Lance Armstrong cleared of doping charges (and now drops the fight)

[Donger]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

The French Lose Again.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Independent Dutch investigators cleared Lance Armstrong of doping in the 1999 Tour de France on Wednesday, and blamed anti-doping authorities for misconduct in dealing with the American cyclist.

A 132-page report recommended convening a tribunal to discuss possible legal and ethical violations by the World Anti-Doping Agency and to consider "appropriate sanctions to remedy the violations."

The French sports daily L'Equipe reported in August that six of Armstrong's urine samples from 1999, when he won the first of his record seven-straight Tour titles, came back positive for the endurance-boosting hormone EPO when they were retested in 2004.

Armstrong has repeatedly denied using banned substances.

The International Cycling Union appointed Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman last October to investigate the handling of urine tests from the 1999 Tour by the French national anti-doping laboratory, known by its French acronym LNDD.

Vrijman said Wednesday his report "exonerates Lance Armstrong completely with respect to alleged use of doping in the 1999 Tour de France."

The report also said the UCI had not damaged Armstrong by releasing doping control forms to the French newspaper.

The report said WADA and the LNDD may have "behaved in ways that are completely inconsistent with the rules and regulations of international anti-doping control testing," and may also have been against the law.

Vrijman, who headed the Dutch anti-doping agency for 10 years and later defended athletes accused of doping, worked on the report with Adriaan van der Veen, a scientist with the Dutch Metrology Laboratory.

EPO, or erythropoietin, is a synthetic hormone that boosts the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.

Testing for EPO only began in 2001.

[redfan]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Not realizing that doping was (and is, though the regulators have reduced it) a routine and necessary part of competitive cycling over the last 20 years is like not realizing that professional wrestling is fake (this according to a good friend of mine who raced with Lance pre-cancer and is very involved in cycling to this day).

Kind of a sad day for the sport, nonetheless. The curtain has been pulled away, revealing the old man at the controls.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Brock

Yeah, whatever. The French don't control the USADA.

The French don't control anything. They can't even control france.

But the pressure is from the Europeans. Always has been...

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by redhed

Kind of a sad day for the sport, nonetheless. The curtain has been pulled away, revealing the old man at the controls.

Not at all. This is a non-story. Lance still won all of those tours and that will never change for Americans. What else matters?

[Chest Rockwell]

Originally Posted by Donger

And a group which doesn't have the power or jurisdiction to strip Armstrong of his TDF victories.

Actually, they do. USADA works under WADA rules/authority and according to those waiving the hearing means USADA gets to make a "reasoned decision" based on the evidence they have and submit a "reasoned decision explaining the action."

UCI has to await this, then issue the formal notice. If they fail to do this, they're in non-compliance with WADA code.

UCI could take USADA's ruling to CAS, but that would come at significant cost and it seems that USADA is chomping at the bit to present the case, while I really doubt UCI want the full details of the entire conspiracy case (It's important to remember Lance isn't the only one implicated here, just the highest profile; he is, however, the only one who seems to be taking his ball and going home (heh).) to see the light of day. They have enough issues with their credibility as it is.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Chest Rockwell

Actually, they do. USADA works under WADA rules/authority and according to those waiving the hearing means USADA gets to make a "reasoned decision" based on the evidence they have and submit a "reasoned decision explaining the action."

UCI has to await this, then issue the formal notice. If they fail to do this, they're in non-compliance with WADA code.

UCI could take USADA's ruling to CAS, but that would come at significant cost and it seems that USADA is chomping at the bit to present the case, while I really doubt UCI want the full details of the entire conspiracy case (It's important to remember Lance isn't the only one implicated here, just the highest profile; he is, however, the only one who seems to be taking his ball and going home (heh).) to see the light of day. They have enough issues with their credibility as it is.

I know. Perhaps I should have been clearer: USADA can't, by itself, strip Armstrong of his TDF victories. UCI can.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by redhed

Kind of a sad day for the sport, nonetheless. The curtain has been pulled away, revealing the old man at the controls.

It's been that way for years.

The only real argument is that with 2 decades of roids, blood transfusions, and IV's an American can completely dominate.

[redfan]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Not at all. This is a non-story. Lance still won all of those tours and that will never change for Americans. What else matters?

Like someone said before, you can't erase the memories. I suppose its symbolic if nothing else. In a sport where all of the top contenders are using PEDs, the playing field is level. It's not like all those other riders on other teams weren't trying to beat Lance.

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

This is a top shelf post.

I don't think so. I was loaded when I made it. I do mean loaded.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by Donger

I know. Perhaps I should have been clearer: USADA can't, by itself, strip Armstrong of his TDF victories. UCI can.

This is correct, but its a formality at this point. The UCI has only two options: accept the USADA findings and impose the mandated punishment, or take the USADA to the world court of arbitration for sport. If it went there (unlikely), Armstrong has almost zero chance.

Armstrong is giving up because he knows that the USADA has him absolutely dead to rights now, and he's made the calculation that he'd rather travel the path of the angry martyr for the few who still believe him for some odd reason, rather than endure the public humiliation of this arbitration hearing.

[alnorth]

The tragic thing here is that Armstrong probably would have won most or all of those titles if everyone wasn't cheating. He was in a dirty sport and could either do what he had to do, or play it honest and sink into failure and obscurity as all the cheaters passed him by.

It would be fine to be sympathetic with his being put into an impossible situation if he'd just admit the obvious, but right now he's a liar.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by redhed

Like someone said before, you can't erase the memories. I suppose its symbolic if nothing else. In a sport where all of the top contenders are using PEDs, the playing field is level. It's not like all those other riders on other teams weren't trying to beat Lance.

True. And in the US cycling was not a viewed event before Lance, and it stopped being a viewed sport the second Lance was gone. Whatever they do today is on the "who cares" list. 99.9% of sports fans are much more interested in pre-season football than this year's Toure de Frog.

[Graystoke]

Let me preface this by saying I am not a Lance Armstrong fan. When he was coming up from the Junior ranks I did a couple races with him, and IMO he is a arogant prick.
All the evidence is there to anybody that will open there eyes. The mid 90's and early
2000's were the EPO era. They should just vacate those 7 years and not award anyone the victor. He just shoulda came clean like Barne Riis and admitted he doped, (like all the top 20) during those years. But instead he played that same old broken record about being tested 500 times. **** that. When the UCI became Armstrongs puppet it was game over, advantage Armstrong. Watch the 2003 Tour on Youtube...funny as hell, the grupetto hitting the brakes going around mountain bends. Gimmie a break.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Graystoke

Let me preface this by saying I am not a Lance Armstrong fan. When he was coming up from the Junior ranks I did a couple races with him, and IMO he is a arogant prick.
All the evidence is there to anybody that will open there eyes. The mid 90's and early
2000's were the EPO era. They should just vacate those 7 years and not award anyone the victor. He just shoulda came clean like Barne Riis and admitted he doped, (like all the top 20) during those years. But instead he played that same old broken record about being tested 500 times. **** that. When the UCI became Armstrongs puppet it was game over, advantage Armstrong. Watch the 2003 Tour on Youtube...funny as hell, the grupetto hitting the brakes going around mountain bends. Gimmie a break.

Yeah those grupetto's braking around mountain bends always crack my shit up.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by alnorth

This is correct, but its a formality at this point. The UCI has only two options: accept the USADA findings and impose the mandated punishment, or take the USADA to the world court of arbitration for sport. If it went there (unlikely), Armstrong has almost zero chance.

Based on what?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Graystoke

Watch the 2003 Tour on Youtube...funny as hell, the grupetto hitting the brakes going around mountain bends. Gimmie a break.

Huh?