Trouble ahead for Lance Armstrong

[brownie]

It's 'L'Equipe' which got hold of the report from the Chatenay-Malabry anti-doping lab and published it. The Lab confirmed the reality of its report. The findings of the report are not being contested.

And since we're talking about dope, I must say I am starting to OD on this Lance Armstrong story. To me the case is closed and I'll try to go cold turkey on it

[RDK]

Well that's it then - I'm done with following Armstrong's career...

Seriously, I really couldn't care either way, though I'd hate to think that LA's possible hypocrisy might harm the image of the U.S. (or the sport in general) any further.

Hmm. Were any other cyclists identified as having 7-year old doped blood? It seems if he's to be identified, that any others who tested positive should be as well. Or was only LA's blood preserved for seven years?

I'm beginning to think that athletes should be allowed to use any performance-enhancing drugs they want. The results could be exciting, tragic, and amusing... perhaps all at the same time.

[king ubu]

Today's Frankfurter Allgemeine again says all the samples could be matched.

Also they report about a half hour phone call between Armstrong and Leblanc, during which - so says A. - L. did not mention the whole affair at all - but then proceeded to state that A. has "abused" his French fans...

And "L'Equipe" has confirmed that they know about the identity of all those cyclists whose tests have yielded positive results.

But then again, who cares...

[Claude]

I'm beginning to think that athletes should be allowed to use any performance-enhancing drugs they want.  The results could be exciting, tragic, and amusing... perhaps all at the same time.  

←

Does anybody remeber Phil Hartman in the "All Drug Olympics" from SNL? The weight lifting sketch where he pulled his own arms off? Phil Hartman was playing a weightlifter who was on every performance enhancing drug you could imagine.

←

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/88/88aupdate.phtml

Edited August 26, 2005 by Claude

[Claude]

And on a serious note, the death of Tom Simpson in 1967:

Suddenly Tom dropped from his little cluster of riders. Barely able to turn the pedals he began to weave across the road. In a hundred yards he collapsed. Immediately he was surrounded by spectators, and to them he appealed, in whispered gasps, "Put me back on my bike." These were to be his last words.

The well-meaning fans lifted him onto the saddle and got him going with a good push. When the momentum dwindled in a few feet Simpson began his former zigzag course. Another hundred yards and Tom again tottered from the bike, this time utterly spent. He immediately lapsed into a coma and nothing the Tour doctor or a local hospital (where he was taken by helicopter) could do brought relief. In three hours Tom Simpson was dead, victim of his own indomitable will and the sorcery of his supposedly magical pills.

http://www.torelli.com/owen/simpson.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/...ance/135102.stm

[Stefan Wood]

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug=ap-ar...ov=ap&type=lgns

[catesta]

Very interesting.

[Quincy]

I get a chuckle out of seeing the subject header "Trouble Ahead For Lance Armstrong" after it has been announced that he's marrying Sheryl Crow.

[Dr. Rat]

Well that's it then - I'm done with following Armstrong's career... 

Seriously, I really couldn't care either way, though I'd hate to think that LA's possible hypocrisy might harm the image of the U.S. (or the sport in general) any further. 

Hmm.  Were any other cyclists identified as having 7-year old doped blood?  It seems if he's to be identified, that any others who tested positive should be as well.  Or was only LA's blood preserved for seven years? 

I'm beginning to think that athletes should be allowed to use any performance-enhancing drugs they want.  The results could be exciting, tragic, and amusing... perhaps all at the same time. 

←

On the other hand Armstrong's hypocrisy would just be a byproduct of our own. I'm reminded of the marijuana issue with politicians back in the early 90s. They lie becasue we want them to lie, and then when we find out for damn sure they lied we get all moral. Or Monica Lewinsky. Public figures just reflect our own hypocrisy back to us. We want "increadible" perfromances from our athletes every time, and then we act surprised and dismayed when it turns out their rigging things to get them.

