Sorry if no one gets the reference. When I see the names Pedro and Pepe, I can't help it...
Posted on 10/10/2012 1:39:35 PM PDT by servo1969
Cyclist Lance Armstrong was part of "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday in preparing to release more than 1,000 pages of evidence in the case.
The evidence involving the U.S. Postal Service-sponsored cycling team encompasses "direct documentary evidence including financial payments, e-mails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong," the agency said.
Armstrong lawyer Tim Herman dismissed what he called a "one-sided hatchet job" and a "government-funded witch hunt" against the seven-time Tour de France winner, who has consistently denied doping accusations.
But the USADA said 11 riders had come forward to acknowledge their use of banned performance-enhancing drugs while on the team. Among them are George Hincapie, Armstrong's teammate during his winning Tour de France runs.
"Early in my professional career, it became clear to me that, given the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs by cyclists at the top of the profession, it was not possible to compete at the highest level without them," Hincapie said in a written statement. "I deeply regret that choice and sincerely apologize to my family, teammates and fans."
Three members of the Postal Service team will contest the accusations, the agency said. They are team director Johan Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and Jose "Pepe" Marti, the team trainer. Each will get a hearing before an independent judge, according to the agency.
The agency compiled the evidence as part of its investigation into doping allegations that have dogged Armstrong and the Postal Service team for years. The organization is not a governmental agency but is designated by Congress as the country's official anti-doping organization for Olympic sports.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
What about Eddy Merckx?
I was thinking the same thing. If they all are doing it the he was still the best. If true such a disappointment.
Sorry if no one gets the reference. When I see the names Pedro and Pepe, I can't help it...
Armstrong is an a-hole and may have doped, but how did he manage to never have a positive test?
did he actually fail a drug test?
Evidence of White House Cover-up in Bengazhi debacle ‘overwhelming’
There, fixed it
Don’t suppose anyone will cover that though
More likely they were called into the questioning room, given an offer they couldn't refuse, and told they would be let off if they agreed to stick it to Armstrong.
I am still very suspicious of the jerk who runs this outfit.
who is that? I love her
The judgement is based on the word of serial perjurers. No chemical evidence exists and further, the statute of limitations has passed (eight years). There is also the question of domain. This agency has stuck it's nose where it has no charter to do so.
Importantly, it appears to be a tobacco vendetta as the organization perpetrating this outrage is funded by a person important in the pro tobacco milieu. Armstrong has been working on behalf of others on the other side of that situation.
There is combined with this, a slander against the entire U.S. Postal team of which Lance was team member.
Sorry I could not be more specific as to names and facts.
The people who care already know...
He’s our hero, this is government, so it can’t be true!
(Oh and “it’s” means “it is”. Illiteracy undermines credibility, I’m afraid.)
How do you figure him to be an a-hole? Do you know him personally?
This is a fraudulent, rump organization whose sole founding purpose was to get government funds. I don't know what Armstrong did, or didn't do. Any rational man can see that what they are doing to him however, amounts to a weird combination of "Double Jeopardy," and a "Bill of Attainder."
Verdict of the cycling community is that Armstrong doped. There are only a few die-hard Armstrong fans who are holding out. Here’s a link to the Doping forum at one of the main cycling websites: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/doping-forum/
More discussion and details than most non-cycling obsessed people will want to read, but it is enlightening.
Anyone who was competitive during the Armstrong era doped. They got very good at cheating the tests. Some top cyclists (Andy Hampsten for one) decided to quit the game rather than dope, but they seem to be very few.
Merckx - a great athlete
eight years
no positive drug tests, not one
and these “members of the team” (LMAO) say it isn’t true
...they are team director Johan Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and Jose “Pepe” Marti, the team trainer.
If they couldn’t make a case within 24 months, they should have found something else to waste their time on.
I can’t help but think of Jim Thorpe as this B. S. investigation chugs along...
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