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

[Munson]

The French are just butt hurt that an American beat them on their own turf.

[Jenson71]

Originally Posted by Munson

The French are just butt hurt that an American beat them on their own turf.

It was a US Agency going after him.

[jd1020]

Sounds like he realized he was caught and is forfeiting the battle. Thought I read somewhere that they had 10 riders willing to testify against him. Not sure if they were teammates.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by jd1020

Sounds like he realized he was caught and is forfeiting the battle. Thought I read somewhere that they had 10 riders willing to testify against him. Not sure if they were teammates.

You almost dont even need the testimony.

The basic case against Armstrong, without witnesses, and without a positive drug test, is this:

The tour des france is an incredibly long race. Several days. Despite the race lasting several days of racing time, the winner always wins by minutes.

During Armstrong's time, we know that EVERY SINGLE ONE of his top rivals cheated. They were all caught, red-handed, no doubt about it, proven, everyone Armstrong raced against was a cheater. When cycling was cleaned up and enforcement was massively increased and cyclists had to race clean, race times ballooned to a huge extent, by several hours.

It is simply not reasonable to believe that Armstrong could have won those races, clean, against a field full of cheaters. You can say maybe he had to do what he had to do because everyone else was breaking the rules, but he's a liar.

[alnorth]

Its going to be difficult to go down the list those 7 years and figure out which 7 guys did the best without cheating. They should probably just vacate them and award them to no one.

[alnorth]

Here's one semi-nerdy link that gets into it a bit.

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2012...iscussion.html

People are climbing Alpe d'Huez a few full minutes minutes slower than during the 90's and early 2000's. A few minutes is an eternity in cycling, and that is just one climb.

Its now thought that the times that were turned in climbing that mountain during Armstrong's time are just not physiologically possible for a human being, even a top world-class athlete, without doping.

Originally Posted by alnorth

You almost dont even need the testimony.

The basic case against Armstrong, without witnesses, and without a positive drug test, is this:

The tour des france is an incredibly long race. Several days. Despite the race lasting several days of racing time, the winner always wins by minutes.

During Armstrong's time, we know that EVERY SINGLE ONE of his top rivals cheated. They were all caught, red-handed, no doubt about it, proven, everyone Armstrong raced against was a cheater. When cycling was cleaned up and enforcement was massively increased and cyclists had to race clean, race times ballooned to a huge extent, by several hours.

It is simply not reasonable to believe that Armstrong could have won those races, clean, against a field full of cheaters. You can say maybe he had to do what he had to do because everyone else was breaking the rules, but he's a liar.

That's all well and good. But I don't cycle competitively for one reason and one reason alone:


1. Saddles.

Yeah, probably not your first guess huh? Have you ever sat on one of these things doing 35 MPH in France?

Sure the dude had a distinct advantage but that has been disclosed for a long time. Sheryl Crow told me in 1997. Seriously, Lance Armstrong is the king of the TdF because he has but one schwetty ball. Imagine if you will just how deeply you could thrust your wife if you dropped from a 54" waist to a 34", for instance. This is precisely the same benefit provided to Armstrong by virtue of his brave Halfstration.

Judge less, neuter more.

[Saulbadguy]

Originally Posted by Phobia

That's all well and good. But I don't cycle competitively for one reason and one reason alone:


1. Saddles.

Yeah, probably not your first guess huh? Have you ever sat on one of these things doing 35 MPH in France?

Sure the dude had a distinct advantage but that has been disclosed for a long time. Sheryl Crow told me in 1997. Seriously, Lance Armstrong is the king of the TdF because he has but one schwetty ball. Imagine if you will just how deeply you could thrust your wife if you dropped from a 54" waist to a 34", for instance. This is precisely the same benefit provided to Armstrong by virtue of his brave Halfstration.

Judge less, neuter more.

This is a top shelf post.

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 Phobia

That's all well and good. But I don't cycle competitively for one reason and one reason alone:


1. Saddles.

Yeah, probably not your first guess huh? Have you ever sat on one of these things doing 35 MPH in France?

Sure the dude had a distinct advantage but that has been disclosed for a long time. Sheryl Crow told me in 1997. Seriously, Lance Armstrong is the king of the TdF because he has but one schwetty ball. Imagine if you will just how deeply you could thrust your wife if you dropped from a 54" waist to a 34", for instance. This is precisely the same benefit provided to Armstrong by virtue of his brave Halfstration.

Judge less, neuter more.

[alnorth]

Apparently the USADA had more than I thought. Like I said, you almost don't need anything because its clear that Armstrong couldn't have beaten all those cheaters during his 7 wins clean.

Blood samples from his comeback attempts in 2009 and 2010 have come back showing he's still cheating. He stopped cycling and was trying to come back as a triathlete when the USADA shut him down.

And of course you have a slew of credible witnesses.

[Omaha]

Originally Posted by Phobia

That's all well and good. But I don't cycle competitively for one reason and one reason alone:


1. Saddles.

Yeah, probably not your first guess huh? Have you ever sat on one of these things doing 35 MPH in France?

Sure the dude had a distinct advantage but that has been disclosed for a long time. Sheryl Crow told me in 1997. Seriously, Lance Armstrong is the king of the TdF because he has but one schwetty ball. Imagine if you will just how deeply you could thrust your wife if you dropped from a 54" waist to a 34", for instance. This is precisely the same benefit provided to Armstrong by virtue of his brave Halfstration.

Judge less, neuter more.

You're doing it wrong.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by alnorth

You almost dont even need the testimony.

The basic case against Armstrong, without witnesses, and without a positive drug test, is this:

The tour des france is an incredibly long race. Several days. Despite the race lasting several days of racing time, the winner always wins by minutes.

During Armstrong's time, we know that EVERY SINGLE ONE of his top rivals cheated. They were all caught, red-handed, no doubt about it, proven, everyone Armstrong raced against was a cheater. When cycling was cleaned up and enforcement was massively increased and cyclists had to race clean, race times ballooned to a huge extent, by several hours.

It is simply not reasonable to believe that Armstrong could have won those races, clean, against a field full of cheaters. You can say maybe he had to do what he had to do because everyone else was breaking the rules, but he's a liar.

That's odd. I remember watching Greg LeMond ride the fastest time trial ever to beat Fignon by seven seconds in 1989.

[Caseyguyrr]

Originally Posted by Munson

The French are just butt hurt that an American beat them on their own turf.

thats goddamn right