Lance Armstrong

[tyssam5]

Firstly, I don't take pleasure in the fact that he duped millions.  It angers me.  But people let themselves be duped. Some of the defences of him on here were ludicrous.  The 'he never tested positive' being among the most nonsensical.  The dossier that the USADA recently provided was basically a collation of evidence which had been in the public domain for a long time.  However, some people, even in the face of this, continued to support him and no matter what was argued, could not be told.  (Trileacman is still clinging to some sort of thread I think)  Basically, I thought his defenders at that time did do something wrong.  They were blindly and idiotically following an 'aura' that was Lance Armstrong in the face of a wall of evidence.  So my comment was more a good old 'I told you so' than anything else.

Maybe about half of it is, the first hand accounts from Hamilton and Hencapie are new. Looking back he'll be thinking 'I wish I hadn't picked so many Amercian teammates'.

[Minder]

A saw an apt description of Armstrong the other day, "an East German on a bike"

[seafoid]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8029b652-1c39-11e2-a14a-00144feabdc0.html




Armstrong banned from cycling for life

By Roger Blitz, Leisure Industries Correspondent






Cycling's governing body has banned Lance Armstrong from the sport for life and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles, saying the American had "no place in cycling".

Union Cycliste Internationale announced at a press conference in Geneva that it was endorsing the report of the US Anti-Doping Agency, which implicated Mr Armstrong in an organised doping ring that encouraged the use of banned substances over several years.








Pat McQuaid, president of the UCI, said this was "a landmark day for cycling", but insisted that the sport had a future.

He talked about "the painful process of confronting its past", adding the governing body, which is under pressure to explain why it failed to prevent the doping scandal, had nothing to hide. It said it would hold a special meeting to discuss the USADA report and look at measures to prevent a repeat of the scandal.

The doping scandal threatens long-term damage to the sport. Nike and a clutch of Mr Armstrong's sponsors have withdrawn their support for the athlete and Rabobank last week said it would no longer sponsor the Dutch cycling team.

[orangeman]

Cycling at a crossroads ? That's funny.

The UCI has banned Lance Armstrong from cycling and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles.

In a news conference this afternoon, UCI president Pat McQuaid said the organisation accepted all findings of the recent United States Anti-Doping Agency's investigation report.

Earlier this month USADA published a 1,000-page report which concluded that Armstrong and his US Postal Service team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".

In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code, the UCI had 21 days to respond and president Pat McQuaid today announced the world governing body would accept USADA's findings and ratified the sanctions imposed on Armstrong.

It means the Texan has been banned for life and stripped of all results since 1 August, 1998.

McQuaid said: "(The UCI) will not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and it will recognise the sanctions that USADA has imposed. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling."

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling" - Pat McQuaid"The UCI will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling and the UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France titles.

Eleven former teammates of Armstrong admitted doping and testified against the Texan in the USADA report - each will receive a six-month ban.

These suspensions were also ratified by the UCI, which thanked the riders for giving evidence against Armstrong.

McQuaid added: "The UCI will also recognise the sanctions imposed on the riders who testified against Lance Armstrong; UCI indeed thanks them for telling their stories."

The UCI, particularly the leadership of McQuaid and honorary president Hein Verbruggen, who was president at the time of Armstrong's record run of Tour success, have received criticism in the USADA investigation.

Allegations have been made against the UCI itself, which McQuaid sought to dismiss this afternoon.

"UCI has nothing to hide in responding to the USADA report," he said.

"The UCI has called a special meeting of the UCI management committee next Friday to discuss this report and the measures which the UCI wishes to put in place in order that we are never faced with such a situation in the future."

While addressing the past, McQuaid was steadfast in his belief that cycling has a positive future.

He added: "This is a landmark day for cycling. Cycling has endured a lot of pain as it has absorbed the impact of the USADA report.

"UCI promised to prioritise our analysis of the report and to provide an early response and we've done that.

"My message to cycling, to our riders, to our sponsors and to our fans today is: cycling has a future.

"This is not the first time that cycling has reached a crossroads or that it has had to begin anew and to engage in the painful process of confronting its past.

"It will do so again with renewed vigour and purpose

[Croí na hÉireann]

Paddy never misses an opportunity to jump on a bandwagon.

[93-DY-SAM]

Spotted in a Scottish bookshop:

[yellowcard]

The pantomime continues...

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/lance-armstrong-to-speak-on-doping-allegations-in-noholdsbarredinterview-with-oprah-3347309.html

[muppet]

The sad thing for me is the role model life he played while lying for years to all of the people who genuinely believed in him.

[deiseach]

The sad thing for me is the role model life he played while lying for years to all of the people who genuinely believed in him.

Should this not be in the Quinn Insurance thread?

I'll get my coat . . .

[muppet]

The sad thing for me is the role model life he played while lying for years to all of the people who genuinely believed in him.

Should this not be in the Quinn Insurance thread?

I'll get my coat . . .

Well he did create lots of jobs in Spokestown (sorry) and er The Frames. That is until he got saddled with debt and turned out to be a bit of a dope.

[J70]

The pantomime continues...

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/lance-armstrong-to-speak-on-doping-allegations-in-noholdsbarredinterview-with-oprah-3347309.html

Apparently he's looking to "come clean" so he can compete in triathlons and so on. Nothing to do with shame of cheating and all the people he coerced and abused over the years.

f**k him. Just a sc**bag.

[tyssam5]

The pantomime continues...

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/lance-armstrong-to-speak-on-doping-allegations-in-noholdsbarredinterview-with-oprah-3347309.html

Apparently he's looking to "come clean" so he can compete in triathlons and so on. Nothing to do with shame of cheating and all the people he coerced and abused over the years.

f**k him. Just a sc**bag.

Coming clean cos he sees it as the best financial option. Settle the law suits, new books, lovely.

[muppet]

The pantomime continues...

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/lance-armstrong-to-speak-on-doping-allegations-in-noholdsbarredinterview-with-oprah-3347309.html

Apparently he's looking to "come clean" so he can compete in triathlons and so on. Nothing to do with shame of cheating and all the people he coerced and abused over the years.

f**k him. Just a sc**bag.

Coming clean cos he sees it as the best financial option. Settle the law suits, new books, lovely.

What will he call the new book?

"Its not about the peddling."

[An Gaeilgoir]

It also has come to light today, that he offered USADA 250k, a few years back to help them with their anti- doping research. They said no thanks, but the UCI took the 150k he gave them to help with their crusade against doping, shortly after he has a suspicious result in the tour de Suisse.......... No bother to Mc Quaid and his pals, they took it all right.

Pricks the lot of them......... the sheer f**king arrogance!!!

[dec]

He has apologised to the staff at the Livestrong charity http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21016122

The Oprah interview is being taped today for broadcast on Thursday.