Posted on 05/20/2011 4:20:35 PM PDT by Vision
NEW YORK (AP) — A report by "60 Minutes" says George Hincapie, a longtime member of Lance Armstrong's inner circle, has told federal authorities he saw the seven-time Tour de France winner use performance-enhancing drugs...
Hamilton said he also used PEDs with Armstrong.
Hincapie has often been depicted as one of Armstrong's most loyal teammates and was with him for all seven Tour victories. In an interview last year, Armstrong said Hincapie was "like a brother to me."
Armstrong has steadfastly denied doping...
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Wonder how this will effect the 2011 TdF?
I don’t believe Hincapie.
I dont believe 60 minutes.......
I believe every Tour De France winner since 1975 has been jacked up on PED.
The following is an email Tyler Hamilton sent to friends and family on May 19 explaining his “long overdue” confession to doping.
Dear Everybody,
I hope this finds you all doing well.
First of all, sorry for sending this out as a group letter. If there was any way I could come visit each of you individually, I would. I hope we are together soon.
There’s no easy way to say this, so let me just say it plain: on Sunday night you’ll see me on “60 Minutes” making a confession that’s overdue. Long overdue.
During my cycling career, I knowingly broke the rules. I used performance-enhancing drugs. I lied about it, over and over. Worst of all, I hurt people I care about. And while there are reasons for what I did — reasons I hope you’ll understand better after watching — it doesn’t excuse the fact that I did it all, and there’s no way on earth to undo it.
The question most people ask is, why now? There are two reasons. The first has to do with the federal investigation into cycling. Last summer, I received a subpoena to testify before a grand jury. Until that moment I walked into the courtroom, I hadn’t told a soul. My testimony went on for six hours. For me, it was like the Hoover dam breaking. I opened up; I told the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And I felt a sense of relief I’d never felt before — all the secrets, all the weight I’d been carrying around for years suddenly lifted. I saw that, for me personally, this was the way forward.
The second reason has to do with the sport I love. In order to truly reform, cycling needs to change, and change drastically, starting from the top. Now that I’m working as a coach, I see young people entering the sport with hopes of making it to the top. I believe that no one coming into the sport should have to face the difficult choices I had to make. And before the sport can move forward, it has to face the truth.
This hasn’t been easy, not by a long shot. But I want to let you know that I’m doing well. The coaching business is more fun and fulfilling than I’d ever imagined, and Tanker and I are loving our Boulder life. I recently turned 40, and my friends threw the best 80’s themed surprise party in the history of the world (hey, most of you were there!). Life is good.
Again, I just want to say I’m sorry, and that I hope you can forgive me. What matters to me most are my family and friends. I’m deeply grateful for all your support and love through the years, and I’m looking forward to spending time with all of you again, hopefully soon. My Mom and Dad always told me that the truth would set me free. I never knew how right they were.
Sincerely,
Tyler Hamilton
Well how else was Armstrong supposed to beat a bunch of other dopers?
It’s over.
When you consider how many of the elite TDF riders of the past 10 years ended up with positive tests (Ulrich, Landis, Vinokourov, Basso, Rasmussen, Contador, Mayo, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.), I’ve always admitted that I was using willing suspension of disbelief with Armstrong since he never was caught. It sure seems like the whole sport was doing it and it was simply a cat and mouse game. Armstrong was the best mouse perhaps.
My biggest problem with the whole Armstrong situation now isn’t 60 Minutes (it’s cool if they unearth new stuff) - it’s that my tax dollars are paying for the DOJ to spend millions of dollars investigating Armstrong for conduct that is a decade old and that hangs by the slender reed of his association with the Postal Service. Defrauding the US government is the hook. Really? I’d rather have the DOJ going after real criminals rather than a retired cyclist. Felt the same way about the Barry Bonds case, but that’s another story.
I find it hard to believe that all of the other great riders were doping, and yet Armstrong was dominating them without doping. Unlikely.
However, he was never caught, so there is no proof.
I don’t care about athletes using PEDs, especially when they are all doing it.
As an old road racer I have a few comments:
1. As Maitre Jacques once said: “Nobody rides The Tour on mineral water.” Shall we shame Merckx now? And Poulidor? And Hineault? And LeMond? And the rest? Drugs (even alcohol, tobacco, and amphetamines) and the Tour go back to its founding in the turn of the century. Ask Tom Simpson.
2. Lance has endured possibly THOUSANDS of random high-tech drug tests and has never been positive. His enemies are legion. They hate him, and the USA, and all he stands for. Is this - and a jealous anti-Lance Velo press - not enough? Can we not just let it go?
3. Armstrong is perhaps the greatest athlete of all time. Athletism at that level is a cutting edge marriage of art and science and psychology... And medicine of all kinds.
4. If doping is a cat-and-mouse game, let it be so. What about the altitude chambers the top athletes sleep in to boost RBC levels? Why is it legal just because it is not a pill?
5. Many people cannot believe Lance’s O2 to power-output levels. I can. Lance, unlike any other cyclist with the exception perhaps of LeMond rebuilt himself as a TOTAL cycling monster after health tragedy struck, and he deserves the credit and acclaim he has won.
6. Lance defines the term CHAMPION. He is in a league all his own. Never underestimate the ability or desire of good but lesser men to want to destroy the Champion.
That’s my say.
Marion Jones never failed a drugs test.
PEDals??
Breaking
There was an article in a European newspaper several years ago that detailed the investigations into use of banned substances in the sport of cycling.
After a day of competition cycling a team would be chosen to be tested. The team doctor would always have several of the backup riders on the team set aside as non-drug users, so these guys would be sent to the testers first.
While they were testing those guys, the doctor and trainers had about 45 minutes to put IVs in the riders and flush the drugs out of their systems. Since they tested the guys in a serial fashion, they had time to do this.
The whole system is set up so that they can claim they are doing random testing but still give the teams time to take care of any evidence. It’s like most sports, there is a wink and a nod to testing for banned substances but there is little effort to actually stop it.
I'm on the fence about Lance: I thought all the superfluous tissue in his body melted away during the cancer, and his pain threshold would be nothing short of incredible as well.
LeMond -- I know he had the hunting accident, but I don't see how that would have affected his overall body composition as cancer treatments would.
Finally -- the Fwench always hated Lance. I remember seeing words in English chalked on one of the TdF climbs with Lance in the lead, so he'd be sure to see it:
"Rip their ball off, Lance."
Cheers!
“Really? I’d rather have the DOJ going after real criminals rather than a retired cyclist. Felt the same way about the Barry Bonds case, but that’s another story.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Too him long enough to come forward... /S
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