Lance Armstrong

Sport
61

Fuck off dan!

Im enjoying yer notions that im tipptops or whoever else i am. gas

62

Yes four times. All during the 1999 tour.

63

yeah of corticosteroids which is in a approved cream he used for saddle sores and the amount was not in the positive range,a medical cert showed this.

64

No for EPO. Also tested postive for the above.

Looks like we will also be waiting another while for his test results from this year to become public despite promising them a while back.
Just days after Ivan Basso published his anti-doping test results online, Lance Armstrong said he will publish his own test results as promised, but he declined to provide details about what and when.

“I mean, what do you publish?” Armstrong asked according to the Associated Press. "[Do] you start publishing blood values? After the race, I saw online that Ivan Basso is publishing his blood values and if you notice you’ll see he’s 45, 44, 43, 41.

“For example, and I’m just hypothetically saying, you go to [a high] altitude for a month and all of a sudden it goes to 46. Not everyone in this room is going to say ‘it went from 41 to 46, you must have cheated’ but someone is going to say, a few of you guys and gals are going to say, ‘that’s not normal’.”

Out of concern about misinterpretation, Armstrong is reluctant to publish readings that might be affected by sickness, dehydration or altitude; however, he said “I would rely a lot on what Don Catlin wants to publish but we’ll definitely publish data and information.” Prior to the Tour Down Under, Armstrong announced the start of a personalised and independent anti-doping testing program by Don Catlin.

Armstrong has never tested positive for banned substances. Last fall, Basso finished serving a competition ban issued to him after he admitted to attempted doping in conjunction with Operacin Puerto.

65

[quote=“larryduff”]

Armstrong has never tested positive for banned substances. QUOTE]

66

Thats incorrect though. He has tested positive for EPO. Just fell outside the time limit for prosecution. His samples from 99 were among a group re tested for scientific purposes. Six of his samples (not four as I originally stated contained EPO). See below for more info

Lance Armstrong was hoping for a quiet life after retiring last month after his seventh consecutive victory in the Tour de France, but yesterday those hopes were shattered when the American was accused by the French press of having tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

L’Equipe, whose parent company organises the Tour, alleged that he had taken the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO). It published results of tests done recently on urine samples that had been taken originally in 1999 when Armstrong won his first Tour de France. A test was not available for EPO until 2000. L’Equipe claimed that traces of EPO were found in six of 15 urine samples provided by Armstrong.

After being contacted by L’Equipe, Armstrong moved quickly to deny the allegations, describing the paper’s investigation as “tabloid journalism” and a “witch hunt”.

“I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs,” Armstrong said on his website. The Texan had never failed a doping test during his 14-year career.

Yesterday L’Equipe printed results of tests carried out in the Paris laboratory of Chtenay-Malabry, which is registered with the World Anti-Doping Agency. The samples were recently retested as part of scientific research co-ordinated with Wada. They had been preserved at -20C to prevent molecular transformations that could lead to false positive results.

“There is no possible doubt about the validity of the result, even though the analysis was carried out five years after the sample was taken,” the newspaper quoted Professor Jacques de Ceaurriz, the director of Chtenay-Malabry laboratory, as saying.

The EPO test was first introduced at the Olympic Games in Sydney and has been used since the 2001 Tour de France. None of the tests have subsequently showed Armstrong as being positive.

The Wada president Dick Pound said he was looking into the allegations. “It’s a pretty serious story if it is true,” he said. “We have not decided what we would do because I have not looked at all the details. We will look at the information available and then we will decide the best way to get as much light on this as possible.”

Just how L’Equipe obtained the test results and identified Armstrong’s urine samples and results remains unclear. The laboratory denied leaking the information but confirmed tests on samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tour have recently been carried out. L’Equipe refused to reveal its sources.

The L’Equipe journalist Jean-Pier Bidet, who followed Armstrong closely during his Tour de France victories, said that the paper had been investigating the test results for four months but only received the final piece of the jigsaw on Monday afternoon when official documents showed the samples were taken from Armstrong.

Although a total of 12 positive samples were discovered during testing, L’Equipe only made the allegations against Armstrong because the newspaper could confirm his identity with the official anti-doping test documents.

The laboratory said all tests were anonymous and had been transmitted to the Wada providing they would not take disciplinary action.

When a rider gives a urine sample he signs documents admitting that it is his sample. A copy of the document goes to the International Cycling Union and another to the Ministry of Sport in France, while the sample is sent to the laboratory marked by a code so that the testers do not know the identity of the rider. L’Equipe had claimed to have matched leaked documents to the codes on the laboratory samples.

Because the tests were not part of official anti-doping testing and because no counter-analysis can be carried out Armstrong cannot be disciplined and banned.

