Lance Armstrong Banned and Stripped of TDF Titles

[Stevief]

Have the past few months been crazy, emotional, frightening and full of lots of scandalous – truly scandalous – lies that sadly you can't talk about right now for legal reasons?

2 Would you like to see an uplifting montage of slow-motion footage of you looking triumphant and sad, soundtracked by Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes?

3 If you feel the need to cry, or even make your voice wobble a little like you're going to cry but instead fight back those tears and take a breath and keep right on with what you were saying because dammit you're better than this and you owe it to not just the world but to yourself to tell this story then do you think, Lance, that you might be best just giving in to it?

4 Do you by any chance have a folksy anecdote about something your father said to you when you were a very small boy, perhaps while sitting on a porch or playing catch in the back yard? You do?

5 Would you like to talk for quite a long time about what Being An American means to you?

6 Is there a sense that perhaps a lot of people have always been jealous of your success? That maybe there was and remains a lot of jealousy out there, a lot of European jealousy, a British press-led European conspiracy of jealousy? Do you think, Lance, that might be a possibility? I'm just putting it out there.

7 Looking back, how badly did the death of your dog when you were seven years old affect you? Looking at this picture of your dog can you feel the tears welling up, the anger coming out? Can you feel the tears for your dog? Would you like to reach out and pat the dog? Pat the dog, Lance. Cry. Cry and pat the dog.

8 Do you by any chance have plans for a nationwide tour of schools speaking about the dangers of caring too much, falling foul of the temptations of others, being at the wrong end of a vast sporting witch-hunt and basically not learning to love yourself enough?

9 How about a new book too? Possibly something in big type with lots of pictures called Lance: My Longest Journey or Lance: A New Hope or perhaps just Lance: I Suffered For Your Sins?

10 Shall we hug now

[Stevief]

Have the past few months been crazy, emotional, frightening and full of lots of scandalous – truly scandalous – lies that sadly you can't talk about right now for legal reasons?

 

2 Would you like to see an uplifting montage of slow-motion footage of you looking triumphant and sad, soundtracked by Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes?

 

3 If you feel the need to cry, or even make your voice wobble a little like you're going to cry but instead fight back those tears and take a breath and keep right on with what you were saying because dammit you're better than this and you owe it to not just the world but to yourself to tell this story then do you think, Lance, that you might be best just giving in to it?

 

4 Do you by any chance have a folksy anecdote about something your father said to you when you were a very small boy, perhaps while sitting on a porch or playing catch in the back yard? You do?

 

5 Would you like to talk for quite a long time about what Being An American means to you?

6 Is there a sense that perhaps a lot of people have always been jealous of your success? That maybe there was and remains a lot of jealousy out there, a lot of European jealousy, a British press-led European conspiracy of jealousy? Do you think, Lance, that might be a possibility? I'm just putting it out there.

 

7 Looking back, how badly did the death of your dog when you were seven years old affect you? Looking at this picture of your dog can you feel the tears welling up, the anger coming out? Can you feel the tears for your dog? Would you like to reach out and pat the dog? Pat the dog, Lance. Cry. Cry and pat the dog.

 

8 Do you by any chance have plans for a nationwide tour of schools speaking about the dangers of caring too much, falling foul of the temptations of others, being at the wrong end of a vast sporting witch-hunt and basically not learning to love yourself enough?

 

9 How about a new book too? Possibly something in big type with lots of pictures called Lance: My Longest Journey or Lance: A New Hope or perhaps just Lance: I Suffered For Your Sins?

10 Shall we hug now

[HeyYou]

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/blazin-saddles/lance-owes-hundreds-apologies-035434926.html;_ylt=As81Vy6QJfYJBn.JqEiIiFxng4t4;_ylu=X3oDMTRkNWFxZXAwBG1pdANFeHBlcnQgTW9kdWxlIEN5Y2xpbmcEcGtnA2E2M2Q1MGFmLTAyYTUtMzFmMC1iNmU5LWIxNGIxN2E2NzY4OQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDTWVkaWFCTGlzdE1peGVkTFBDQVRlbXAEdmVyAzZkMzBjYTUwLTVhNGEtMTFlMi1iZWQxLWE0MmIyYWNiYTg1OA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFsdnFuZ2w5BGludGwDZ2IEbGFuZwNlbi1nYgRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANjeWNsaW5nBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

[carbon29er]

Two interesting articles from the UK:

Pass the sick bucket while Lance Armstrong 'confesses' to Oprah Winfrey

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/lancearmstrong/9791759/Pass-the-sick-bucket-while-Lance-Armstrong-confesses-to-Oprah-Winfrey.html

 

and

 

Lance Armstrong confession will be be soap Oprah

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/9791770/Lance-Armstrong-confession-will-be-be-soap-Oprah.html

[Cav']

She should ask him if he actually did have cancer.

