Lance Armstrong Stripped of All Seven Tour de France titles

[Chief Gump]

I wonder what this will do for cycling and for Lance?

'No place in cycling': Lance Armstrong stripped of Tour de France titles

(CNN) -- Lance Armstrong is losing the seven cycling titles that made him a legend.

The International Cycling Union announced Monday that Armstrong is being stripped of his Tour de France titles.

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," said the union's president, Pat McQuaid, announcing that Armstrong is banned from the sport.

The decision follows this month's finding by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that there is "overwhelming" evidence that Armstrong was involved as a professional cyclist in "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program."

McQuaid said he was "sickened" by the report. But he emphasized, "Cycling has a future."

In a statement, the union wrote, "Today's young riders do not deserve to be branded or tarnished by the past or to pay the price for the Armstrong era."

The group, which officially goes by its French name Union Cycliste International, or UCI, is the cycling's world governing body.

Following the union's announcement, another of Armstrong's sponsors announced it was dropping him.

Oakley said that Armstrong was once "a symbol of possibility" and that the company now looks "forward with hope to athletes and teams of the future who will rekindle that inspiration by racing clean, fair and honest." Like some other sponsors who have made Armstrong enormously wealthy, Oakley said it would continue to support his cancer-fighting foundation.

Armstrong has steadfastly maintained his innocence. At an event Sunday, he did not refer to the controversy directly but said it's been "an interesting and at times very difficult few weeks."

Armstrong's story -- that of a cancer survivor who tamed the grueling three-week race more than any other cyclist before or since -- had made him a household name. But allegations of doping long dogged his career.

Then came this month's finding by the USADA.

The agency announced it would ban Armstrong from the sport for life and strip him of his results dating from 1998. The decision wiped out 14 years of his career. McQuaid said Monday the cycling union would not appeal USADA's decision.

McQuaid, speaking at a news conference Monday, said he does not believe cycling will ever be free from doping, because "I don't think in any aspect of society there are no cheats. I do believe that doping can be hugely reduced."

The keys are education programs and how teams are structured, he said.

Monday's news conference turned somewhat contentious as reporters asked whether the cycling union had looked the other way for years despite growing allegations of widespread doping in the sport. Armstrong had made two donations to the union for anti-doping technology.

McQuaid insisted his organization never ignored the concerns raised about possible doping. And he wrote off any suggestion that Armstrong's contributions had led the organization to make any decision on the issue.

"The UCI has tested Lance Armstrong 218 times. If Lance Armstrong was able to beat the system, then the responsibility for addressing that rests not only with the UCI but also with" the anti-doping agencies that accepted the results, the cycling union said in its statement.

The International Olympic Committee also is reviewing the evidence and could revoke Armstrong's bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Games.

It is now up to the organizers of the Tour de France whether it will nominate alternate winners for the 1999-2005 tours. The Amaury Sport Organisation, which runs the 21-day event, has said it will decide after the ruling.

The cycling union's decision leaves Greg LeMond as the only American to win the tour. He did so in 1986, 1989 and 1990.

U.S. cyclist Floyd Landers was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory in 2010.

In the past, Armstrong, 41, argued that he has taken more than 500 drug tests and never failed. In its 202-page report, the USADA said it had tested Armstrong less than 60 times and the International Cycling Union conducted about 215 tests.

"Thus the number of actual controls on Mr. Armstrong over the years appears to have been considerably fewer than the number claimed by Armstrong and his lawyers," the USADA said.

The agency didn't say that Armstrong ever failed one of those tests, but his former teammates testified as to how they beat tests or avoided the test administrators altogether. Several riders also said team officials seemed to know when random drug tests were coming, the report said.

Speaking to participants in his foundation's annual Ride for the Roses in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, Armstrong said, "People ask me a lot how are you doing. And I tell them I've been better, but I've also been worse."

He stepped down last week as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation -- widely known by the brand name it created, Livestrong -- but said he will continue to be involved. Some of the foundation's donors are furious over the scandal and want their money back.

"We will not be deterred," Armstrong said Friday night at the organization's 15th anniversary celebration in Austin. "We will move forward."

The controversy has taken its toll on Armstrong's endorsement deals.

On the same day he stepped away from the leadership of his foundation, Nike, which initially stood by Armstrong, dropped him with a terse statement citing what it called "seemingly insurmountable evidence" that he participated in doping.

Hours later, brewery giant Anheuser-Busch followed suit, saying it would let Armstrong's contract expire at the end of the year. Nike and Anheuser-Busch said they still planned to support Livestrong and its initiatives.

Other significant sponsors who dropped Armstrong include Trek bicycles and RadioShack.

Professional cycling couldn't escape the backlash either as Dutch bank Rabobank announced it is to end its sponsorship of pro cycling teams in the wake of the doping scandal.


http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/22/sport/...html?hpt=hp_t1

[Rain Man]

Upon closer inspection, they also discovered that he was riding a motorcycle in the 2003 race.

[redfan]

Stay tuned folks, NOW it's gonna get good...

If Lance "comes clean" he'll basically admit he lied to the feds. I don't think we will ever hear a confession. His best alt is to before he has to give back all his prize money.
I'm not sure LA is wired that way.
LA is still going to have many civil suits to deal with, so that will eat up a lot of $. Cheating is one thing, but you can't cheat AND be a dick about it all your life.
I'm sure LeMond and the Andreu's lawyers are salivating.

