Lance Armstrong to be stripped of his 7 TDF titles

[DazBurg]

I don't know. If I knew I was innocent. I'd fight to the death to clear my name. Just saying...

he did a federal investigation for 2 years
i can see where his coming from it would get to a point where you go look i fought for 2 years cleared my name and people still wanna hang me nothing i can ever do will stop them weather rightly or wrongly

think about it like this
your accused of a crime one they reckon your guilty of though u won't go to jail (since lance isn't)
u fight the case for 2 years and get found innocent
the toll it's taken on you and your family and friends every day people asking you did you do it, how's the case going and such nothing else but that every day for 2 years
then your found innocent and then 2 days later they decided to try you again and claim your guilty
yeah u wanna keep fighting to clear your name but can you go through it all again?
can you put your life on hold for another possibly 2 years just to have people still cry your guilty afterwards?

thats what it is with lance even if he keeps fighting and beats it there's still going to be heaps of people claiming his a drug cheat regardless of the result
so after 2 years of fighting to be found innocent and still be calle da cheat 2 years of life you ain't getting back and go through it again just for people to still call you a cheat regardless?

[Nails]

Listening to the radio last night...

Apparently Lance said the authority who wants to strip him of his titles has no authority or power to do so.

IMO if drugs/performance enhancers are just too difficult to deal with and taint the sport... Allow all the drugs! Allow all drugs then everyone can take them and at least we know it's a level playing field again :o

[Boomz]

I don't know. If I knew I was innocent. I'd fight to the death to clear my name. Just saying...

This tbh... Have to question the reliability of the witnesses though considering they are all drug cheats... Yes he may be tired of fighting the allegations and he still would of had his rep tainted even if he got off these charges too but this way it seems like he is just admitting it...

[DazBurg]

I don't know. If I knew I was innocent. I'd fight to the death to clear my name. Just saying...

This tbh... Have to question the reliability of the witnesses though considering they are all drug cheats... Yes he may be tired of fighting the allegations and he still would of had his rep tainted even if he got off these charges too but this way it seems like he is just admitting it...

true it does look bad
but as i said 2 years his been fighting let alone his whole career
how much of his life and energy does he continue to waste?

[Windigo]

I don't know. If I knew I was innocent. I'd fight to the death to clear my name. Just saying...

This tbh... Have to question the reliability of the witnesses though considering they are all drug cheats... Yes he may be tired of fighting the allegations and he still would of had his rep tainted even if he got off these charges too but this way it seems like he is just admitting it...

Maybe he is admitting his guilty, by not admitting his guilty but dropping the case.  :P

But how was he never caught earlier? Surely he was tested the most of all the cyclist like Swan is?

[CrowsFan]

That's just it isn't it windi. He has passed every single other drug test ever done on him at any time of the year and any time of the day. Everyone else gets caught but he never has, do they really think he is some sort of evil genius who is capable of faking every single drug test when he isn't even aware of when he is going to be tested? He has had drug tests at 5 in the morning at his home during all times of the year. You can't beat that many tests if you are guilty!

[Tominator]

just another thought... Lance Armstrong has said many times that he never tested positive to doping. However, he has never actually said that he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs

I am not necessarily saying he is guilty, but just a thought that's all... make of it what you want

Still, it was a witch hunt to get him and he has never been proven guilty..

[BratPack]

I don't know. If I knew I was innocent. I'd fight to the death to clear my name. Just saying...

he did a federal investigation for 2 years
i can see where his coming from it would get to a point where you go look i fought for 2 years cleared my name and people still wanna hang me nothing i can ever do will stop them weather rightly or wrongly

think about it like this
your accused of a crime one they reckon your guilty of though u won't go to jail (since lance isn't)
u fight the case for 2 years and get found innocent
the toll it's taken on you and your family and friends every day people asking you did you do it, how's the case going and such nothing else but that every day for 2 years
then your found innocent and then 2 days later they decided to try you again and claim your guilty
yeah u wanna keep fighting to clear your name but can you go through it all again?
can you put your life on hold for another possibly 2 years just to have people still cry your guilty afterwards?

thats what it is with lance even if he keeps fighting and beats it there's still going to be heaps of people claiming his a drug cheat regardless of the result
so after 2 years of fighting to be found innocent and still be calle da cheat 2 years of life you ain't getting back and go through it again just for people to still call you a cheat regardless?

But if it's proven that you didn't and you know you didn't that shouldn't matter. As far as I'm concerned he just admitted guilt

[Tominator]

well the USADA don't actually have the authority to strip him of his titles, the UCI or the TDF organisers do... they said they have taken USADA's findings into account but are waiting to receive a detailed report explaining USADA's decision before they act on whether Armstrong keeps the titles or not

NOT-SO-FUN FACT: Of all the riders that finished in the Top 5 of all the TDF's between 1999-2005, only THREE of those riders have never been found guilty of doping (or been in connection with a doper) in their cycling history...

