Lance Armstrong stripped of seven Tour de France titles and banned for life

 

Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and given a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

 

USADA decided he used performance-enhancing drugs to achieve his success.

 

Armstrong, who retired a year ago, strongly denies doping.

 

But the anti-doping agency said Armstrong's decision not to take the charges against him to arbitration triggers the lifetime ineligibility and erased his results from 1 August 1998.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19369375

Unbelievable.

Not the least bit surprised ... I'd almost like to say that it was about time.

Actually he has not yet been stripped. The USADA has no jurisdiction or say in if he gets his wins stripped. They will provide the evidence to the UCI(Union de cyclist international). Then the UCI will decide whether he will lose them or not. Although in the eighties, a cyclist who won the Tour was sited and investigated by the UCI, but charges were dropped.

It's pretty despicable, the USADA, their existence alone sparks controversy. American tax dollars go to that witchunting organization and we get our heroes stripped of their achievements? I understand they're trying to enforce justice, but accusations fly here and there, it's not that unbelievable that they have to make a drawn out case about it... Case and point, USADA is useless, Lance still has a legacy that no one can ever really take from him.

It's pretty despicable, the USADA, their existence alone sparks controversy. American tax dollars go to that witchunting organization and we get our heroes stripped of their achievements? I understand they're trying to enforce justice, but accusations fly here and there, it's not that unbelievable that they have to make a drawn out case about it... Case and point, USADA is useless, Lance still has a legacy that no one can ever really take from him.

 

The USADA are not state funded...

And why should cheaters get away with cheating?

We don't know if he cheated. There is evidence that needs to be presented. Back when he raced, a lot of people did this. I like to believe he didn't cheat.

I wasn't talking specifically about Lance Armstrong, I was talking in general.

I posted that at 6 am, please forgive me. :rolleyes:

I think the fact he dropped his defence really does spell something that is not good.

There has been plenty of people testifying against him over the years and yet nothing has happened until now. Frustrating to say the least.

I don't doubt for a second that he's a cheater, I felt that way for years.

I hope the USADA will present their evidence to the UCI soon though so that this can be made official.

There has been plenty of people testifying against him over the years and yet nothing has happened until now. Frustrating to say the least.

I don't doubt for a second that he's a cheater, I felt that way for years.

I hope the USADA will present their evidence to the UCI soon though so that this can be made official.

 

I totally disagree. He passed over 500 drug tests. Not one test showed anything suspicious. He was put on "trial" many times but nobody had evidence against him. Nobody could prove a thing. Sounds like sour grapes from those whom he defeated, and jealousy from other countries. Lance got sick and tired of having to spend millions to defend himself yet again against personal attacks. And when the USADA presents a case against you, and you win, you are not reimbursed for what you spent to defend yourself. He has spent upwards of $50 million defending himself in frivolous lawsuits, and he finally decided enough was enough. He's probably rather see $50 million go toward cancer research and hospital homes than having to defend himself over and over because some jealous little weasel is making something up. The USADA is a joke and has been since it's inception.

The USADA are not state funded...

And why should cheaters get away with cheating?

 

The Federal Government funds the USADA through grants, so yes, tax dollars do pay for it.

 

And he didn't cheat. See my earlier comment.

So, who are the "lucky" guys who will benefit from Armstrong's lost titles ? :wacko:

He hasn't lost them as the USADA don't have the rights to strip him, only UCI has that right.

 

UCI has asked for the evidence from USADA so they can make the decision, as of yet the evidence is a flacky as copying a LG Prada and saying you were the first all-touch-screen phone

The whole thing is just sad.

The whole thing is a witch hunt by USADA

I totally disagree. He passed over 500 drug tests. Not one test showed anything suspicious. He was put on "trial" many times but nobody had evidence against him. Nobody could prove a thing. Sounds like sour grapes from those whom he defeated, and jealousy from other countries. Lance got sick and tired of having to spend millions to defend himself yet again against personal attacks. And when the USADA presents a case against you, and you win, you are not reimbursed for what you spent to defend yourself. He has spent upwards of $50 million defending himself in frivolous lawsuits, and he finally decided enough was enough. He's probably rather see $50 million go toward cancer research and hospital homes than having to defend himself over and over because some jealous little weasel is making something up. The USADA is a joke and has been since it's inception.

