Far from massive]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/mo...icle-1.1143295

What a fvkn waste of resources...after all this time, I hate the USada and all that it encompasses.

[JohnnyVegas]

I think he doped. Now he wants to salvage his financial future and doesn't want all his dirty laundry exposed in the arbitration. Personally, I don't have anything against the guy. He competed in the dirtiest sport on the planet. He competed in the same way that everyone else did. His doping (my opinion), combined with his work ethic and genetic gifts made him an unbeatable powerhouse.

I feel like it is a waste of resources too, but I don't have anything against a governing body that is supposed to make doping harder (it would be naive to think they would cause doping to stop). I also understand why they went after him specifically. The consequences may now discourage others from doping. They will be afraid that they will be caught in the future when testing gets better and all their accomplishments will be wiped out.

[Razor]

This is such bullshit, even if he did, they all did, but they could never prove he did, so he didnt on record, I dont know how this is even legal.

[JohnnyVegas]

This is such bullshit, even if he did, they all did, but they could never prove he did, so he didnt on record, I dont know how this is even legal.

I am pretty sure they have him this time. They have new testing that shows probable tampering with samples they have in storage (he will say they have been tampered with). They have a lot of witnesses that will now testify against him because they got caught and have nothing to lose (he will say they are being rewarded for lying about him). His doctor and others involved with his "care" have already been banned or also entering arbitration for helping others dope - why would he have a team whose specialty seems to be doping?

His statement doesn't say he never doped. It says he played by the same rules as everyone else and never tested positive. I think he is being careful to never directly proclaim that he never doped.

I agree with you that they were all doping.

[Times Roman]

here is a link to his statement

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...rong-statement

[Far from massive]

Whether he doped and what constitutes doping are really complex in this case.

The man only had one testicle due to cancer so certainly one would imagine that he supplemented his testosterone within guidelines established by the UCI ( the actual governing body of most all big league bicycle races) this in itself becomes enough to make many feel he had an unfair advantage. That is if the Max levels of test and test to epitest are X for an exceptionally healthy male, I would think that in a month long endurace event that being able to artificially maintain these levels at the maximum while others levels fall is enough to cause hate (from fellow competitors) right there. Conversly what do you do say a guy who was a great champion then fell victim to cancer, that he is not allowed to compete?


Then you get into the whole thing of what is good for the sport in general? If you go back 10, 15 years and use these new findings to strip titles of those who passed all tests (thousands in this case given day or night on or off season) who is going to want to be a fan of the sport? Who will buy teashirts etc.? What corporations will risk association with the sports?

And when you start allowing testimony from other athletes who test positive to be used as evidence....damn what a can of worms they have opened.

Further if you strip Lance of his titles and award them to the second place finisher are you now going to apply the same levels of scrutiny to his career as you did to Lances? If so you may be in for a lot of name changes as most anyone in pro-cycling at that level has used at some point...particularly when they did not think they would be the one under the winners microscope.

Eddie Merckx the other great champion was also an alleged doper, seems one of his close relatives was well placed in a pharmaceutical company. Should we apply the same standards to him as well?

What a mess, my thoughts are that once a title has been awarded and all postrace tests have been deemed negative its time to close the books on that chapter. In my opinion any benefit gained from this kind of action is far outwieghed by the negatives.

[JohnnyVegas]

I read something today that talked about all the people that came in second that will be given the TDF wins. They all have doping issues. Are they going to investigate him the same way they did Armstrong?

This is a big mess.

[manmachine]

I second that thought ffm...Usada are a political entity. Full of hypocrites and liars.

I really hope Lance doesn't appease the governing bodies and the rest of the morons who don't get it-
by 'admitting' anything when he appears on Oprah on the 17th. The sport, as much as I love it, is full of hypocrites,
thieves, enablers, and liars. It's more about money the politics of the sport than anything else.