However he could be placed under police investigation in France and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) told L’Equipe the tests results could be used against him.

The accusations could also hurt Armstrong in the pocket. The US insurance company SCA refused to pay out a $5m (2.8m) bonus when he won a sixth Tour de France in 2004 following allegations made in the book, LA Confidentiel: Les Secrets de Lance Armstrong, which contained allegations of doping.

Armstrong is already involved in seven legal battles against the writers of the LA Confidentiel book, fellow riders and former assistants.

The director of the Tour de France, Jean Marie Leblanc, told the French radio station RTL he felt let down by Armstrong and said L’Equipe’s report seemed “very complete, very professional, very meticulous” and that it “appears credible”.

However, he warned that Armstrong, his doctors and his aides should be heard out before any final judgment was made.

The International Cycling Union president Hein Verbruggen said: “We have to wait and see if this is true. Only then will we be able to ask ourselves whether there should be any legal action and whether this is a further blow for cycling. I have to say this is not pleasant but, for the moment, it only involves Lance Armstrong and France.”

Armstrong has always dismissed the allegations against him and criticised those who refused to believe in his comeback from cancer and in his seven Tour victories.

“To all the cynics, I’m sorry for you,” Armstrong said after his final Tour triumph in July. "I’m sorry you can’t believe in miracles. This is a great sporting event and hard work wins it

67

The 2009 season is looking like it will be a flashback to the earlier part of the decade, and Lance Armstrong is happy to see his compatriot Floyd Landis joining him in making a return to the peloton. Landis’ two-year suspension for doping ends next Friday, freeing him to join his new team, OUCH Pro Cycling, on the roads at the Tour of California next month.

But Landis’ comeback is hardly the same as the fairy-tale return of the seven-time Tour champion. Landis left the sport in disgrace as the Tour winner who had his title stripped when he tested positive for synthetic testosterone, and while he faced a long and expensive defence of his good name, Landis failed on every appeal to the anti-doping authorities.

Armstrong appealed to fans to respect that Landis has been punished for his offense and should be allowed to ride. “People serve their time, just like anybody else. Once their time is up, they get to go back to work,” Armstrong said Thursday.

“Sometimes I get frustrated with people who criticize his return, and then what, they’re going to sign up and cheer when David Millar returns? It’s the same thing. You’ve served your suspension, let’s get back on the bike and race,” he said, using the EPO-confession of the British star as evidence of the fans’ hypocrisy.

"There’s no point in criticising Basso, criticising Landis, or criticising anyone… if you’ve paid your penalty, this is normally how society works. Let’s forgive and forget and get on down the road.

“Obviously Floyd’s a friend of mine, he’s a former teammate and he has a lot of fans. In that sense, you’ve got to remember that Floyd might have been found guilty but at the end of the trial if you polled the people, 50 percent thought he was innocent – in regard to that it’s good that he’s back.”

68

Huge difference between Landis and Millar in that one has been open about his past and use of drugs in the sport while the other has lied and used some horrible tactics to clear his name. Hard to know where Arstrong got the figure that 50% of people believe he is innocent either.

69

He’s an absolute prick. Simple as that.

70

A cunt of the highest order. Can we have an international cunt competition?

71

Given the recent controvery surrounding Rasmus Damsgaard this is a move which further undermine’s Armstrongs credibility. Almost seems like an admission of guilt on his part.

Lance Armstrong has decided to part company with Don Catlin, the doctor intended to conduct an individual anti-doping programme with him during 2009. Consequently, the proposed comprehensive, individual programme will proceed under the guidance of Rasmus Damsgaard, the man responsible for Astana’s internal anti-doping efforts.

Bill Stapleton, Armstrong’s long-time agent and lawyer, announced in a statement that, “After a thorough review of the efficiency of a separate testing programme the decision has been made to transfer the comprehensive programme we had planned to do with Don Catlin to Rasmus Damsgaard, a renowned anti-doping expert who runs the Astana team’s internal testing program.”

Stapleton reiterated that, "Lance is the most tested athlete in sports history and he is certainly the most tested cyclist in the world since his return to the sport last year evidenced by no fewer than 16 unannounced out-of-competition tests since August all over the world.

“We will continue to do everything we can do to ensure transparency and honesty in his testing results,” he added.

One of the cornerstones of Armstrong’s comeback was his determination to conduct an open, transparent and comprehensive testing program, to be undertaken on an individual basis with Dr Catlin.

“I really try to seek out the most credible and well respected anti-doping crusader, especially here in the United States,” Armstrong said about choosing Dr. Catlin last September at a press conference at Interbike. “It’s a level of transparency that I didn’t want to leave that box unchecked. So I signed with Don and he has a job to do. It is his job and not my job – I will subject myself to whatever he wants.”

