Trouble ahead for Lance Armstrong

[Dr. Rat]

The fact is Ray that as Armstrong says, he's never failed a drug test.  I think there is much to what couw says about Armstrong not being a part of the "true tradition" and when you also consider the apparent depth of Brownie's hatred (comparing Armstrong to Bush, another "lying Texan" is both silly and telling) it is apparent what motivates the reports as well as the European commentary.

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It is of course also Armstrong's self-made image of the dope-free crusader for a clean sport. His little speech against all the cynics and the sceptics at the end of this year's tour somehow lost lots of its impact. He told us to believe in the athletes, that there are no secrets, and that it's all just about hard work. Sure Lance...

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OK. I suppose if he's being self-righteous about it, he's asking for it.

--eric

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Top Ten Signs Lance Armstrong Is Getting Cocky

10. Race starts at 9, Lance rolls out of bed around noon

9. Has already figured out that the trophy can hold a 3-gallon margarita

8. He eats frosting by the fistful

7. For the last leg, he rode one of those crazy 1920s bikes with the big front wheel

6. Deliberately crashing into things to get more air time on sportscenter

5. Making a couple extra bucks delivering pizzas during the race

4. After the starter pistol is fired, he hangs around hitting on French babes

3. Turns to the other riders and says, "oooh, I'm sooooo scared"

2. Instead of training, spent last 2 months pimping his bike

1. Has started selling ad space on his ass

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Top Ten Signs Lance Armstrong Is Getting Cocky

10. Goodbye Gatorade, hello Colt 45

9. For next two stages will be riding a unicycle

8. Is only giving 109%

7. Shouts, "Which one of you French bastards want my autograph?"

6. Yesterday rode twenty miles out of his way looking for whores

5. Already put the yellow championship jersey for auction on eBay

4. Lets fans ride on the handlebars

3. During stage 18, took in the noon showing of "Wedding Crashers"

2. On alternate days, substitutes his fat brother Dennis Armstrong

1. Took detour to nail Jude Law's nanny

[BERIGAN]

Berigan valiantly rises to the defense of another Texan liar.

Lance Armstrong will not be prosecuted for this and can continue to deny he ever used performance-enhancing drugs all he wants.

But the proof is out in the public this time.

By the way, when the new tests were done, the frozen urine tests were picked at random from the several available without the researchers knowing there were some samples from Armstrong. When EPO was found in several, the researchers then matched the samples to identify who they belonged to! EPA was found in six samples from Lance Armstrong!

That Armstrong used the substances has been an open secret for several years. It has now been scientifically proven.

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Sure Brownie, his samples were picked totally at random, they just happened to be the guy who one the last 7 races, an American. If you believe this was mere coincidence, I gotta bridge I'd love to sell you! And of course, these samples have been under armed guard since he peed in the cup, right?

It's no black eye for the sport if it is "just" that doped up Amercian(From Texas, oh the shame of one of those people winning the Tour de France!) who is caught. Let's see the samples tested for the 10 ten racers as well, from every year since 1999. Test everyone's samples, show how truly 80% were involved, then there will be some explaining for Armstrong....

Edited August 23, 2005 by BERIGAN

[porcy62]

Come on Beri, Armstrong was the last of a long list , they didn't have any revenge desire about Pantani and Virenque. I don't think this would be different in case of Lance biking with Clinton.

[sheldonm]

Armstrong has built an image of himself as a Mr. Clean!

I'm not so sure Lance built that image of himself or if it came from his responses to his critics frequent attacks. I think the critics threw the first stone in this case. I have no idea if he really is doping but it does seem a little like a witch hunt to me (I'm not really a bike racing fan so I may not know what I'm talking about!!! )

Mark~

[neveronfriday]

My Tour.

Your Tour.

My winner.

Your winner.

Europe against America.

America against Europe.

[king ubu]

c'mon, we're all Texans anyway... what's the point. Berigan's post above is pretty ridiculous. Yeah, sure, some jealous Yurpeans have consumed EPO, peed some samples, replaced them with those that had a big fat "Lance Armstrong, Texas" etiquette on them, doing that killed seventeen South African guards (same company that took care of Mr. Bremer in that new eastern Texan colony there)... this is a most likely scenario, indeed! De par ma chandelle verte, je ne comprends pas.

[king ubu]

the real Lance...

[porcy62]

...and the one and only ARMSTRONG

[king ubu]

related to "other" "real" Armstrong

[BERIGAN]

c'mon, we're all Texans anyway... what's the point. Berigan's post above is pretty ridiculous. Yeah, sure, some jealous Yurpeans have consumed EPO, peed some samples, replaced them with those that had a big fat "Lance Armstrong, Texas" etiquette on them, doing that killed seventeen South African guards (same company that took care of Mr. Bremer in that new eastern Texan colony there)... this is a most likely scenario, indeed! De par ma chandelle verte, je ne comprends pas. 

