I recently read (confirmed PED cheater) Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race. It is an exhaustive description of his own and Armstrong’s (a teammate) elaborate cheating strategies. There was in fact a cheating arms race, and Armstrong was the market leader, always innovating.
That’s why the argument that “they all did it, so it was a level playing field” is incorrect. Armstrong did it earlier and better, and when someone like Hamilton threatened to overtake him, he turned his former friend in to the authorities.
Armstrong comes across not as a decent and honest athlete, but as a narcissistic sociopath, whose definition of “normal” was that it was when he won.
Thats why the argument that they all did it, so it was a level playing field is incorrect. Armstrong did it earlier and better, and when someone like Hamilton threatened to overtake him, he turned his former friend in to the authorities.
Armstrong comes across not as a decent and honest athlete, but as a narcissistic sociopath, whose definition of normal was that it was when he won.
Sounds like it would be well worth the read for anyone venturing an opinion on this subject.