Fast forward almost five months and Stapleton’s statement explained that, “We have the utmost respect for Don and all he is doing in the fight against doping in sport but we faced a myriad of problems relating to administration, coordination and cost.”

Armstrong will continue to be tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and detailed blood test results from seven UCI and Damsgaard out-of-competition tests are now posted on LIVESTRONG.com. Requests have been made to USADA and WADA to release their results so they can be posted as well.

72

It’s just a ridiculous move. I’m genuinely surprised at how badly Lance is playing the whole PR side of things since coming back. The lads on Off the Ball were laughing at his tactics when reading the news last night - that wasn’t happening when he was winning his races a few years back. The general public now seems to be far more sceptical (at best) of his background.

73

I’m just hoping that Christian Preudhomme has a cunning plan to welcome him into the TDF this year and then nail the fucker.

74

Good old Kimmage getting a lash…

Lance Armstrong rips rider-turned-journalist
Paul Kimmage gets an angry response to a question, and is reminded of what he said about Armstrong in September.
By Diane Pucin

February 13, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento — Lance Armstrong knows by name every journalist who writes or commentates about cycling. He knows every word that is written about him and he doesn’t forget what he’s read and heard.

And so when Paul Kimmage, an Irishman who rode the Tour de France as a cyclist and who has written about the sport in both book form and for the newspaper The Sunday Times in London, began to ask Armstrong a question Thursday at an Amgen Tour of California press conference, he spoke only a word or two before Armstrong squinted and said, “Paul?”

Then Armstrong let the red-faced Kimmage ask a question full of emotion and anger, a question wondering why Armstrong had publicly supported the return of Floyd Landis and Ivan Basso back to the racing peloton after the two men had finished two-year doping suspensions. What was it, Kimmage said, that Armstrong admired about dopers?

By the time Kimmage had finished his question, Armstrong was ready with an answer, an answer both simmering with anger but also under control…

For those who didn’t know the dark-headed former cyclist, Armstrong’s response filled in some blanks.

Kimmage had spoken in strong opposition when Armstrong announced his return to cycling after a four-year retirement. Ever since Armstrong began his 1999 streak of winning the Tour de France seven straight times, there have been rumors of Armstrong’s illegal doping.

In a strongly-worded radio interview last September, Kimmage said the sport that welcomed back Armstrong was heading backward and took a swipe at cancer survivor Armstrong’s passion for the cause of raising money for cancer research.

“This guy, any other way but his bullying and intimidation wrapped up in this great cloak, the great cancer martyr . . . this is what he hides behind all the time. The great man who conquered cancer. Well he is the cancer in this sport. And for four years this sport has been in remission. And now the cancer’s back.”

In his quick and angry reply Armstrong first made sure that those in the media audience unfamiliar with Kimmage’s work knew what had been said by Kimmage last September.

Kimmage had finished his question by pointing out that Armstrong had refused to do a private interview.

"The reason you didn’t get [the interview] Paul was, when I decided to come back for what I think is a noble reason, you said, ‘Folks, cancer has been in remission for four years but our cancer has now returned,’ meaning me.

“I am here to fight this disease. I am here so I don’t have to deal with it, you don’t have to deal with it, none of us have to deal with it, my children don’t have to deal with it. Yet you said I am the cancer. And the cancer is out of remission. So it goes without saying, no, we aren’t going to sit down and do an interview.”

It was the kind of exchange seldom seen at press conferences. Kimmage said afterward that he had no intention of becoming the story and that his only interest was in “fighting the cancer that is doping in cycling.”

Armstrong also addressed the news this week of Alex Rodriguez’s failed drug test by saying he didn’t follow baseball closely. But then Armstrong noted that President Barack Obama had been asked about Rodriguez.

“I’m not a huge baseball fan, I have to confess,” Armstrong said, "but this is another bad story for baseball and it opens up a lot of questions about a game that is a little like cycling.

“It’s tough to compare because the level of testing is not anywhere near what you see in cycling. . . . It seems like cycling is on its way out of that dark spot and maybe baseball is entering that dark spot.”

Race starts Saturday

The racing begins Saturday with a 2.4-mile prologue around downtown Sacramento and it ends Feb. 22 in Escondido in what is now the biggest U.S. race.

Several cyclists, including Armstrong and two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer, tabbed Landis as an overall race favorite. Landis’s return to racing comes after he served a two-year doping suspension after failing a drug test during his climb to the 2006 Tour de France title.

Though Landis fought the doping results and has always maintained there was a testing error, Landis had his Tour title stripped. The Temecula-based rider competes for a new team, OUCH, that is not eligible to race internationally so the Tour of California will be Landis’ biggest race of the year.