 

Yeah, sure, whatever. There are ways to pass drug tests. I'd bet a lot on that he's payed for them. (Howdy, Dr. Ferrari.)

I'm not jealous, I'm just sick of seeing this guy glorified. He is no hero, he's just a regular (no correction, he's a smarter) cheater.

How many of his former team colleagues have to testify against him and be sued by him in return?

And get that ... at the end of each Tour de France he was at least 1min ahead of proven cheaters. Funny.

The accuracy of people's stories who've claimed that he was using EPO just sound all over the place, I'm not saying I know either way (And I don't understand how the previous posters can be so lob-sided and sure because there's a LOT of things to take into consideration) but if they are telling the truth they sure choose a shitty way to express. I mean just look at this absolute bullshitter:

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejaiWZX8p40]Teammate: Lance Armstrong cheated - YouTube[/ame]

 

So he openly kept it and injected it around team mates but they never even talked about it? They never exchanged different info on where to get it or how it works best? When I first heard Armstrongs camp excuse being others were jealous, I thought that was so deluded that other athletes would do that, but to be fair this Lance Tyler guy's already been banned for doping (So him admitting it in that interview means nothing) and now he probably thinks he can get a book deal out of this. Even if he's telling the truth he just looks like such a liar in this interview, especially his long drawn out pause for answering the last question

 

I've heard of other claims, one is from a cyclist and his couple who said they were in hospital with Armstrong when a doctor asked him if he used performance enhancing drugs and he said yes, I suppose it's plausible but was that the dumbest doctor in the world? I'm pretty sure most would realise if you're treating a world famous cyclist (Which I think he was at the time) that's a question you ask in private, and with patient confidentiality I'd also be surprised if there are no issues at all with doctors just openly asking such questions as if it's some kind of group forum. Again- they never asked Armstrong about it? Just openly heard this and let it remain as the constant elephant in the room?

 

If there are better claims I'm open to hear them, I honestly can't say I lean either way, it's a very difficult thing. Imke's "Yeah sure whatever" attitude is a bit fleeting, you can't assume just because he's rich that he paid off hundreds of testers down the years, because you don't have a clue. On the other hand this Tyler Hamilton wasn't caught for doping until 2005, and admitted he had been doing it for several years and probably did have dozens of tests done during that time, so there are clearly ways around it and it seemed to be commonplace at the time.

 

Lance Armstrong: Usada report reveals doping evidence

 

Cycling legend Lance Armstrong's team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme the sport has ever seen" according to a report by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

 

Usada says it will deliver the full report in the doping case against Armstrong, 41, later on Wednesday. It contains testimony from 11 of his former US Postal Service team-mates. He has always denied doping allegations but has not contested Usada's charges.

 

Usada chief executive Travis T Tygart said there was "conclusive and undeniable proof" of a team-run doping conspiracy. The organisation will send a "reasoned decision" in the Armstrong case to the International Cycling Union (UCI), the World Anti-Doping Agency and the World Triathlon Corporation.

 

The UCI now has 21 days to lodge an appeal against Usada's decision with Wada or they must comply with the decision to strip Armstrong, who now competes in triathlons, of his seven Tour de France titles and hand him a lifetime ban.

Armstrong, who overcame cancer to return to professional cycling, won the Tour from 1999 to 2005. He retired in 2005 but returned in 2009 before retiring for good two years later.

 

In his statement, Tygart said the evidence against Armstrong and his team - which is in excess of 1,000 pages - was "overwhelming" and "includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team and its participants' doping activities".

 

Tygart revealed it contains "direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in funding".

 

He also claimed the team's doping conspiracy "was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices".

