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Quote:
Floyd Landis confesses to doping and implicates Lance Armstrong

 

Floyd Landis, the American cyclist who was stripped of his 2006 Tour De France victory after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone, has admitted to systematic use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.

 

He also claimed that other riders and cycling officials allegedly participated in doping, including Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner. Armstrong, whose stunning recovery from cancer has made him a household name in international cycling, has always denied taking performance enhancing drugs and never failed a drugs test.

 

Seems he has been letting off steam and naming lots of names.

 

Hasn't Armstrong always denied strongly any drug action?

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I read Lances first book. In it he mentioned that after his long cancer treatment involving multiple daily drug injections, that he really had had enough of drugs and needles.

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I think that Lance will say (if he ever admits to anything)...

 

I didn't take drugs...what I did was inject myself with my own blood...

 

(blood doping).

 

In his mind that is not cheating...

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Originally Posted By: Paul Kimmage
My reaction...the enthusiasm that I had built up about the sport in the last couple of years has been all but completely wiped out in the last couple of hours.

Let’s turn the clock back to Armstrong’s last apparition in the sport. The Tour de France 2005. He’s standing on the podium. And he makes this big impassioned speech. Which is basically saying ‘The last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics, the sceptics: I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big. I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles.’ That was 2005, his last ride in the the Tour de France. And the people flanking him on that podium were Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich. And a month after that race ended the French newspaper L’Equipe reported that in his first winning Tour de France, in 1999, Armstrong had tested positive for EPO. Six separate samples taken during that race revealed positive tests for EPO.

This return, he wants us to believe that it’s all about saving the world from cancer. That’s complete bullshit. It’s about revenge It’s about ego. It’s about Lance Armstrong. I think he’s trying to rewrite his exit from the sport. He’s sat back and he’s watched the last two years and he cannot stand the idea that there are clean cyclists now that will overtake his legacy and buy the memory of all the crap that he put the sport through.

When I heard it being mooted first that he was coming back, I thought well that’s fine, because the first thing ASO are going to say is ‘sorry Lance, we’ve seen your results from the 1999 tests , you’re not coming back.’ I expected a similar statement from Pat McQuaid. What’s happened instead is that Christian Prudhomme has said ‘yes, you can come back, no problem.’ And Pat McQiad has said ‘I really admire this man, he’s a tremendous ambassador for cycling.’ What we’re getting here is the corporate dollars and the money that’s going to accompany this guy back into the game. The money that’s going to bring for Nike, one of the big sponsors of the Tour. And for the UCI, who have been experiencing some serious problems in the last couple of years.

Much as you want to say the sport has changed, as quickly as they can change their own opinions – McQuaid, who says one thing in private and quite the opposite in public, and Prudhomme – if they can change so quickly then I’m sorry, it’s really very, very difficult to have any optimism with regard to Armstrong and the way the sport was moving forward. For me, if he comes back next year, the sport takes two steps back.

I spent the whole Tour this year with Slipstream, the Garmin team. That wasn’t by accident. I chose that team deliberately, because of what they were saying about the sport and the message they were putting out. But also the fact that so many of that team had raced with Armstrong during his best years and knew exactly what he got up to. And the stuff that I learnt on that Tour about him and what he was really like was absolutely shocking, really shocking.

What’s going to happen now is he comes back and everybody’s going to wave their hands in the air and give him a big clap. And all the guys who really know what he’s about are going to feel so utterly and totally depressed. And I’m talking about Jonathan Vuaghthers, who raced with Armstrong that first winning Tour and who doped. And if you look at that Tour, Armstrong’s first win, there were seven Americans on that team. Frankie Andreu has said he used EPO. Tyler Hamilton has been done for [blood doping]. George Hincapie was exposed as a doper by Emma O’Reilly, the team soigneur. Christian Vand Velde and Jonathan Vaughters … both are members of Slipstream and would promote the notion that this was not a clean team by any means. When you look at that and what Armstrong’s done and how he’s seemingly got away with it, it just makes his come back very hard to stomach.

Astana’s the absolute perfect team for him. He’d be renewing his old acquaintance with Bruyneel, who wanted to hire Basso last year. Will he be renewing his old acquaintance with Ferrari, the famous doctor? Will Bruyneel be taking pictures of the questioning journalists and pinning them on the side of his bus?

When Armstrong talks about transparency, this is the greatest laugh. When he talks about embracing this new transparency … I’m really looking forward to that. I’m really looking forward to my first interview request with him and seeing how that comes back. Because that would really make it interesting.

This guy, any other way but his bullying and intimidation wrapped up in this great cloak, the great cancer martyr … this is what he hides behind all the time. The great man who conquered cancer. Well he is the cancer in this sport. And for two years this sport has been in remission. And now the cancer’s back."
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From wikipedia

 

Quote:
In October 2005, in response to calls from the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for an independent investigation, the UCI appointed Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman to investigate the handling of urine tests by the French national anti-doping laboratory, LNDD. Vrijman was head of the Dutch anti-doping agency for ten years; since then he has worked as a defense attorney defending high-profile athletes against doping charges.[87] Vrijman's report cleared Armstrong because of improper handling and testing.[88][89] The report said tests on urine samples were conducted improperly and fell so short of scientific standards that it was "completely irresponsible" to suggest they "constitute evidence of anything."[90] The recommendation of the commission's report was no disciplinary action against any rider on the basis of LNDD research. It also called upon the WADA and LNDD to submit themselves to an investigation by an outside independent authority.[91] The WADA rejected these conclusions.[92] The IOC Ethics Commission subsequently censured Dick Pound, the President of WADA and a member of the IOC, for his statements in the media that suggested wrongdoing by Armstrong.
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I think there are too many rumours from sources too close to him for Armstrong to be clean. He also seems to have a remarkable talent for getting people to dislike him. Many top sportsmen are highly regarded as people, American ones included.

 

I watch the Tour de France sometimes, but mainly for the scenery.

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6134_126654861479_615861479_3470734.jpg

 

I went and had a look at a stage last year. To be honest I just dont see how it is possible without drugs. This was 7% grade that went for over 7km and the guys were doing in excess 20km/kr UP the hill. They are still doing this at the end of the tour too.

 

Great day though, even if I only saw the riders for less then 15 mins total smile

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we were talking about this the other nght and 1 of my friends, who is a keen cyclist himself, said the same thing Pete. He just couldn't see how they could maintain the pace for such a gruelling length of time

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building those thigh muscles must take some doing.

 

Some cyclists got cut in the thigh from a fall and it gushed everywhere. The amount of blood spilled was a clear indicator he was doped.

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Originally Posted By: scouser
I say they must train for at least one hour a day, at least 4 days a week. And only eat chips, curry and beer on a weekend.


lol
Never watched the Tour de France for more than 5 minutes.
Seemed very boring. Whats the appeal of watching... other than the scenery?!
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