After refusing to do interviews in advance, Landis was supposed to be at the Thursday press conference dominated by Armstrong but at the last minute Tour organizers said Landis had taken a hard fall during a training ride and would not appear. The injuries are not supposed to keep Landis, who won the 2006 Tour of California, from Saturday’s start line.

75

Christ that’s some biased article. Happy enough to allow the deluded to persist with the delusion though. Even Landis gets an easy time of it - maintaining his innocence!

76

Go on Paul Kimmage. What a legend. I love the fact that the one guy that gets up Cuntstrong’s nose probably the most is an ordinary (though a cracking rider and journalist), decent man from this fair country.

Armstrong and Kimmage face off in California
By Mark Zalewski in Sacramento, California

Lance Armstrong faced a difficult moment in the Tour of California press conference Thursday in Sacramento, California. The seven-time Tour de France winner responded to Paul Kimmage’s question about the return of “non-repentant” dopers.

“You’ve spoke recently about the return of Ivan Basso and Floyd Landis, who have returned after their suspensions, compared to David Millar that they should be welcomed back like he was. But there was one obvious difference in that Millar admitted his doping whereas these guys have admitted to nothing. What is it about these guys that you seem to admire so much?” asked Kimmage, a reporter with the Sunday Times of London.

Seventeen riders were present to kick-off the stage race, February 14 to 22. Many of the media’s questions were about Armstrong’s cancer message or his views on racing in the Tour of California, but the most intense moment came with the second question, from Kimmage

Armstrong prefaced his answer with the following statement: "When I decided to come back, for what I think is a very noble reason, you said, ‘The cancer has been in remission for four years, our cancer has now returned’ meaning me, that I am the cancer!

“So it goes without saying, no we are not going to sit down for an interview. You are not worth the chair you are sitting on with a statement like that, with a disease that touches everyone around the world.”

Armstrong went on to answer Kimmage’s question. “You have to consider what has happened to David [Millar], who I admire a lot [and] who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Is it heroic that he has now confessed? Some would say so. I applaud him that he is back and I hope that he is very successful.”

“Floyd [Landis], on the other hand, there is a lot of evidence against him and there is a lot of evidence in his favour. Floyd does not believe he is guilty, so to appease people like you he can’t confess.”

Armstrong explained his admiration for his fellow cyclists as men and that all men make mistakes.

“I’m not sure I will ever forgive you for that statement. And I’m not sure that anybody around the world affected by this disease will forgive you.”

Kimmage got Thursday’s last word in what will be an ongoing battle.

“You don’t have a patent on cancer. I’m interested in the cancer of doping in cycling. That has been my life’s work! I raced as a professional and I exposed it. Then you come along and the problem disappears.”

Kimmage, a former professional racer from the 1980s, reported extensively on drug use within cycling including his award-winning book Rough Ride.

77

Interesting about Nadal. From an interview with Paul. Tennis fans, would it change your opinion of Rafa?

How do you respond to criticism from cycling fans that it’s always their sport being dragged through the mud with regard to doping? What about football or athletics?
It’s a fair question. In my defence, in 1996 we had a triple Olympic gold-medal swimmer called Michelle de Bruin here. She was the biggest personality in the
history of Irish sport. When she won those Olympics medals I was in no doubt that she was using drugs and wrote a very critical piece. Subsequently, she was caught and banned for life.

In 1996, and for two years until she was exposed, I continued to write those pieces and got a hard time for it. I interviewed [Spanish tennis player] Rafael Nadal two weeks ago in Hamburg. Before I went to meet him I looked into who his trainer was and I tried to get some sort of conclusive evidence that he was in the Operation Puerto files but I couldn’t get my hands on it. All I could do was ask him the question and all he did was give me a not very satisfactory response. It’s not only cycling with me. Whenever there are grounds to ask the question, I do so.

78

Kimmage can never hide the bitterness in his comments and his aricles, whatever the source may be. Armstrong is an absolute prick though. Like most other people, I had believed the official story and was sucked in by the apparent heoism of it all. If you scratch at the surface a little however it doesn’t take long to discover what a horrible, self-advancing, self-obsessed cunt he is. The arrogance of that statement, “and I’m not sure that anybody around the world affected by this disease will forgive you.” What a cunt.

79

Maybe so. But…imagine you have a great skill and you are on the way to becoming one of the best in the world at it. Then you become a professional and you learn that everyone cheats and that you’ll have to cheat and fill your body with shit to even just scratch out a living. When you had been in the top 10 in the world as an amateur. Would you be bitter?

80

A shoo-in for the prestigious Cunt of the Year 2009 award, I think.