[suds79]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Upon closer inspection, they also discovered that he was riding a motorcycle in the 2003 race.

I'll say this once so I don't get in the habit of bumping this thread but I honestly could not care less what happens to Lance or his titles. Keep em, strip em, doesn't matter. It's cycling.

[CoMoChief]

I'll take "No one will ever care about cycling anymore" for $800, Alex.

[outhega]

I find it interesting simply for the fact that according to the article he was tested an average of 1.5 times a month for fifteen years, and never failed. I'm not saying he didn't dope but damn, that is some dedicated doping. If true, he spent just as much time and effort beating the system as he did training.

[Graystoke]

Originally Posted by outhega

I find it interesting simply for the fact that according to the article he was tested an average of 1.5 times a month for fifteen years, and never failed. I'm not saying he didn't dope but damn, that is some dedicated doping. If true, he spent just as much time and effort beating the system as he did training.

Not much of an effort when:

A) You have inside knowledge when the testing is going to occur.
B) You know how to beat the test.
C) You are a protected rider by the UCI

[outhega]

Originally Posted by Graystoke

Not much of an effort when:

A) You have inside knowledge when the testing is going to occur.
B) You know how to beat the test.
C) You are a protected rider by the UCI

This is all true. I'm just saying:

A) Even if you know when the testing is you still have to cycle off, and at 1.5 time a month (assuming like the article says he never failed) then that leaves only about one week to actually be on the juice.
B) There are ways to beat the test but at that frequency he would have to know A and B which would require help. (And fresh urine)
C)If this is true then it is a conspiracy and people were getting something for covering the whole thing up. The union shouldn't be off the hook of an investigation.

They are doing this just like the NFL bounty deal, saying they have overwhelming evidence but not actually telling anybody what it is. Not that have to or care to I just find it interesting. I was a big Armstrong fan but ultimately they are doing this to late for anybody other than those people who are involved to care.

[notorious]

Better strip every person that placed in the top 100.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by outhega

I find it interesting simply for the fact that according to the article he was tested an average of 1.5 times a month for fifteen years, and never failed. I'm not saying he didn't dope but damn, that is some dedicated doping. If true, he spent just as much time and effort beating the system as he did training.

If you read the report (yeah its huge and takes a while), you'll find that the testing regime back then was laughably pathetic.

First of all, the stuff they were taking usually became undetectable within hours (the testers didn't know that, they were behind the cheaters in chemistry knowledge), and they knew there was almost zero chance of being woken up in the middle of the night. So, they usually doped right before going to bed.

The times when this was not an option (they needed to take something that is detectable longer than a few hours), they somehow had insider knowledge tipping them off when the "random" drug test was going to happen.

A few times when this all failed, the drug tester was so incompetent or easily-intimidated that they were able to delay him long enough to hook Lance up to a saline IV that made whatever he took undetectable.

One time when Lance was taking something that couldn't be washed out and they were surprised with a test that they weren't tipped off about, luckily for Lance, he was out of the hotel and his team was able to warn him by text. Lance, knowing he was nailed, formally dropped out of the race, then as a non-competitor he couldn't be tested.

Beyond all of that, he actually did test positive a few times and was nailed, but every time he either got off on a technicality (French test) or the UCI just made the results go away (a few results back then which were merely labeled "suspicious" would now be considered "positive" under today's standards), or the positive tests happened after 2009 where people could say "oh, who cares".

He was guilty as hell. He also can never admit it unless he works out a deal with the Feds, because he perjured himself.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by notorious

Better strip every person that placed in the top 100.

especially the female division

[notorious]

Originally Posted by loochy

especially the female division

Yes.

[mikey23545]

French Cyclists Declaring Victory Over Lance Armstrong

[outhega]

Originally Posted by alnorth

If you read the report (yeah its huge and takes a while), you'll find that the testing regime back then was laughably pathetic.

First of all, the stuff they were taking usually became undetectable within hours (the testers didn't know that, they were behind the cheaters in chemistry knowledge), and they knew there was almost zero chance of being woken up in the middle of the night. So, they usually doped right before going to bed.

The times when this was not an option (they needed to take something that is detectable longer than a few hours), they somehow had insider knowledge tipping them off when the "random" drug test was going to happen.

A few times when this all failed, the drug tester was so incompetent or easily-intimidated that they were able to delay him long enough to hook Lance up to a saline IV that made whatever he took undetectable.

One time when Lance was taking something that couldn't be washed out and they were surprised with a test that they weren't tipped off about, luckily for Lance, he was out of the hotel and his team was able to warn him by text. Lance, knowing he was nailed, formally dropped out of the race, then as a non-competitor he couldn't be tested.

Beyond all of that, he actually did test positive a few times and was nailed, but every time he either got off on a technicality (French test) or the UCI just made the results go away (a few results back then which were merely labeled "suspicious" would now be considered "positive" under today's standards), or the positive tests happened after 2009 where people could say "oh, who cares".

He was guilty as hell. He also can never admit it unless he works out a deal with the Feds, because he perjured himself.

Hmmm. Yeah I did not know that. Thank you.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by alnorth

He was guilty as hell. He also can never admit it unless he works out a deal with the Feds, because he perjured himself.

Well, I'm curious to see how this part of it all works out now.

[FloridaMan88]

Betsy Andreu went on CNN, 5 minutes after the Lance interview to say the part where he claimed to have called her and apologized and everything was good now between the two was basically bullshit.