[HappyMartin]

 

 

Frankie quit after USPS did not renew his contract. Do you really think he never doped?

 

Betsy knew LA doped and then saw him become a multi-millionaire and national hero while her husband didn't even get a contract. You can understand why she is bitter. I really do, but I still don't care much for her. You open yourself up to these kind of things when you think you are the arbitrator of the truth.

 

Same thing with Walsh. He was right all allong and we can give that to him. But, no one would even have known who he is if it wasn't for LA.

 

The controversy around LA made many of these people and will continue to do so for a very long time.

 

That is a weird argument. Because LA tramples on someone you get to hear of there existence and so they should be grateful to Lance for the favor. Really? Her life would have been better if she never came across LA. Don't think he made her rich or anything and I'm pretty sure being slated on the hub was not something she was hoping for as far as a measurement of a successful life.

[petatodd]

Now this is really braking news. Not.

 

 

Lausanne laboratory gave Armstrong key to beating EPO test

 

 

 

USADA chief details discussion with Saugy

USADA CEO Travis Tygart believes that the head of the WADA laboratory in Lausanne provided Lance Armstrong with the necessary information to avoid positive tests for EPO in the early part of the last decade.

Martial Saugy has already admitted to meeting with Armstrong and US Postal manager Johan Bruyneel to explain how the EPO test worked in 2001, a year after Armstrong returned a ‘suspect sample’ at the Tour de Suisse, which had been tested in Lausanne.

Speaking in an interview with Showtime’s 60 Minutes Sports programme on Wednesday evening, Tygart recalled meeting Saugy at a dinner in 2010 and discussing Armstrong’s sample from the 2001 Tour de Suisse.

“He [saugy] sat beside me and said there are samples from Lance Armstrong that indicated EPO use. He also told us that he had been instructed by the UCI to meet Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel to explain the EPO testing process,” Tygart said.

“I asked him: ‘Did you give Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel the keys to beating the EPO test?’ And he nodded his head yes. He explained it to the two of them. As far as I know, it’s unprecedented. It’s totally inappropriate to bring in an athlete with a suspicious test and explain to them how the EPO test works.”

Swiss Cycling president Richard Chassot, meanwhile, moved to defend the reputation of Saugy and the Lausanne laboratory. “In many cases, notably the Landis affair, they haven’t been afraid to put themselves in danger,” Chassot told 20min.ch. “Martial Saugy is a good and serious guy, who has often taken a strong position against doping.

“Regarding the samples tested, there are only numbers on a tube. At the laboratory in Lausanne, they couldn’t say to themselves, ‘This is Armstrong’s sample, he can’t be positive.’ If something happened, it’s at UCI level.”

Elsewhere in the 60 Minutes interview, Tygart confirmed that USADA had rejected an offer of a donation from Armstrong in excess of $150,000 in 2004, saying: “It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA and we had no hesitation in rejecting that offer.”

Tygart also discussed the responsibilities of heading up USADA’s investigation into doping at Armstrong’s US Postal Service team, which continued after a federal investigation of the squad was shelved in February of last year. Tygart said that USADA had a duty to make full and correct use of the funding it received from the US government.

“We’re always concerned about the grant we get from the federal government,” Tygart said. “If we’re unwilling to take this case and help this sport move forward, then we’re here for naught. We should shut down. And if they want to shut us down for doing our job on behalf of clean athletes, for clean competition, then shut us down.”

 

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lausanne-laboratory-gave-armstrong-key-to-beating-epo-test-says-tygart

[Jaco-fiets]

Now this is really braking news. Not.

