Lance Armstrong

Wrong forum.

Sorry why? New member

Regards

Hi Graham, welcome to the forum,

I expect a kindly moderator will move this thread to Padded Cell v.soon

But on the subject matter, very briefly, I’ve read Lance Armstrong’s book about how he fortunately survived testicular cancer, and against all the odds went on to win 'The Tour' more times than anyone else ever has.

He’s a good down to earth kind of author, and very personable, which gives me reason enough to like the guy and to believe he was innocent of any wrongful drug-taking anyway so I’m pleased the investigation was dropped.

Debs

Not wrong forum as much as just wrong part of the forum. It will be moved by a kindly moderator, as Debs has indicated. Anyway, welcome.

I'm not sure what to make of Lance. I know little (i.e. absolutely nothing) other than what I have read in his books and read in the press.

If you at the top left, it says Forums, not Forum.

It would be disappointing to discover that a team part owned by Lance Armstrong was guilty of doping, and I am pleased to hear this news.

Armstrong is one of my long standing cycling heros, and I miss the mountain top battles of Lance, Basso and Ulrich.  The Tour de France for the last few years has been a rather dull event.  Cadel Evans won it last year a very low point in my opinion.  No doubt he is a great cyclist but, he has no flair.

I have always believed that Armstrong was clean and the French were just very bad losers.

It's not your fault Quad 33, 'Padded Cell' really ought to be on the top row.

I believe if Lance Armstrong has ever had anything to do with drug enhancement he would have been found out long before now.

The investigation was dropped on the team he partly owns. Its does not = " he was innocent of any wrongful drug-taking" on a individual basis.

How about federal prosecutors launch an investigation into how this post ever saw the light of day ? 

How about federal prosecutors launch an investigation into how this post ever saw the light of day ? 

Why? It is a reasonable topic for disussion ...

Why? Are we not allowed to ask anymore?  Soon we will not be allowed to think either I guess?

Good question from my point of view.  And the  major question still not fully answered.

Wrong Forum, ok, but let's be not so rigid - this is about fun and passions in life.

Bobby

Remember the Minis in the Monte farce. The rally cars actually weighed more than production ones yet they still moaned about it.

Back on topic, Lance has always offered to undergo any test, any where, any time as I recall. Any person who survives that ordeal will always know the true meaning of a brush with death. He also rode fairly and passionately which is good enough for me.

In his book he told how the cancer drugs stripped his body of all fat and muscle which gave him a "clean slate" to work from.

Others certainly needed the drugs to keep up.

Jono

Must confess that I consider the performance of professional cyclists generally and in the Tour de France particularly as super human.

My mind cannot comprehend how it is physically possible to churn out performances day after day for three weeks.  Without the aid of drugs.

I suspect they are all at it to some extent.  I don't regard Lance Armstrong as any better or worse than the others when it comes to drug use.  Maybe he just had harder to detect substances.

My assumption is that they are all at it and that people like Lance Armstrong have a physiological make up which is better able to take advantage of these enhancers.  If they were all clean, I suspect he would have enjoyed a similar advantage - he is/ was just a better athlete than most of his peer group.

My viewpoint on this may be completely wide of the truth however, from my perspective, they should get off his case and stop trying to discredit an individual in a sport rife with drugs.

Peter

I'm now very suspicious of cyclists of just about every generation. I think every generation have tried drugs of various kinds to improve performance.

I started watching cycling back in the 80's. Having read the late Laurent Fignon's autobiography he has since admitted to doping. Bjarne Riis suddenly shot to prominence in 1996 (after several years of averageness) and has since admitted to doping. Both of these riders are still credited with the TDF win of 1983/4 and 1996 respectively. 

It seems you have to actually fail a drugs test during the tour (Floyd Landis and recently Alberto Contandor) to get your title withdrawn.

I would be amazed if Marco Pantani who died of a drugs overdose (admittedly not the performance enhancing kind) and Jan Ullrich (Riis' team-mate) where totally clean. I hate to say it, but also Miguel Indurain had a few years of obscurity before suddenly taking the tour by storm (like Riis' career a few years later). It was during Indurain's time that EPO was being used by riders and at that time there was no effective test. Back in 1991 the entire PDM team had to withdraw from the tour after taking an EPO overdose (at the time they claimed they all had flu).

I would generally be suspicious of any rider who suddenly changes from average to tour winner. Perhaps in Lance's case though the sudden change in Tour form could be credited to him losing a great deal of weight during his illness, which would make him a far better climber than before, and so a more likely tour winner. I believe his weight was at least 10kg lighter after his illness.

In my view the rider who I feel is the most likely to have been clean is Greg Lemond, but who knows now.

Never a hint of suspicion around Evans.

I agree about Lemond. It would be odd for someone to campaign against doping if did it too.

Besides when he was young , you could tell he had all the talent in the world. His V02 max measurement was 80 IIRC.

Many athletes that peak past the age of 30 raises suspicion, because the human body declines after that. How has that changed?

You Brits may remember the Scottish sprinter Allan Wells who won the Olympic Gold (1980 Moscow) at the at of 38 with a hulk of an upper body?

Agreed about Evans. A real worthy winner after years of coming close. I always though his career might be similar to Gianni Bugno's way back, always close but never quite. I was thinking cycling had turned a corner, but then just this week there was the banning of Contador. At best he's been careless, at worst he's a cheat. I don't think Andy Schleck should feel in anyway embarrassed to take the 2010 title (unless he's also been doing something he shouldn't have....).

It makes you wonder if Contador beat Evans (2007) and Schleck (2009) fair and square when he previously won the TDF.