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France out to get Armstrong for years, says Indurain

Tue Aug 23, 2005 12:53 PM ET

MORE

MADRID (Reuters) - Five-times Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain says the accusations of doping made by sports newspaper L'Equipe against Lance Armstrong are part of a campaign designed to discredit the American rider.

"They have been out to get him in France for a number of years," Indurain was quoted as saying on the website todociciclismo.com on Tuesday.

"He's the one who knows about it, but it seems wrong that they are starting to dig over tests from years ago.

"It's all very strange and I don't know to what extent it is legal to keep specimens like this."

L'Equipe, saying it had access to laboratory documents, reported on Tuesday that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed "indisputable" traces of EPO (erythropoietin).

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999.

However, samples from the 1999 Tour were kept and have been recently retested by the specialist anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry outside Paris.

SEVENTH TIME

Armstrong, who won the Tour for the seventh time in succession this year, has denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs.

Indurain, who won the Tour five times in succession between 1991 and 1995, raised doubts about the testing procedure.

"Anything about Armstrong is news these days, but the question is whether all this is true or not. There are question marks over the reliability of the test (for EPO) and there are a lot of doubts about the whole thing."

Germany's Jan Ullrich, the 1997 Tour de France winner, told German television: "I heard about it, but these are speculations so you can't really say anything about it. It's been six years, and, if it's true, I would of course be disappointed.

"But I can't say anything on it right now. Lance is the greatest of our time and maybe somebody's trying to put him down. I don't know what it's about, so all of this is very speculative."

Swiss Alex Zuelle, who finished second behind Armstrong in the 1999 Tour, told Reuters: "I won't say anything about it because my career as a professional is over.

"I'm not Armstrong. All of this is speculation. Sometimes they have proof, then they haven't ... I'm not interested in it anymore.

"For me, the Tour is over and done with; it's just too many years back."

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....INDURAIN-DC.XML

Edited August 24, 2005 by BERIGAN

[brownie]

Berigan, you continue to cast this as a France vs. USA story. It's not.

Before Lance Armstrong, there was Greg LeMond who was and still is hugely popular around here.

Part of the problem with Armstrong is that he was tested positive back in 1999 when he won the Tour de France for the first time but he escaped sanctions because of the lenient attitude of the world cycling governig body and the Tour de France organisers.

When he tested positive back in 1999 for corticoid triamcinolone, Armstrong's doctors provided him with the medical certificates authorising use of the prohibited substances, adding he was taking them to treat road rash. Armstrong, in violation of cycling rules, had not declared usage of it.

It's a fact is that Armstrong should have been banned from the Tour for this back in 1999. That he was allowed to go scotfree has only fueled the controversy.

Now the word is out that he tested positive repeatedly. His reputation is sadly tarnished for all the world to see!

And LeMond has joined the opponents of Armstrong by now!

[king ubu]

Well, Greg LeMond was actually Grégoire LeMond IV, his grand-grand father, Grégoire LeMond I, he swam across the pond from the Brétagne, drawing behing him a small nutshell of a boat housing Greg LeMond's grand-grand mother, a hmmm Casta-like type of typical French woman...

So those were the French origins of Greg Lemond's success, thus it's only natcharal they like him over there

(as an aside, back when I was a kid of maybe 11 or so, I once hunted for an autogram of LeMond... he was sort of hero back then, for the boy that had just started cycling... still remember that!)

[tonym]

Part of the problem with Armstrong is that he was tested positive back in 1999 when he won the Tour de France for the first time but he escaped sanctions because of the lenient attitude of the world cycling governig body and the Tour de France organisers.

It's a fact is that Armstrong should have been banned from the Tour for this back in 1999. That he was allowed to go scotfree has only fueled the controversy.

Now the word is out that he tested positive repeatedly. His reputation is sadly tarnished for all the world to see!

And LeMond has joined the opponents of Armstrong by now!

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and....if you think back to that Tour, on particular mountain passes, Armstrong rode up the road to nil response by several French riders who sat back and scratched their heads, visibly scared to go after him; they couldn't even sneeze without supplying a dope test after what had happened in 98. Apparently, the same lenient Tour organisers and governing body were so keen to 'stamp-out' the goings on the previous year they continued to hound the French riders.

I'm sure this doesn't help Armstrong's image to some.

[Dennis_M]

So if everyone who took EPO wins the Tour de France, how come the same guy won it seven times consecutively? Is anybody claming that he won this year by doping? Or last year? Or the year before... or? This is just all sour grapes. If some French guy won seven straight times, do you think we would see the same kind of journalism? I don't think so.

[BERIGAN]

Berigan, you continue to cast this as a France vs. USA story. It's not.

