Lance Armstrong Banned and Stripped of TDF Titles

[JGR]

On a different matter..........so how do we fix this?

 

Can't they plant some sort of chip into the tour riders body for the four weeks monitoring blood volumes and "dead" redcells? When transfusing there is always a number of dead cells...

 

Or each team leader needs an permanent escort from a doping agency. A guy that basically follows him around everywhere... almost like a bodyguard....?

 

Or they need to test every bloody riders Hematocrit level for everysingle day of the TDF.....

Before and after ....

[JGR]

Lance Armstrong is innocent of doping - Miguel Indurain

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/20048066

[jcza]

Shameless is the word for cycling's 'Teflon' McQuaid and his UCI pals

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/james-lawton-shameless-is-the-word-for-cyclings-teflon-mcquaid-and-his-uci-pals-8223637.html

[jcza]

Alpe d'Huez Mayor wants Armstrong’s name removed from climb

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/alpe-dhuez-mayor-wants-armstrongs-name-removed-from-climb?ns_campaign=news&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

[Joe Low]

Adelaide mayor says that LA can keep the keys to the city, adding that:

 

"....to be honest, they dont open anything".

[andydude]

Fix what, years of wrong doping and something that has become a bit of a tradition in our sport.

Sadly it can't be fixed, but what does need fixing is most peoples confusion, Armstrong high profile person, multiple tour winner and now loser, lying "psychopath", son of Satan and where do we stop, but Contador is simply awesome.

Perhaps the fixing needs to begin at home.

 

Try to stay positive, Dangle!

 

You can't fix history, only learn from it. And hopefully you can take what you learned and apply it sensibly to the future. How do you stop doping? I actually don't know, but I think it might be an interesting question for Ross Tucker and Jonathan Dugas.

[jcza]

Adelaide mayor says that LA can keep the keys to the city, adding that:

 

"....to be honest, they dont open anything".

 

Hahahaha

[nickc]

I see in the TDF presentation this morning they are expecting the ASO to clarify what they will do with the 7 x Tour results.

[jcza]

I see in the TDF presentation this morning they are expecting the ASO to clarify what they will do with the 7 x Tour results.

 

I thought Prudhomme already said that it will be blank. Saw interview on rooftop in Paris.

[nickc]

On a different matter..........so how do we fix this?

 

Can't they plant some sort of chip into the tour riders body for the four weeks monitoring blood volumes and "dead" redcells? When transfusing there is always a number of dead cells...

 

Or each team leader needs an permanent escort from a doping agency. A guy that basically follows him around everywhere... almost like a bodyguard....?

 

Or they need to test every bloody riders Hematocrit level for everysingle day of the TDF.....

 

 

They did that with big Jan Ullrich - but that was his own team, to stop him doing midnite raids on the Kitchen looking for Pork Pies.

 

They were battling to keep his weight down and he had a particular weakness for Pork Pies.

[nickc]

I see in the TDF presentation this morning they are expecting the ASO to clarify what they will do with the 7 x Tour results.

 

Also heard that - maybe he is just going to confirm, or maybe they have some other idea.

[jcza]

Also heard that - maybe he is just going to confirm, or maybe they have some other idea.

 

And they want their prize money refunded

[nickc]

And they want their prize money refunded

 

Yeah - that to.

[Velouria]

Is there not some form of statute of limitations on this - I read this somewhere - maybe thats why not a big thing being made of it at the moment.

 

Not to sure.

Probably on Anna Zimmerman's blog:

 

Perjury - 3 years:

"But the statute of limitations for perjury is generally three years from the time the perjured statement was made, which in this case was November of 2005, or seven years ago."

 

Fraud - 5 years:

"But again, I’m just waxing and waning on moot points because the statute of limitations expired in 2009, five years after his contract with the USPS ended."

 

"Even though I think (based on the USADA’s report) that Lance Armstrong probably defrauded the government while employed as a member of the USPS-funded team by doping in violation of the written rules of professional cycling and in doing so he also committed insurance fraud by accepting the $7.5M payout from SCA Promotions and lastly he perjured himself while testifying in that case, the statute of limitations appear to have fully expired on every single one of these criminal charges, which means he’s off the hook."

[jcza]

Some more detail on the 8 year statute of limitations

 

No action may be commenced against an Athlete or other Person for an anti-doping rule violation contained in the Code unless such action is commenced within eight (8) years from the date the violation is asserted to have occurred.

