Armstrong stripped of titles (Merged Lance threads)

[rm.]

Don't expect your sports heros to be nice or good people. You're bound to be disappointed. Anyone who really thought the TDF racers weren't doping is pretty naive. We watch TDF and other races because they are a spectacle. Appreciate it for what it is. Do you want to watch Armstrong vs Pantani duelling up Mont Ventoux or Alp D'Huez or do you want to watch some domestiques carrying water bottles around. Olympic Gold this year for Vino, another member of the club. Vino has also been very entertaining to watch. Is the NFL any different?

[Oldfart]

Originally Posted by gotham

So am I alone in thinking that Armstrong was still the best rider of the bunch in these years? I assume that everyone else is/was doping and that he was the best by virtue of his physical ability, as well as his technical ability to not get caught. None of that changes just because they manage to nail him 10+ years later.

I still think what he did both on and off the bike is pretty incredible. I mean come on, he cheated for years and got away with it! Respect.

He didn't have more natural ability of the physiology to be the best. He was good. He had very good physiology but dope made him better and his intense need to win made him the best. It is not supposed to be a level playing field. Please. Not every rider sprints like Cavendish. Not every rider can TT like Tony Martin. Some riders have a natural hematocrit above 50 some like Armstrong are more like 44. Some bodies react well to EPO some do not. Eric Zabel admitted that he tried it once and he felt so bad that he never tried it again. Armstrong epitomized that oft quoted coach, "Winning isn't everything, It's the only thing." No I do not agree. It is how you play.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by gotham

So am I alone in thinking that Armstrong was still the best rider of the bunch in these years? I assume that everyone else is/was doping and that he was the best by virtue of his physical ability, as well as his technical ability to not get caught. None of that changes just because they manage to nail him 10+ years later.

I still think what he did both on and off the bike is pretty incredible. I mean come on, he cheated for years and got away with it! Respect.

Not when you add bribing the UCI into the mix.

[icebreaker]

Required reading.

Give you all another layer of the onion.

http://reader.roopstigo.com/view/roo...95#/chapter/1/

[CraigH]

WADA not happy with UCI

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...step-down.html

[Tom]

I hope verbruggen and mcquaid dont get away with this...but I fear they will.

[icebreaker]

Originally Posted by Tom

I hope verbruggen and mcquaid dont get away with this...but I fear they will.

Yeah, me too.

I have been riding / racing and following the sport for over 40 years. In spite of everything that has happened in the last couple of weeks I confess to feeling more pessimistic about the future of the sport than I think I ever have before.

I think that the UCI feel like they have dodged a bullet and they intend to just go back to business as usual - after all what do a bunch of muppets like us have to say about it?

[KenN]

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/...ll-never-give/

That was fun.


Kn.

[JCL]

Please donate something to this guys - http://cyclismas.chipin.com/paul-kimmage-defense-fund

Kimmage is by far the best shot to clear the decks at the UCI when he goes to court with them.

[BJC]

[Uncle Duke]

Thats a pretty good apology..i forgive him...

[KenN]

I suppose I might too, if he ever mans up enough to apologize.


Kn.

[JCL]

That arrogant twat isn't the problem. The UCI is the problem.

[Uncle Duke]

Originally Posted by KenN

I suppose I might too, if he ever mans up enough to apologize.


Kn.

yea im going to have to hear it from him for total forgiveness..but that article does spell it out pretty good.

to be honest i didn't know he was quite that bad...

[PaulB]

Originally Posted by JCL

Please donate something to this guys - http://cyclismas.chipin.com/paul-kimmage-defense-fund

Kimmage is by far the best shot to clear the decks at the UCI when he goes to court with them.

Lemond agrees:

Can anyone help me out? I know this sounds kind of lame but I am not well-versed in social marketing. I would like to send a message to everyone that really loves cycling. I do not use Twitter and do not have an organized way of getting some of my own “rage” out. I want to tell the world of cycling to please join me in telling Pat McQuaid to f##k off and resign. I have never seen such an abuse of power in cycling’s history; resign Pat, if you love cycling. Resign even if you hate the sport.

Pat McQuaid, you know damn well what has been going on in cycling, and if you want to deny it, then even more reasons why those who love cycling need to demand that you resign.

I have a file with what I believe is well-documented proof that will exonerate Paul.

Pat, in my opinion you and Hein are the corrupt part of the sport. I do not want to include everyone at the UCI because I believe that there are many, maybe most that work at the UCI that are dedicated to cycling, they do it out of the love of the sport, but you and your buddy Hein have destroyed the sport.

Pat, I thought you loved cycling? At one time you did, and if you did love cycling please dig deep inside and remember that part of your life — allow cycling to grow and flourish, please! It is time to walk away. Walk away if you love cycling.

As a reminder I just want to point out that recently you accused me of being the cause of USADA’s investigation against Lance Armstrong. Why would you be inclined to go straight to me as the “cause”? Why shoot the messenger every time?

Every time you do this I get more and more entrenched. I was in your country over the last two weeks and I asked someone that knows you if you were someone that could be rehabilitated. His answer was very quick and it was not good for you. No was the answer — no, no , no!

The problem for sport is not drugs but corruption. You are the epitome of the word corruption.

You can read all about Webster’s definition of corruption. If you want, I can re-post my attorney’s response to your letter where you threaten to sue me for calling the UCI corrupt. FYI I want to officially reiterate to you and Hein that in my opinion the two of your represent the essence of corruption.

I would encourage anyone that loves cycling to donate and support Paul in his fight against the Pat and Hein and the UCI. Skip lunch and donate the amount that you would have spent towards that Sunday buffet towards changing the sport of cycling.

I donated money for Paul’s defense, and I am willing to donate a lot more, but I would like to use it to lobby for dramatic change in cycling. The sport does not need Pat McQuaid or Hein Verbruggen; if this sport is going to change, it is now. Not next year, not down the road, now! Now or never!

People that really care about cycling have the power to change cycling — change it now by voicing your thought and donating money towards Paul Kimmage’s defense, (Paul, I want to encourage you to not spend the money that has been donated to your defense fund on defending yourself in Switzerland. In my case, a USA citizen, I could care less if I lost the UCI’s bogus lawsuit. Use the money to lobby for real change).

If people really want to clean the sport of cycling up all you have to do is put your money where your mouth is.

Don’t buy a USA Cycling license. Give up racing for a year, just long enough to put the UCI and USA cycling out of business. We can then start from scratch and let the real lovers in cycling direct where and how the sport of cycling will go.

Please make a difference.
 Greg

I think this is all going to get a lot uglier over the next year or so.