Before Lance Armstrong, there was Greg LeMond who was and still is hugely popular around here.

Part of the problem with Armstrong is that he was tested positive back in 1999 when he won the Tour de France for the first time but he escaped sanctions because of the lenient attitude of the world cycling governig body and the Tour de France organisers.

When he tested positive back in 1999 for corticoid triamcinolone, Armstrong's doctors provided him with the medical certificates authorising use of the prohibited substances, adding he was taking them to treat road rash. Armstrong, in violation of cycling rules, had not declared usage of it.

It's a fact is that Armstrong should have been banned from the Tour for this back in 1999. That he was allowed to go scotfree has only fueled the controversy.

Now the word is out that he tested positive repeatedly. His reputation is sadly tarnished for all the world to see!

And LeMond has joined the opponents of Armstrong by now!

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It was nice of Five-time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain to say "They have been out to get him in France for a number of years" just to help me out, wasn't it?

And LeMond has joined the opponents of Armstrong by now!

Gee, hard to believe a guy named LeMond would be against Armstrong as well! Double

Edited August 25, 2005 by BERIGAN

[brownie]

And LeMond has joined the opponents of Armstrong by now!

Gee, hard to believe a guy named LeMond would be against Armstrong as well! Double

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Berigan, it may be hard to believe but it is true. A sample:

From the Wikipedia Encyclopedia site:

Controversy

In 2001, LeMond stirred up controversy, alleging that multiple-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong may be doping to improve his performance. In July 2004, after additional Tour de France wins by Armstrong, LeMond commented again, "If Armstrong's clean, it's the greatest comeback. And if he's not, then it's the greatest fraud." He also declared "Lance is ready to do anything to keep his secret. I don't know how he can continue to convince everybody of his innocence." to newspaper Le Monde.

[BruceW]

So if everyone who took EPO wins the Tour de France, how come the same guy won it seven times consecutively?  Is anybody claming that he won this year by doping?  Or last year?  Or the year before... or?  This is just all sour grapes.  If some French guy won seven straight times, do you think we would see the same kind of journalism?  I don't think so.

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This is a lot of bullsh*t. Are people angry because he doped or because he won?

I with t he guy above, how come he won seven times and no other so called doper? Gee, was EPO developed just for Armstrong, this is probably a multi million dollar business. IF and I say IF he was doping, wasn't the other guys?? Are they that stupid? Well, we'll let Armstrong dope up and win and then we can complain six years from now. WTF Next somone is going to say Lance owns the drug company.....

[Stefan Wood]

PARIS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - A French specialist doping laboratory said on Tuesday it could not confirm that tests it had conducted for the blood-boosting drug EPO belonged to Lance Armstrong.

L'Equipe newspaper, saying it had access to laboratory documents, reported on Tuesday that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed "indisputable" traces of EPO (erythropoietin).

In response seven-times Tour de France winner Armstrong has denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs.

"The lab cannot link the results to a sportsman and can therefore not confirm the link made by L'Equipe between the test results and the (French federation) documents they publish," the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory said in a statement.

The lab said all tests were anonymous and had been transmitted to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) providing they would not take disciplinary action.

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999. However, samples from the 1999 Tour de France were kept and have been recently retested by the lab based outside Paris.

"The lab can confirm that it has conducted EPO tests on samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tour de France races," it added.

L'Equipe published what it claimed to be a results sheet from the lab which appeared to show six figures from Armstrong's samples revealing traces of EPO.

The newspaper also published documents from the French cycling federation showing exactly the same figures under Lance Armstrong's name.

[Dan Gould]

What? Now THE LAB is denying a link to Armstrong?

Looks to me like Brownie and a few other people owe him an apology.

[couw]

the lab was performing these tests on anonymised samples. If they cannot make the link, that does not mean no link exists. The UCI and WADA can make the link.

[Dan Gould]

the lab was performing these tests on anonymised samples. If they cannot make the link, that does not mean no link exists. The UCI and WADA can make the link.

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But wasn't it the lab that was the source for the connection in the original reporting?

[brownie]

The Chatenay-Malabry just say they cannot link the results to Lance Armstrong or anybody because they work 'blind'. That's the rulee. There is no doubt about their finding illegal substances.

It is journalists from the newspaper 'L'Equipe' who were able to link the negative tests to Lance Armstrong.

The laboratory is not able to determine to whom the samples belong. The results of their analysis are sent to the competent powers so that the powers can know to whom the tests can be linked. 'L'Equipe' could do this.

No apologies needed. Unless they come from Lance Armstrong

[Dan Gould]

If this is SOP, then why is the lab even making such a statement? If this is how its done, the lab needn't say anything. This looks like an ass-covering statement which ought to not be at all necessary, unless something isn't right with the reporting of those who have had it in for Armstrong for seven long years.