[TheMailman]

I think it's unlikely that anything will actually happen from this.

They don't have the power to strip his titles just outright and considering he's never been caught as guilty they'll probably let it pass.

But if it's proven that you didn't and you know you didn't that shouldn't matter. As far as I'm concerned he just admitted guilt

What's the point in him doing the whole process again? Lance already realised a long time ago that continuing to fight this just for the gain of material success is artificial at best. He's already realised that there's no feasible case against him.

For what he's been through, let the man live his life.

[Tominator]

UCI have now officially banned Armstrong for life and stripped him of his 7 titles. Now official.

[RiOtChEsS]

nobody can take his greatest title... beating cancer!

that said US athletes have taken a fair dent over the passed decade, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemons, Marion Jones, Lance Armstrong, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, all highly praised in their respective fields have been done for PED's, im sure there r even more but thats just off the top of my head, all those baseballers were headed to the Hall Of Fame, in particular Bonds and Clemons were in G.O.A.T consideration for their positions

[Grazz]

I'll always hold Lance in a high regard for what he and his Livestrong organisation have done. I have to seperate the two issues as his value and inspiration to cancer victims and those that will be afflicted by this horrible desease in the future, his contribution is massive to the cause.

That being said, what he has been involved in with drugs and cycling and the standover tactics he used to bully others into it is nothing short of discusting. The legend as a cyclist is gone, he wasnt what we believed he was, he had been caught before but had that conveniently quashed with oh i took something to help me recover that i was prescribed by a doctor who had conveniently back dated the prescription to suite the story.

The French were busy trying to produce a test that would show the smallest amounts EPO that previously were undetectable, they went back to 1999 samples not just from Lance but alot of cyclists to find a base line for their test they had been successful in producing and low and behold theres EPO in Lances specimens dating that far back.

You can sugar coat it or dress it up however you want, keep your head in the sand i dont care. People can say argh hes just tired of defending himself, thats rubbish the reality is it would cost alot of money to attempt to defend this and he cant, he would be found overwelmingly guilty and whatever it cost would be gone. You can not defend the indefencible in a court of law. He has many wealthy friends who would of thrown millions at him to help defend himself but its my belief that he said no knowing full well he'd be found guilty as he is and a lot more would of come out. The trial would be covered by very media outlet in the world and the damage to Live Strong would be alot greater. I find it hard to fathom that so many still feel he is not guilty when 26 other individuals are stating otherwise. I understand the want to believe in a hero, in something that is just supreme to all about him, having to admit that to oneself isnt always easy.

One thing ive learnt in life is if you look hard enough at every terrible sittuation or event you can always find some good. Live Strong is the beauty in this very ugly situation. If all this had to happen so Live Strong could be what it is today then i can live with it, but am i right or am i wrong, i dont know the answer myself to be honest. A man with just the smallest of IQ would have enough sense to say Hey Live Strong wouldnt be what it is today if it wasnt for Lance and EPO. Hard to argue with but as i said i can live with it in the hope that so many with cancer that are helped by Live Strong get the chance to do the same, live.

Edit: to suggest that everyone be allowed to take drugs to level the playing field is a nonsense. You just have to go back to what East Germany were doing in the 60's and 70's to their athletes in order to produce results at major sporting events. Some of these poor souls later died premature deaths due to what they took, women had  children that had major health issues, men became sterile it just goes on and on. If you think for one second this wouldnt happen today you are wrong. What drives this is money,
money money money and i have no doubt the health of athletes would be a second consideration in time in the persuit of money. Do you honestly think if another country found the magic elixer to drive a sprinter to smash world records that they would give it to the world, depending on the country i seriously doubt it, ask yourself would China, would Russia would the Republic of Nth Korea, i have serious doubts these countries would and there would be many more who wouldnt.

[colmullet]

hmmmm its becoming increasingly the case that when someone dominates a sport for a period of time, it is eventually shown that they were using some sort of performance enhancement. Its a bit sad really but its what happens when there is so much financial reward and fame that comes with sporting success these days that people will do whatever they can to obtain it.

[Grazz]

hmmmm its becoming increasingly the case that when someone dominates a sport for a period of time, it is eventually shown that they were using some sort of performance enhancement. Its a bit sad really but its what happens when there is so much financial reward and fame that comes with sporting success these days that people will do whatever they can to obtain it.

Yeh true col, i feel so sorry for all those doing it clean working their butts of daily and for years to achieve some form of success to also have themselves questioned and those that do the same only to be beaten by someone thats done half the work but wacked a needle in their arm. The innocent will always suffer. Take Usain Bolt (spelling could be dodgey) for example, because of what Lance and other athletes have done in the past only to be caught out would have people thinking is Bolt for real or is it the drugs,
this so unfair on him and everyone like him.