--eric

[Claude]

UCI doctor gave information to L'Equipe

The UCI anti-doping chief Dr Leon Schattenberg announced in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, that it was him who gave one of the 1999 Tour de France doping control protocols to a journalist of L'Equipe, who used it to reveal Lance Armstrong's alleged use of EPO in the paper on August 23.

Schattenberg said that the journalist came to the UCI headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland just a few days before the 2005 Tour de France ended. According to the Dutchman, the journalist wanted to know whether Armstrong was allowed to use testosterone after his illness with cancer. The Federation replied that this was not the case; and to prove it, Armstrong himself allowed the journalist to see one of his doping test protocols - of which the code number was used by L'Equipe to identify one of the positive samples tested retrospectively by the French laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=new...ep05/sep18news2

[brownie]

Tour of Spain winner Roberto Heras, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong, tests positive.

From Reuters:

HERAS FACING PREMATURE END TO CAREER

By Simon Baskett

Four times Tour of Spain winner Roberto Heras faces a premature end to a highly successful career after a 'B' sample confirmed a positive test for the banned blood-boosting substance erythropoietin (EPO).

"Surprisingly the test was positive," Heras's legal representative Jose Maria Buxeda told reporters outside the Madrid laboratory that had conducted the analysis.

Heras originally tested positive for EPO during the penultimate stage on his way to victory in this year's Tour of Spain, a 39-km individual time trial.

EPO stimulates the production of red blood cells which increases oxygen carrying capacity and therefore helps to improve endurance in athletes.

The confirmation of the offence means that the 31-year-old Spaniard will be stripped of his record-breaking fourth crown in the Vuelta, with victory handed instead to Russian rider Denis Menchov.

He will also be obliged to rescind his contract with the Liberty Seguros team, be banned from competition from two years and not be allowed to sign for one of the elite ProTour teams for four years.

Heras has mounted an impassioned defense of his innocence, arguing first that there had been a laboratory mix-up and then that the testing process for EPO was flawed.

NEWS CONFERENCE

"Two days ago the laboratory said the image in the test was not clear and now they say it is has shown a positive result," he told a news conference on Friday.

"After all that has occurred I'm convinced that the method is faulty. It's neither exact nor reliable and there are examples of previous mistakes.

"I want to reiterate that I've never taken any doping substance, not in the Vuelta nor in any other race.

"After four wins in the Vuelta I cannot allow all my sacrifices to be undermined by what is an error. Why would I have jeopardised my fourth victory by taking an illegal substance when I had already effectively won the race?

"We are going to take whatever action we need to prove my innocence."

Compatriot Francisco Mancebo said he was bemused that Heras had tested positive when he enjoyed a comfortable four-and-a-half-minute advantage over the rest of the field.

"It seems inexplicable," he told Spanish news agency Europa Press. "I don't know what could have happened.

"Maybe it was the pressure, his desire to win or greed but it was strange that it happened when he had such an advantage."

The 'B' test was carried out on November 21, but the complex nature of the analysis delayed the announcement of the result until Friday.

Rabobank rider Menchov said he was shocked when told about Heras testing positive.

"My first reaction was that it was a labratory mistake," Menchov was quoted as saying by the Russian media.

"Personally I would rather be crowned the Vuelta champion by winning on the road than in a court battle," he added.

"In any case, it's (Heras dope test) bad for the image of cycling."

BADLY TARNISHED

The repercussions of the case are likely to go far beyond Heras's own personal disgrace.

The exposure of the team's number one rider is likely to prompt insurance giant Liberty to review their sponsorship of the Spanish-based outfit and could cause other leading businesses to withdraw their support from cycling

The positive from Heras, widely recognised as one of the most exciting riders on the circuit, further undermines the reputation of a sport that has had its image badly tarnished by a succession of similar episodes in recent years.

Heras, a former team mate of Lance Armstrong at U.S. Postal, is now set to become the biggest figure in cycling since Italy's Marco Pantani and Frenchman Richard Virenque to have had his career shattered by a doping scandal.

