Lance Armstrong Banned and Stripped of TDF Titles

[Eldron]

Fook me the haters are more blind than the fanboys.

 

Lance won a bucket of tours - to say it was all the drugs is to do technology and strategy a diservice.

 

Lance took drugs - no doubt. He probably assisted others in doping but to turn a blind eye to the other areas that Lance changed the tour is to make yourself a cycling ostrich.

 

Lance perfected the "blue train" - he bought, moulded and made tour winning machines. Boring as hell but tour winning for sure.

He was obsessive about how to ride a bike - he made the >100 cadence thing popular.

He used all means available (legal and not) - how many other athletes were sleeping in hypobaric chambers or going to the wind tunnel on a weekly/monthly basis? Not many.

He was equipment befok. Enough said.

 

In my opinion there was no other athlete exploring the amounts of avenues in technology, science and startegy that he was. Pity about the illegal ones.

 

I aint no fanboy but you have to admire the length's the man would go to to win.

[Wyatt Earp]

Dangle

 

Maybe a NOBODY was harsh.

 

He would have been a SOMEBODY like the following 15 guys who finished immediately ahead of him in his last tour prior to his "cancer".

 

 

Laurent Dufaux

Vicente Aparicio

Jean-Cyril Robin

Arsenio Gonzalez

Federico Muñoz

Vladimir Poulnikov

Massimo Podenzana

Laudelino Cubino

Laurent Brochard

Beat Zberg

Yvon Ledanois

Johan Bruyneel

Oscar Pelliccioli

Alberto Elli

Jean-François Bernard

Herminio Diaz

 

Most of them are complete nobodies to anyone outside hard core cycling circles (except JB now, maybe, and only because of his LA involvement).

 

That was the sense in which I used the term......

 

I knew

I was just taking a dig knowing that the haters would have something to add

 

Beat Zberg, now there is a wasted talent.

[Eldron]

 

 

I knew

I was just taking a dig knowing that the haters would have something to add

 

Beat Zberg, now there is a wasted talent.

 

Damn. Now thats a name I haven't heard in ages.

 

Seems silly but I reckon Fat Jan is the most wasted talent in cycling. Can you imagine the skillz if he didn't start the season 10kg overweight after smacking pills and crashing Porsches? The mind boggles!

[Andrew Steer]

I knew

I was just taking a dig knowing that the haters would have something to add

 

Beat Zberg, now there is a wasted talent.

His brother Marcus was the better of the two if I recall... Sjoe, I am getting old

[Andrew Steer]

My personal opinion on all of this...

I can't stand Lance as a person, he typifies for me the selfish nature of the modern human being. Beyond the doping, it's more the bullying, the corruption and the great big fraud that is his 'story'.

 

As an athlete though, you have to respect what he did and drove himself to do. He didn't just dope his way to 7 tours, the doping was just a part of the process. He wasn't just the best doper, he trained hard and perfected every other aspect required to win the tour, and he did it. I don't like what he did, and I'm glad he has gone down in flames, but the guy was the best of a bad bunch...

 

That said, I'd have a heap load more respect for the guy if he actually just came clean and donated much of his massive wealth to fighting the scourge that is doping. If he gave a toss about the sport and wanted to try make right what he did, that could be a way out for him. I'm not holding my breath though.

[Tumbleweed]

Damn. Now thats a name I haven't heard in ages.

 

Seems silly but I reckon Fat Jan is the most wasted talent in cycling. Can you imagine the skillz if he didn't start the season 10kg overweight after smacking pills and crashing Porsches? The mind boggles!

 

Made him interesting...Go Jan

[Andrew Steer]

Damn. Now thats a name I haven't heard in ages.

 

Seems silly but I reckon Fat Jan is the most wasted talent in cycling. Can you imagine the skillz if he didn't start the season 10kg overweight after smacking pills and crashing Porsches? The mind boggles!

Ullrich with Lance's 'determination' =

[Eldron]

That said, I'd have a heap load more respect for the guy if he actually just came clean and donated much of his massive wealth to fighting the scourge that is doping. If he gave a toss about the sport and wanted to try make right what he did, that could be a way out for him. I'm not holding my breath though.

 

I'm with you on all fronts...except the last bit.

 

So the others 'fessed up. Hincapie for example. He 'fessed up after he retired and with a USADA gun to his head. To me that doesn't make it any better than Lance.

 

Also - my big question is - why bother? 6 month ban for Hincapie or lifetime ban for Armstrong makes zero difference in my book. They get to keep it all - fame, cash and lifestyle.

 

It's like me defrauding my company of millions then 'fessing up when I'm 65 and they tell me I can keep the cash but never work for them again. Big frikkin deal.

 

In my opinion the whole USADA investigation resulted in a few wrist smacks - no real punishment was meeted out...

[Eldron]

Ullrich with Lance's 'determination' =

 

Now THATS frightening!

[fandacious]

 

I aint no fanboy but you have to admire the length's the man would go to to win.

 

my point exactly. To claim he didnt do anything different from any other rider is just fkn stupid

[TNT1]

cos the playing field was level after all. All of them were cheating.

 

Guys, can we get one thing straight, that the guys were all doping most certainly does not equal a level playing field.

 

Science.

[Andrew Steer]

I'm with you on all fronts...except the last bit.

 

So the others 'fessed up. Hincapie for example. He 'fessed up after he retired and with a USADA gun to his head. To me that doesn't make it any better than Lance.

 

Also - my big question is - why bother? 6 month ban for Hincapie or lifetime ban for Armstrong makes zero difference in my book. They get to keep it all - fame, cash and lifestyle.

 

It's like me defrauding my company of millions then 'fessing up when I'm 65 and they tell me I can keep the cash but never work for them again. Big frikkin deal.

 

In my opinion the whole USADA investigation resulted in a few wrist smacks - no real punishment was meeted out...

I agree in some regard, the ban is basically a token, but Lance was the big gun, he had the shares in the team, he had the control and the power - he drove the doping machine. Many of those guys quite possibly did it because of Lance. I also think while it might not hit their pockets (although Levi got fired!), their images will never be the same.

Hincapie (and the same goes for Leipheimer, VDV etc) was an American cycling legend, now he goes down in history as a doping cheat. His great rides at Roubaix, his Tour de France stage win... everyone knows he did it through doping. It's not the same level as Lance, but I do feel their has been severe damage to their reputations as great American cyclists.

 

There is also that A-hole Bruyneel who we will hopefully never see managing a rider again in his life! (the various doctors etc too who have been booted etc)

Edited November 13, 2012 by ChunkyMunky

[Skott5]

 

 

Guys, can we get one thing straight, that the guys were all doping most certainly does not equal a level playing field.

 

Science.

 

It will never be really straight because how much of an advantage did he have, over whom at what stage ?

There will always be more questions than there are answers.

[Wyatt Earp]

Ullrich with Lance's 'determination' =

And Fignon's gentlemanly nature.

[HappyMartin]

Fignon won the wooden spoon on more than 1 occasion I think. Funny he came across as such a nice guy in his book

[dracs]

Guys, can we get one thing straight, that the guys were all doping most certainly does not equal a level playing field.

 

Science.

Maybe not but its not like LA was the only one with access to Ferrari. You pays your money and spend your time - you gets your advantage.

 

Its no different to the science of training, recovery, equipment etc. None of those are a level playing field in the sense that each guy / team works hard as hell to tilt the field in their own favour.

Edited November 13, 2012 by dracs