[dan-b]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sports...,1710808.story

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong is back in the spotlight after the Washington Post reported Wednesday that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency has brought formal doping charges against him that could result in him being stripped of his Tour de France titles.

Armstrong has also been immediately banned from competing in triathlons, a sport he recently took up professionally.

In the 15-page charging letter obtained by the Post, USADA says it collected blood from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that was "fully consistent with blood ma*nipu*la*tion including EPO use and/or blood transfusions."

Armstrong responded Wednesday by saying, "I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one. That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence. Any fair consideration of these allegations has and will continue to vindicate me."

According to the Post, USADA’s letter alleges that "multiple riders with firsthand knowledge" will testify that Armstrong used EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone and masking agents, and that he distributed and administered drugs to other cyclists from 1998 to 2005.

In February, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles ended a two-year investigation into doping allegations involving Armstrong without bringing criminal charges.

[Arsedestroyer]

the tour de france has had cheating from the start, people catching trains during stages and use of opiates in the early years and tommy simpson's famous amphetamine related death. it's a long and hard race and to expect athletes to shun the use of perfomance enhancers may be a little gullible. it's hard to say how much cheating goes on in professional sport.

[rob666]

I had/have no doubt that he was using something.
Its just like baseball in the late 90's, the sport had pretty much the same numbers for 100 years with the odd standout year..... 2 guys hit 60+ homeruns in a year over 100 years.
Then, suddenly it was happening EVERY year, and guys were even hitting 70+ homeruns.
I guess my point is that for Armstrong to win 7 consecutive times, when the previous record was was 3, is not possible.... People like to think that Supermen exist, but at the very top levels of any sport the difference between athletes is very very small and for someone to double the previous best, that took 100 years to establish, is impossible.

[dan-b]

Here's a link to a PDF of the letter sent to Armstrong and others by the USADA with regards to their charges: http://online.wsj.com/public/resourc...arging0613.pdf

[Steve]

I would rather watch hair grow that watch people cycle in their lycra ensemble and their silly cone head hats.

[Illusion]

Whenever you are paid based on your athletic performance, there will always be performance enhancing drugs.

[dan-b]

Originally Posted by Illusion ↗

Whenever you are paid based on your athletic performance, there will always be performance enhancing drugs.

Oh yeah, I'm not suggesting this will create some kind of drug free utopia. I just find this story interesting because Armstrong had an almost deity like status for a while, and he's clearly been conning people.

[RedneckR0nin]

This is still horseshit.
He passed the drug tests throughout the racing.
He passed three separate investigations after the fact in a five year span. Now some fucking staff member says he was doping and it's all but in the bag? Fucking retarded.

[dan-b]

Originally Posted by RedneckR0nin ↗

This is still horseshit.
He passed the drug tests throughout the racing.
He passed three separate investigations after the fact in a five year span. Now some fucking staff member says he was doping and it's all but in the bag? Fucking retarded.

Read this article, it could well change your mind: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...0944/index.htm

[banana dick]

I bet he's lying. most of these "professional" athletes are losers that use drugs to make up for their lack of true talent.