Cycling 2012 (Page 4 of 6)

Tyler Hamilton claims his former teammate Lance Armstrong, and others, used back-dated prescriptions to cover for doping. He says the International Cycling Union knew about it and looked the other way.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/12/c … pt=hp_tvbx

Cycling is a great sport. Someday the riders eclipse the shadow of all the doping controversy, and will be seen as the incredible athletes that they are to inspire generations of future cyclists once agian.

Take care,
Bill

The general view of the BBC 5 Live documentary is that although cycling is cleaning up there is still a ways to go. The teams/riders doctors and chemists are simply better and cleverer than what the authorities have at the moment, so more has to be done there.

The stories about the Testosterone pill popping and EPO are bad enough but the scariest tales covered the blood exchanges the riders started doing. Having blood taken from them and then it being 'boosted' before having it transfused back into their bodies.

The substance abuse at this time was endemic and organised to an incredible degree. The wealth of direct testimony against the guilty BY the guilty is too substantial to be ignored. The non failure of sceduled tests by the riders is meaningless as the tests themselves were meaningless as the riders in the 'Pelaton' knew all the ways around them.

Spare a thought for Christophe Bassons. Forced to quit the sport by being shunned by the Pelaton riders, at Armstongs instigation. Bassons was the only rider NOT doing drugs and he spoke out about it in 1999!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe_Bassons

The sport looked the other way then and continued to do so for the next 10 years. It's a sorry tale.

I too thought it sounded like a 'hatchet job' by the USADA. It clearly isn't. It is another tale of the weak, vulnerable and financially dependent being exploited by the strong and powerful.

well I guess if it cured the sores and did something else as well it would have been a boost in more ways than one!

I think if you hear that documentary there can be no doubt. I guess until LA wants it to go before a court it will never be 'proven' because the testimony of the witnesses cannot be put to test. But I think that LA won't want that to happen. Once you hear those interviews with the individuals that worked with him, rode with him, competed against him telling their stories, it makes a very obvious picture. Why obvious? because it was all too much of a good thing. Everyone wanted to believe it. What I don't get is if they were all pretty much doing it, then why not ALL stop doing it and then you have the status quo. But thats it isn't it? Would LA have been sooo good without the substances? That, we'll never know.

I read that his 'team' have suggested lie detector tests. That is a joke isn't it? That would be just another test to be scammed through, so more inconclusion. they would have to have a drugs test to prove that he hadn't taken something to subdue body functions during the lie test! Aaaahh!

To all of you who are still unable to accept reality - trust me, 'coming out' and accepting that you too were duped by a masterful liar and cheat is good for the soul, and a necessary part of the healing process. I know, I was like you, I believed.

The unavoidable truth however, is that we were all conned. Anyone who still refuses to accept what actually happened needs to pull their heads out of the quicksand right now!

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0 … 20,00.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/22/sport … ?hpt=hp_t1

Do you cycling fans share the same view for Barry Bonds, Mark Maguire, Sammy Sosa, Rodger Clemens, etc., etc., etc.!!!

                                                                                              Rock The Vote!!!

                                                                                              J Dawg

Everyone must have been cheating (and still are?) He only won by a very small margin, but he won. I agree with Curby.
Rick

I don't know enough detail about the various baseball steroid cases down the years to make any meaningful comparisons, AND I don't want to turn this topic into a general doping discussion because that discussion is truly endless.

Agree with Curby that sadly, we live in an era where cheating has become more the norm than the exception. Cycling is merely the most high profile sport as far as widespread and organized abuse goes, but I'm sure that there is also much cheating in other sports, though probably more on an individual, rather than on an organized team basis.

The salient difference between LA and others who have either been caught through testing, or who have held their hands up and confessed, is that LA is still denying everything, despite all the first hand witness testimony.

Ian, I wore my wife's yellow band from the day of her death in 2007 until earlier this year, when I could no longer stomach the hypocrisy of openly appearing to support LA, even though for me it was just wearing something of her's. We supported Livestrong by buying and giving away yellow bands from the time that they were introduced in 2004, when my wife was already sick - so yes, I totally understand why people think of Livestrong in a positive way with regard to somehow helping in the fight against cancer.

Be clear about one thing though, LA the person, and Livestrong the organizations, have always been totally intertwined. There is a livestrong.org, but there is also a livestrong.com. LA has personally made a fortune off Livestrong donations. Just one example -

On one weekend in 2005, as the seven time Tour winner, he pocketed in excess of half a million dollars for doing two rides with a bunch of wealthy Canadian cyclists who had each paid $35k to Livestrong for the privilege! They found out afterwards, that their receipts only showed a 'donation' of $25k because $10k of each donation went straight into LA's pocket.

Meanwhile, ASO, the company that runs the Tour, is claiming $3m back from LA. And then there's this, some of you may remember this case, it was pretty high profile at the time -

Lance Armstrong asked to pay $11m to US insurance company

By Simon Austin BBC Sport

Oh well, cheer up.  The only way NASCAR could be as blemished for cheating would be a random drivers get moonshine instead of water at all pit stops to promote crashes scandal or an entire racing team had 100% college graduates to their credit!

Live strong or live wrong and live it down,
Rocket

"He still doesn't charge for mistakes! "
http://jbonamassa.com/tour-dates/
"Everybody wants ta get inta the act!"
“Now, this isn’t your ordinary party crowd, here.  I mean, there are professionals in here.”