 

Among the former team-mates of Armstrong's to testify were George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for failing a dope test and was recently found guilty in a Swiss court of defaming the International Cycling Union for alleging they had protected Armstrong from doping claims.

 

Tygart said: "The riders who participated in the USPS Team doping conspiracy and truthfully assisted have been courageous in making the choice to stop perpetuating the sporting fraud, and they have suffered greatly. I have personally talked with and heard these athletes' stories and firmly believe that, collectively, these athletes, if forgiven and embraced, have a chance to leave a legacy far greater for the good of the sport than anything they ever did on a bike. Lance Armstrong was given the same opportunity to come forward and be part of the solution. He rejected it. Instead he exercised his legal right not to contest the evidence and knowingly accepted the imposition of a ban from recognised competition for life and disqualification of his competitive results from 1998 forward."

 

Usada confirmed that two other members of the US Postal Service team, Dr Michele Ferrari and Dr Garcia del Moral, have also received lifetime bans for their part in the doping conspiracy. Three further members - team director Johan Bruyneel, a team doctor Dr Pedro Celaya and team trainer Jose Marti - have chosen to contest the charges and take their cases to arbitration. Tygart also called on the UCI to "act on its own recent suggestion for a meaningful Truth and Reconciliation programme".

 

"Hopefully, the sport can unshackle itself from the past, and once and for all continue to move forward to a better future," he added.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19903716

FC Barcelona are now involved in this .

FC Barcelona are now involved in this .

 

 

Read up on Operation Puerto. There were many top Spanish sports professionals involved in this national systematic drug system.

 

The only ones punished were the cyclists, but many other sports were involved at the highest level including football, tennis and athletics. Really any sport that had an endurace-based core.

 

Cycling is very different now to that era... and LA etc didn't start it. It was there from ~93/94. The Italians with gewiss-ballan in 94/95 were the primary testbed. LA's team just refined it and were the best.

 

Haemocrits of 50% were common, some riders died because their blood was too thick. No tests for epo until 2005-6 so easy to pass a test 'at the time'. Retrospective testing has shown it's presence.

 

As for the French moaning about the unfairness of it, I'll just mention Festina in 98. It was endemic in the sport.

 

Did Armstrong win all those tours? Doesn't really matter anymore, no-one cares, but he was the first amongst equals, and his team brough tactics which are still used today in grand tours.

Lance Armstrong dropped by Nike over doping evidence

 

Lance Armstrong dropped by Nike over doping evidence

 

Lance Armstrong has had his contract with sportswear giant Nike terminated.

Nike stated that "due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Armstrong participated in doping... we have terminated his contract".

 

Armstrong, 41, has also stepped down as chairman of his charity Livestrong.

 

The decisions come a week after the United States Anti-Doping Agency released a report containing accusations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams.

 

It contains sworn statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 former team-mates.

 

Usada ordered 14 years of Armstrong's career results, including his seven Tour de France titles, to be erased. The former cyclist has always denied doping, but gave up his fight against the charges in August.

 

Nike, which added that it was "misled" by the American for more than a decade, made a U-turn on a statement released last week when it said it would "continue to support Lance and the Lance Armstrong Foundation". Nike and Armstrong had been in partnership since 1996.

 

Armstrong also announced on Wednesday that he would be quitting his role as chairman of his cancer charity in order "to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career".

 

The Texan will remain on Livestrong's 15-member board, with vice-chairman Jeff Garvey, who was founding chairman in 1997, taking over Armstrong's role.

 

Armstrong added: "As my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer.

 

"It has been a great privilege to help it grow from a dream into an organisation that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors."

 

link

Freaking USADA. Tearing Armstrong's life apart piece by piece. Or should I say evidence by evidence. Everybody did it back then. Every sport had/s it's users. The USADA is such a waste of money. They can't "Erase" somebody's wins even if they tried.

Everybody did it back then.

 

This makes it OK, that's why he vehemently denies it. :nod: