just seems to me that doping at that level is a sadly foregone conclusion.

what has long nagged at me is the ruthlessness and arrogance with which lance smeared people who tried to speak out. people who it turns out in many cases were introduced to doping by LA himself

imagine youre a young pro and you get invited to ride with USPS and you show up for camp and get a bag from the team doc and an assurance from him and the whole team management that they know what theyre doing and they can protect you and its the only way you can win...

so you trust them, and it works for a while, and it works for everybody else, and you do win and then something goes wrong and you get nailed, and it feels totally unfair cuz you were jsut doign what you were told, except now lance has distanced himself from you, cuz you are a threat to his PR machine, so youre on your own, trying to protect your livelihood, and not be publically shamed for following orders, so you hire lawyers to grasp at straws with outlandish stories and everyone laughs at them and you lose everything. Meanwhile lance gets fatter and richer, and youve become a punchline, until you cant stand it anymore and you have to expose the lie you've been protecting at the expense of your own career and livelihood and self respect, our youre thretened with felony charges if you continue to lie so you speak up... and then you get called a liar again. and not just called a liar, but lances PR machine spends vast amounts of money trying to discredit you and destroy your credibilty as a person. cuz youre a threat to the empire.

i'm not saying theres any heroes here, but when i look at the likelihood of the two possible scenarios, the one i outlined vs "bitter cheaters taking potshots at the champ", the former sounds a lot more plausible to me.