Originally Posted by
Bacciagalupe
Everyone who was involved in cycling in the 90s either hid their doping, declined to admit it, or outright lied about it.
No one who actually knows what was going on meets the unattainable standard of moral purity you unreasonably demand. George Washington was not a soigneur for USPS.
So yes, Frankie doped. He lied to his wife about it several times. Maybe he was conflicted, maybe not. Maybe he did it for himself, maybe for the team, maybe both.
No one gives a damn. You know why? Because what Frankie did in the 90s doesn't change a few key facts:
1) Armstrong doped for most, if not nearly all, of his career.
2) Armstrong organized doping on his teams, including pressuring teammates.
3) Armstrong viciously attacked everyone who told the truth.
4) What makes him unique is not that he doped. It was the immense riches he reaped from his doping and his lies, and the constant reflexive attacks on innocent people who told the truth about his doping.
5) The evidence against Armstrong was solid enough to wring a confession out of him.
Armstrong is a vicious, manipulative, litigious bully who has zero credibility. You're defending a guy who no longer bothers to defend his actions. Even if you utterly refuse to believe the Andreus, nothing about that changes.
when i think of the entire festina team being caught with a bus full of EPO,of Breukink and Riis running teams that have come up with dopers, I cant help but think that this kind of thing isn't just an Armstrong attribute and that percieving it that way serves to let others off the hook and condemn tomorrows riders to similar fates. Its even plausible that Armstrong himself might have had less choice than is thought, corporate backing may even demand such things under the table to return their investment. What does appear obvious is that doping seems somewhat endemic and always gets played down as the individual choice of errant riders.
Also, Armstrong is an english speaking foreigner, and all such tdf winners until Evans:Lemond,Roche,have been accused of bad sportsmanship or equipment cheating. When Allan Pieper won his first pro race in Belgium he said the pro officialdom that handed out the prizes treated him as a weed amongst the flowers. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but some of the vehemence seems out of proportion when the other riders who also cheated to win seem to be regarded more as prodigal sons who made a mistake.