 

A plain reading of Article 17 would prevent USADA from bringing an action, even in arbitration, against Armstrong for the period of 1999 through 2004. In fact Armstrong makes reference to the eight year statute of limitations in his statement of August 23, 2012 , "I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own 8-year limitation." There is one, and only one, arbitration decision that permitted USADA to toll (to delay, suspend or hold off the effect of a statute) the statute of limitation in Article 17. In the case of Eddy Hellebuyck (you can see a more in depth discussion of the case here), the arbitration panel determined that in cases in which "fraudulent concealment" such as perjury exists, the USADA can toll the statute of limitations. With the Hellebuyck case, Hellebuyck admitted that he lied to an arbitration panel in 2004 and also admitted that he had in fact doped, contrary to the assertions in his prior testimony. With Armstrong, USADA would have to argue that the arbitration panel should follow the Hellebuyck decision (the decision of a different arbitration panel is advisory, it does not create precedent or stare decisis) and would have to prove that committed fraudulent concealment that prevented USADA from discovering his alleged violations until now.

 

In addition, Armstrong's decision is confusing because it states that "[w]e have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction," yet arbitration hearings will go forward and evidence will be presented even with Armstrong's decision to forgo arbitration. On July 14, 2012, Johan Bruyneel, former US Postal and Discovery directeur sportif when Armstrong won his seven Tour de France titles, informed USADA that he would go forward with the arbitration process. The allegations against Bruyneel, including conspiracy to promote doping, are very similar to the allegations against Armstrong and will likely involve the same evidence and the same testimony from the same witnesses. While Armstrong will not be participating in the arbitration proceedings, he will likely continue to be the center of attention in Bruyneel's hearing. Armstrong's decision to accept USADA's sanctions without an arbitration hearing will not end the media circus, it only creates additional speculation. Given Armstrong and Bruyneel's close relationship, it will be interesting to see if Bruyneel continues to pursue arbitration or is he also agrees to accept a life time ban.

[DirtyFrank]

Let me start by saying that I am not a LA fanboy in the purest sense but I do think he is undoubtedly one of the greatest cyclists ever. Did he use some chemical help? absolutely. Is he lieing about it ? sure. But they all did, at that level ! You don`t get to that height without exploiting every conceivable method at you disposal that you can get away with, be that trainers, equipment, diets, team support, meditation.....whatever gets the job done providing you can get away with it within the application of the rules! Was he caught out at the time, possibly, but no allegations stuck. For many of the others that were caught, tough luck. Point is they were caught red handed within a reasonable timeframe, not years after the fact and largely based on the bleating of some major sinners with a sudden attack of conscience. He did not get to the levels of achievement through EPO and testosterone alone contrary to some of the haters and whingers posts. He`s easy to hate, no doubt, arrogant, bullying, ambitious....but equally easy to admire, tough, focussed, intelligent, brilliant rider ( the Beloki shortcut incident springs to mind!) I don`t believe that any of the past winners were clean , and i don`t care, it`s high level sport and they wanted to win, they all played by the same unspoken rule( don`t get caught!) Do we now strip all the past winners of their titles and hand the yellow jerseys to the also rans? You`d have to believe in fairy tales if you think top level sport is totally drug free!

I think the USDA with their rabid and typical hypocrictical Yank attitude have done the the sport so much harm with the irony that Armstrong as one of their own did a lot of good for the sport etc.( I can feel those flamethrowers lighting up !) The UCI have joined the crusade to try and save face but the truth is they are directly implicated in that they knew what was going on all along but ignored it in the interest of BIG business. Heads must roll there too if the sport is to regain some cred.

A lot of speculation is going on now regarding possible law suits against Armstrong by sponsors etc. but that would be absurd i.m.o. as they all got their moneys worth from Armstrongs success, If they now go and claim their money back they`d better be willing to pay it all back to the suckers who bought their Jawbones and vitamins in the first place.That is unlikely to happen but you can bet that a lot of lawyers are nursing their hard ons as we speak!

All of the above has been said before and none of it will change anything. I will only loose major respect for Lance if he rolls over under this pressure and blubbers a confession as per the other soft c*cks. Untill then he will always be one of the greatest in my eyes chemicals or not, I am not naive enough to believe in fairy tales!

Edited October 25, 2012 by DirtyFrank