Armstrong has also been dogged by doping allegations since retirement after a record seventh Tour de France victory in July. He has strongly denied allegations that urine samples collected in the 1999 Tour contained traces of EPO.

As well as his four victories in the Vuelta, Heras finished fifth in the Tour de France in 2000 and won a number of other prestigious races such as the Tour of Catalunya.

[BeBop]

Unfortunate. I rather liked the guy...which I can't say for others accused of wrongdoing.

[jazzbo]

I'm totally indifferent to the guy, and it's easy to get sick of the publicity about him here in Austin (though he's for the most part moved away now I hear). My one concern is that his oncologist was as good as one might think he was. .. as he has become my wife's doctor. . . .

[BeBop]

I'm totally indifferent to the guy, and it's easy to get sick of the publicity about him here in Austin (though he's for the most part moved away now I hear). My one concern is that his oncologist was as good as one might think he was. .. as he has become my wife's doctor. . . .

Actually, the guy I mention liking is Roberto Heras. Sorry if I was a bit vague. As for Lance...

[jazzbo]

No, I didn't misunderstand you sir, I just was stating my indifference to the thread subject prson. . . .And my hope that his doctor is one of the very best.

[Chalupa]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/more...ex.html?cnn=yes

[brownie]

A more informative story from AFP

Armstrong on trial for defamation in Italy

ROME (AFP) - American Lance Armstrong, the seven-times Tour de France winner who retired last July, will go on trial for defamation after losing a preliminary hearing against Italian Filippo Simeoni.

Armstrong famously tarnished the Italian rider a "liar" in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde in 2003 after Simeoni had given evidence in 2002 to magistrates investigating disgraced Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari.

Last year Ferrari, who is alleged to have helped dozens of top athletes to safely administer illegal substances, was found guilty of sporting fraud and illegally acting as a pharmacist. Ferrari has appealed the verdict.

Armstrong in 2001 admitted he had been collaborating with Ferrari, who at the peak of his career in cycling told one journalist that using the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) was no more dangerous than orange juice.

On Wednesday the court judge Nicola Insiti rejected a claim by Armstrong's defence and ordered a hearing to be held on March 7, 2006.

Once Simeoni's spat with Armstrong became apparent in the cycling peloton, the Italian began to feel the heat from several fellow professionals.

At the end of the 2004 Tour de France Armstrong famously tried to humiliate Simeoni. He chased down the Italian as he went on a breakaway to prevent him taking any advantage on the group.

The American was placed under formal investigation in Italy for that stunt, although the investigation was closed earlier this year.

Simeoni meanwhile said he hoped justice would be done.

"Sooner or later the truth always comes out and justice will be done," he told Italian agency ANSA.

"I'm relaxed and still feel I am in the right. I'm waiting for March 7 with confidence."

Slim chance that Lance Armstrong actually goes to the trial. Would have been interesting to hear what he has to say about his relations with the notorious 'Dottore' Ferrari!

[Dan Gould]

UPDATE

From CNN-SI:

Armstong cleared of doping charges

Posted: Wednesday May 31, 2006 9:09AM; Updated: Wednesday May 31, 2006 9:25AM

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.

Any apologies now from our European friends who besmirched his reputation?

[Jazzmoose]

You know, I was wondering if the original thread would be pulled up here when I saw this in the news; way to go Dan!

[catesta]

So I guess this is end of story?

[couw]

of course not!

[catesta]

of course not!

That's what I figured.

[BeBop]

Cleared for one possible infraction (among many potential) at one race (among many).

[Claude]

I would have liked a more independent report. The cycling federation UCI has no interest in a serious investigation, since doping is so widespread in this sport, and too many financial interests are at stake for thefederation. This is not about Armstrong only.

Investigation stepped up to catch blood-doping cheats

[brownie]

What Claude said!

No time for apologies yet!