Posted on 06/13/2012 1:19:23 PM PDT by kegger8r
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency brought formal doping charges against former cyclist Lance Armstrong in an action that could cost him his seven Tour de France titles, according to a letter sent to Armstrong and several others Tuesday.
As a result of the formal charges, Armstrong has been immediately banned from competition in triathlons, a sport he took up after his retirement from cycling in 2011.
In the 15-page charging letter obtained by The Post, USADA made previously unpublicized allegations against Armstrong, alleging it collected blood samples from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that were “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.” Armstrong has never tested positive.
In February, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles ended a nearly two-year investigation into doping allegations involving Armstrong without bringing criminal charges. Armstrong’s former teammates Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton cooperated with federal agents in that investigation and publicly accused Armstrong of doping.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I hope they bust his liberal a$$! He was a major backer of prop 29 her in Kalifornia that would have added another dollar tax on cigarettes.
re: Witches floating.....
That’s why my former wife could swim so well!
There are some things I simply don’t like about Lance Armstrong, but this stinks of a witch hunt.
But, as many posters have stated already, actual guilt or real proof thereof is no requirement for an accusation of guilt, nor is it required or desirable for a guilty verdict from certain subsets of people.
To them, guilt isn’t really the question, it is the goal.
Lance is a great athlete and a genetic freak. That is why he was so good. Give it up!
For what it’s worth.
snip
Physiologist Edward Coyle, who runs the Human Performance Lab at the University of Texas in Austin, has studied Armstrong’s body for eight years. He’s discovered that the cyclist has an oversized heart that has grown through training to become 30 per cent larger than the average man’s.
His heart can pump nine gallons of blood per minute, compared to five for the average person. In fact, Coyle estimates that the 5-foot-10 Armstrong had a heart proportional to the size of a 6’6 man.
Armstrong’s lungs can absorb twice as much oxygen. His muscles produce half as much lactic acid and expel it faster, allowing him to ride harder up the Tour’s notoriously brutal hills and then recover quickly.
An average person turns 20 per cent of the oxygen he breathes into muscle power. Armstrong gets 23 per cent — close to the highest ever recorded in a human. So with each breath he delivers more power to each push of the pedal.
Armstrong’s body is so unique, if he didn’t train at all, he would still be in better physical condition than an average person in top condition.
But of course, it’s not fair to attribute Armstrong’s Tour victories solely to his incredible body. Let us remember that before he was diagnosed with cancer nine years ago, the 33-year-old Armstrong had never won the Tour, even though he had the same genetic gifts.
Coyle says what really makes Armstrong unique is his determination and discipline.
Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/CTVNewsAt11/20050725/armstrong_body_050722/#ixzz1xhz3PNSu
Having an American dominate the Tour like he did has too much for our cyclist betters in Europe.
and on the subject of "doping", almost every supplement and stack I've used would get me banned from racing. There are still issues with training at higher elevations
Another way to put it is that the dopers were 5+ years ahead of the anti-doping tests. This is the key reason that the athletes don’t want their blood stored for future testing... eventually the new tests will prove that an athlete that tested ‘clean’ at the time was in fact doping.
Being the top cyclist with the top trainer on the top team, it wouldn’t surprise me if Lance were 6 or 7 years ahead of the dope-testing curve, where the other contestants were only 1 step ahead of “Johnny Law.”
Armstrong doped, but he didn’t cheat.
Blood doping has been a necessity at every level of european pro cycling since they first figured out the benefits of boosted hematocrit levels on aerobic capacity in the late 80’s.
As a long time fan, sometime participant and student of the sport I’d be willing to bet a large chunk of change that not a single professional “grand tour” or major classic race from 1990 -> 2005 was won without the aid of EPO, CERA, or autologous transfusions. Its very likely most would involve anabolic steroids, amphetamines and body fat reducing drugs as well.
The bottom line is that the benefits of boosted hematocrit levels in a sport in which the big tours are won or lost on aerobic capacity and power to weight ratio are significant enough that if a single decent rider in a 150 man peloton is on “the program,” the rest have to do it to keep the playing field even.
I’m a Lance fan and I don’t think any of the following diminishes the fact that it takes a ridiculous amount of hard work, dedication and talent to win a race like the tour seven times. The time gaps on decisive mountain stages would probably be similar if they were all clean as a whistle, just uniformly slower.
LA would only be cheating, imo, if what he did gave him an unfair advantage over his competitors. Definitely not the case in this instance.
Forget his politics. This is not about Republican, Democrat or other.
The man has never tested positive - ever. Yet they will continue to charge him until “some” organization finds him guilty.
When that happens, the one time he is found guilty will end the trials and accusations. Fair? No...not for anyone regardless of their political persuasion.
Further, he will not have an opportunity to redeem himself once found guilty...all the “innocent” findings will be forgotten.
And...there will never be any tangible evidence of his having tested positive.
Wrong - just wrong.
Yeah. That and his romance with Ms. One Piece of Toilet Paper.
He is a lib, no doubt. There are a lot of things I don’t like about him.
But principled people won’t applaud if he is punished for something simply because they don’t like him.
Some people just have other agendas, though.
That's nothin, I had a heart of 6'5 trespasser and 2 of his smaller friends but the dog went and dug them up and well, you know how that goes
At one level, I just don't care that much about bicycle riding.
At another, I'm beginning to wonder if these things aren't stirred up from time to time by agents in order to keep star's names in the news. Both good boys and bad boys control large speaker fees.
Forgotten boys get less.
Oh Geez Not This Again....
I had read his book, and apparently the cancer changed the nature of his body type.
As I recall, they used to call him “The Bull” before that due to his aggressiveness on a straightaway, but he had to lug that large upper torso up the mountains with him, which made him pretty average. After the bout with cancer, that changed, and his ability to climb hills changed with it for the better.
I don’t follow cycling, so I don’t have any before and after pictures to verify that, but working in medicine and seeing the effect cancer can have, I wouldn’t rule out it did change his body type.
Tack Tom Delay and Sarah Palin in there.
I like where you’re headed there, and I’ll bet there are some other great names you could mention too.
Just don’t go Michael Jackson and O. J. on me. ;^)
All the testing that has been done, the previous charges, the fact that tests in 2009 and 10 didn’t turn up anything until now...
They really are desperate to get him aren’t they.
Over five hundred drug tests and not a single fail?
I say string him up!!!!!
/s
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Agreed.
Dateline June 12, 3069
In an affidavit released today the USADA has charged Lance Armstrong, now deceased for over 1000 years, with illegal doping.
President R. U. Kidding states “ We have finally nailed the b@stard”
Do you have evidence that Lance, Roger or Tiger cheated? By all means share your proof so we can all agree that you are not a slanderer.
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