 

 

Lausanne laboratory gave Armstrong key to beating EPO test

 

 

 

USADA chief details discussion with Saugy

USADA CEO Travis Tygart believes that the head of the WADA laboratory in Lausanne provided Lance Armstrong with the necessary information to avoid positive tests for EPO in the early part of the last decade.

Martial Saugy has already admitted to meeting with Armstrong and US Postal manager Johan Bruyneel to explain how the EPO test worked in 2001, a year after Armstrong returned a ‘suspect sample’ at the Tour de Suisse, which had been tested in Lausanne.

Speaking in an interview with Showtime’s 60 Minutes Sports programme on Wednesday evening, Tygart recalled meeting Saugy at a dinner in 2010 and discussing Armstrong’s sample from the 2001 Tour de Suisse.

“He [saugy] sat beside me and said there are samples from Lance Armstrong that indicated EPO use. He also told us that he had been instructed by the UCI to meet Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel to explain the EPO testing process,” Tygart said.

“I asked him: ‘Did you give Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel the keys to beating the EPO test?’ And he nodded his head yes. He explained it to the two of them. As far as I know, it’s unprecedented. It’s totally inappropriate to bring in an athlete with a suspicious test and explain to them how the EPO test works.”

Swiss Cycling president Richard Chassot, meanwhile, moved to defend the reputation of Saugy and the Lausanne laboratory. “In many cases, notably the Landis affair, they haven’t been afraid to put themselves in danger,” Chassot told 20min.ch. “Martial Saugy is a good and serious guy, who has often taken a strong position against doping.

“Regarding the samples tested, there are only numbers on a tube. At the laboratory in Lausanne, they couldn’t say to themselves, ‘This is Armstrong’s sample, he can’t be positive.’ If something happened, it’s at UCI level.”

Elsewhere in the 60 Minutes interview, Tygart confirmed that USADA had rejected an offer of a donation from Armstrong in excess of $150,000 in 2004, saying: “It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA and we had no hesitation in rejecting that offer.”

Tygart also discussed the responsibilities of heading up USADA’s investigation into doping at Armstrong’s US Postal Service team, which continued after a federal investigation of the squad was shelved in February of last year. Tygart said that USADA had a duty to make full and correct use of the funding it received from the US government.

“We’re always concerned about the grant we get from the federal government,” Tygart said. “If we’re unwilling to take this case and help this sport move forward, then we’re here for naught. We should shut down. And if they want to shut us down for doing our job on behalf of clean athletes, for clean competition, then shut us down.”

 

http://www.cyclingne...est-says-tygart

 

Wow! Really sad and sickening story. Would this be able to stand in court?

[GrumpyOldGuy]

 

Elsewhere in the 60 Minutes interview, Tygart confirmed that USADA had rejected an offer of a donation from Armstrong in excess of $150,000 in 2004, saying: “It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA and we had no hesitation in rejecting that offer.”

 

http://www.cyclingne...est-says-tygart

 

That part is "breaking news" I would say.!

 

To the best of my knowledge its the first time this has been put into the public domain, at least unlike the UCI they had the morals to reject it.

[eddy]

 

 

Wow! Really sad and sickening story. Would this be able to stand in court?

 

We may never know as, rather than face the allegation in court, LA was happy to accept the guilty verdict and seek absolution and forgiveness on the couch with Oprah.

[Wyatt Earp]

Wow! Really sad and sickening story. Would this be able to stand in court?

 

Dunno, I have been proven wrong so many times but I would think that irrefutable proof would be in the order of the day.

 

Saying that, the story Peta posted is for me a pretty good indication that all and sundry were involved in this, Armstrong just happened to be the genetic freak that was used.

 

Lies, lies and more lies, they all lied to us.

[TNT1]

Love the comment and proposaed questions to walsh:

 

Sunday Times' open letter to Oprah Winfrey

The Sunday Times has taken the bold move of placing an open letter in the Chicago Tribune in which they pose 10 questions Oprah Winfrey should ask Lance Armstrong. The former pro rider is set to record an interview with Winfrey on Tuesday, due to be aired on the Thursday evening. It will be Armstrong's first interview since he was stripped of his seven Tour wins by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

It's unclear whether Armstrong will confess to doping and accept USADA's reasoned decision. Sources have said that the American will offer a partial confession, while American's lawyers have denied the suggestions.

Armstrong was not the only rider to be sanctioned by USADA. A number of ex-teammates testified against Armstrong, some of whom were offered six-month bans in comparison to Armstrong's life time sanction. USADA argued that Armstrong and his US Postal team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".

Regardless, the Sunday Times are in the process of trying to regain $1.5m in damages lost to Armstrong in a case dating back to 2006, when Armstrong successfully sued them.

In the open letter paid for by The Sunday Times, David Walsh lays out 10 questions which he suggests Winfrey should ask.

1. Did you tell doctors at the Indiana University Hospital on October 27, 1996 that you had taken EPO, human growth hormone, cortisone, steroids and testosterone?

2. After returning from cancer, how did you justify putting banned drugs in your body?

3. Did you have any sympathy for those rivals determined to race clean?

4. Do you regret how you treated Betsy Andreu, your former masseuse Emma O'Reilly and Greg LeMond?

5. Do you admit that your friend Dr Michele Ferrari fully supported your team's doping?

6. Is it your intention to return the prize money you earned from September 1998 to July 2010?

7. Did you sue The Sunday Times to shut us up?

8. Was your failure to understand Floyd Landis the key to your downfall?

9. Do you accept lying to the cancer community was the greatest deception of all?

10. Why have you chosen Oprah Winfrey for your first interview as a banned athlete?

 

http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/comments/avatar_32x32.gif epofuel 7 hours ago

10 Questions for David Walsh: 1.) How do you feel about kicking all doping cyclists out of cycling? (You'd better be in favor!) 2.) Why stop at Lance? 3.) How do you feel about David "EPO in my house" Millar? 4.) How do you feel about all the former dopers at Garmin? 5.) How do you feel about Riis, Basso, McQuaid, etc. still having a place in cycling? 6.) What % of the pro peloton do you honestly believe was clean in the last 20 years? 7.) How do you feel about Garmin in the ProTour, but not Katusha? (Isn't that an f'n problem?) 8.) How do you feel about Betsy's husband doing EPO of HIS OWN VOLITION? 9.) How do you feel about Team Sky's dominance, given the presence of a doping doctor? 10.) Now that you've gotten your guy and made your money, aren't you going to go after the rest of pro cycling with equal vigor? Postscript: You can't possibly believe cycling or cyclists. Everyone has a cloud of suspicion around them, and I'm going to love to see the look on your face the next time this happens.

Edited January 13, 2013 by TNT1

[gummibear]

I have a feeling that LA will make a confession in the next few weeks and use his cancer as a excuse.

 

So it took a little longer than i thought it would

[SwissVan]

Lausanne laboratory chief denies giving Armstrong key to beating EPO test

 

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Anti-doping_official_denies_Armstrong_charge.html?cid=34708106

 

 

Cycling scandal

 

Anti-doping official denies Armstrong charge

 

The director of Switzerland’s anti-doping laboratory has categorically denied accusations that he helped disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong avoid detection over the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Martial Saugy called a news conference on Friday to deal with the claim made by Travis Tygart, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), on the US television programme "60 Minutes Sports" two days earlier.

 

Tygart maintained that Saugy had acknowledged giving Armstrong and his team manager Johan Bruyneel "the keys to beating EPO tests" ahead of the 2002 Tour de France, which Armstrong went on to win, although he has now been stripped of all his titles.

 

Saugy called the allegation “nonsense”.

 

He explained that he did indeed meet Armstrong, Bruyneel and the doctor of the International Cycling Union (ICU) in Luxembourg in 2002 just before the start of the Tour.

 

The meeting was requested by the ICU; it was a “normal” thing, aimed at creating a climate of transparency.

 

Armstrong and other riders had a right to information about false positives in EPO tests, which were relatively new at the time, Saugy explained. Armstrong’s results after the 2001 had been “conspicuous”.

 

He discussed this meeting with Tygart in 2010, soon after US federal investigators started looking into the Armstrong case. But he said he and Tygart had "different memories" of their discussion and Tygart had misinterpreted a nod he gave to one of his questions.

 

Saugy repeated his respect for Tygart, whose determination to investigate Armstrong was crucial to his unmasking last year as a drugs cheat.

[fandacious]

Love the comment and proposaed questions to walsh:

 

Sunday Times' open letter to Oprah Winfrey

The Sunday Times has taken the bold move of placing an open letter in the Chicago Tribune in which they pose 10 questions Oprah Winfrey should ask Lance Armstrong. The former pro rider is set to record an interview with Winfrey on Tuesday, due to be aired on the Thursday evening. It will be Armstrong's first interview since he was stripped of his seven Tour wins by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

It's unclear whether Armstrong will confess to doping and accept USADA's reasoned decision. Sources have said that the American will offer a partial confession, while American's lawyers have denied the suggestions.

Armstrong was not the only rider to be sanctioned by USADA. A number of ex-teammates testified against Armstrong, some of whom were offered six-month bans in comparison to Armstrong's life time sanction. USADA argued that Armstrong and his US Postal team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".

Regardless, the Sunday Times are in the process of trying to regain $1.5m in damages lost to Armstrong in a case dating back to 2006, when Armstrong successfully sued them.

In the open letter paid for by The Sunday Times, David Walsh lays out 10 questions which he suggests Winfrey should ask.

1. Did you tell doctors at the Indiana University Hospital on October 27, 1996 that you had taken EPO, human growth hormone, cortisone, steroids and testosterone?

2. After returning from cancer, how did you justify putting banned drugs in your body?

3. Did you have any sympathy for those rivals determined to race clean?

4. Do you regret how you treated Betsy Andreu, your former masseuse Emma O'Reilly and Greg LeMond?

5. Do you admit that your friend Dr Michele Ferrari fully supported your team's doping?

6. Is it your intention to return the prize money you earned from September 1998 to July 2010?

7. Did you sue The Sunday Times to shut us up?

8. Was your failure to understand Floyd Landis the key to your downfall?

9. Do you accept lying to the cancer community was the greatest deception of all?

10. Why have you chosen Oprah Winfrey for your first interview as a banned athlete?

 

 

did you see @GodOnABike (Cancer Jesus) reply to the questions?

 

1) NO, first of all there weren't even doctors in the room, or was it that fat bitch that wasn't in the room, can't remember...But I definitely didn't tell the doctors anything in 96 because I didn't dope until I came back and Tyler Hamilton introduced me to red eggs

 

2) Well since I only had one nut left after cancer, I was at such a huge disadvantage that I had to do drugs to keep up with the evil euros. It started with replacing the testosterone, but I still sucked, so I used my GED edumaction and realized that my ball produced EPO too. So naturally I had to replace the EPO that my nut was producing with some more, then I found out that my nut also produced synthetic blood. So I had to replace that too. So basically cancer is HOW I justified putting drugs into my body, thanks for the question David.

 

3) Rivals determined to race clean? A) I have no rivals because I'm Cancer ******* Jesus, and B) who was racing clean? Bassons... he sucked. The dudes racing clean just didn't have the physiology to keep up, those guys had hematocrits of 49 naturally, they were never gonna make it

 

4) Who? Fat bitch, slut and washed up old dude? No they love cancer, of course I don't feel bad for how I treated them.

 

5) Absolutely not, Dr. Ferrari is secretly one of the worlds best post cancer doctors, he just helped supplement my missing nut

 

6) Prize money, nah, I spent that on hookers and blow. And besides I beat a level playing field, they all had two EPO producing balls

 

7) Did I sue the sunday times to shut them up? No, I sued them for loving cancer and preventing the spread of cancer awarness.

Again, this is the main point I want to get across to everyone, the nut I lost produced EPO, so I had to take it to help recover from cancer

 

8) Yes, in hindsight that is one thing I do regret, I should have given that stupid drunk a ******* job.

 

But I have no interest in understanding what goes on in that amish head of his. Amish, Mennonite, Arab, its all the same

 

9) "Do you accept lying to the cancer community was the greatest deception of all?" It was pretty great wasn't it. Oh you're serious?

I mean no, had I not lied to the cancer community no one would be aware that the cancer community existed

 

 

10) I chose Oprah because Cinnamon at the yellow rose doesn't have her own network.

[Tumbleweed]

Where's that goya goya fellah?