xfimpg

Up to minute 7:00 of Part 1, LA seems so non-chalant and really unaware of any specific details. I mean hey, it's only $5 million.
He's not very good at playing dumb.

merlinextraligh

They could. The statute of limitations issues are slightly more difficult as more time passes.

I don't see them reversing themselves though. They knew all this, and helped USADA develop its report. They'll likely take the position that the USADA investigation, and the various civil actions are the appropriate means to address this.

Jed19

People forget that the Feds really had a limited mandate. Using PEDs is not against the law, but using US Postal's money to buy PEDs and money laundering/tax evasion were.

Personally, I did not feel that bad about the US Attorney in Los Angeles shelving the investigations (particularly in light of Barry Bonds and Roger Clement cases), since I am kinda on-board that tax payers money should be spent on cases that could reasonably result in conviction. And the particular hell that LA is going thru now or gonna go thru is worse than jail time anyway.

wapiti

And then there is this ...

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

Keith99

Actually doing so without a perscription is for the vast majority of them. And of course having a perscription for things like EPO or HGH would be a smoking gun relative to sporting use.

Jed19

Then what about the mess with "jurisdiction"? If LA constricted his doping regimen to Europe, then how are the Feds gonna go after him for that?

Rowan

Maybe, but if the armchair psychic analyses of Armstrong on being the way he is, are even a little accurate, he won't admit any wrong-doing, and he will always think that he has been seriously wronged... and he will be out to get his opponents in whatever way he can.

He will take great solace from the success of Livestrong, and will continue to use it to bolster his defence at every step. It has been his get-out-of-jail card for quite some time. If you read of Livestrong's role in all this so far, t's been effective because he has been able to fudge off the final findings on this until he is almost safe from prosecution because of all the legal loopholes that merlinextraligh has pointed out.

He will likely remain unrepentent to the day he dies. Even if he lose it all and ends up begging on a street corner in Dallas in tattered and torn lycra and a BD bike leaned up against the wall behind him...

I also wonder what it's like to be in his family circle right now.

mprelaw

You can apply for a TUE (theraputic use exemption) to use many of the banned substances for legitimate medical purposes. Don't know about EPO, but HGH has legitimate medical use. I've been told that Peyton Manning was using HGH to recover from his neck injury.

Remember, Armstrong tested positive for cortico-steroids during his very first TDF win in 1999, and produced a prescription for it (although most people believe that it was back-dated and Emma O'Reilly testified that it was). I wonder whether he would have won 6 more had he been bounced from that one, and marked right away as a doper.

That also debunks the favorite "I've been tested over 500 times and never tested positive" myth.

Shimagnolo

EPO is used in treatment of anemia.

mprelaw

Conspiracy. Misapplication of taxpayer subsidized funding. Acts in furtherance of the conspiracy committed in the US. The Postal Service, though privatized, receives about $96 million dollars in direct federal subsidies, and receives substantial tax breaks, both on the Federal and local level.

gsteinb

You can apply for a TUE, but you won't necessarily get it. You're not Armstrong, not am I. From what I've heard getting a TUE isn't the easiest thing to do, whether you have a script or not.

chasm54

Indeed. And in my view it should be harder still - impossible, in fact. What is the difference between doping to offset illness and doping to improve recovery, or compensate for genetic disadvantage? There should be no TUEs, they are just an opportunity for corruption. I'm sorry for the asthmatics and so on, but the fact is they are no more unlucky than the people who are supposedly "well" but have limited aerobic capacity for other reasons.

wrote4luck

The funniest thing to me, is that we all know the whole peloton is a bunch of crooks... with exception of some of the poor domestiques who can't afford to buy the drugs. So do you guys really think LA is upset about all of this? To his competitors, he still won. They just didn't get busted like he did.

Do you guys really think the others didn't cheat too?

Mithrandir

So from what I understand, that's not necessarily the case. For example, the UCI pulled anyone with a hematocrit level of over 50, so people would dope until they got around 49. Now, everyone has a different natural hematocrit level; so if someone starts off really good and their level is 40 without doping, compare them with someone of equal talent with a level of 45 without doping.

If they both dope up to the "magic" 49 number, the guy who started off with 40 is going to have a much bigger advantage than the guy who started off with 45.

In short: everyone's body responds to drugs differently, and Lance is only the "winner" in that his body clearly responded to the drugs the best. Hardly what I'd consider an even playing field.

gsteinb

yes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2...ture-earnings/

actually many of them did.


No. But the differences have been discussed up and down, backwards and forwards. Since they'll vacate the results from those years it's obvious the issue went farther than Armstrong.

xfimpg

Whether you like Greg Lemond or not, it's still a good letter.

https://velonews.competitor.com/2012/...mcquaid_262523

gsteinb

I like Greg, but this is largely misguided at best. Yes, let's put the burden of ousting UCI's leadership on the aging populace of American racers. As if the world gives a **** about a bunch of 45+ cranking out laps in corporate parks. If anyone really cared what he thought he'd be using his influence with pro cyclists and directors getting them to strike.

thehammerdog

Here is a great read on the issue, the UCI is a joke......the whole lot of riders use/have used something..

https://www.vice.com/read/so-wait-who...-france-titles

bikerjp

He actually seems evasive and intentionally unhelpful. If I was trying to get 5 million owed me I'd be a whole lot more agressive but I don't have anything to hide.

tuxbailey

The apology Lance Armstrong will never give

I think a lot of LA's fans or former fans would accept him as who he is if he actually issues an apology like that.

cthenn

I mean, there's already a buttload of forums, why not make two more? I come in to Pro Cycling and it's literally 90% doping/Armstrong talk. Can we just add two more forums so the Armstrong haters and fanboys can battle to the death somewhere else? Am I the only one incredibly sick of all of this?

Rowan

Yeah, sure. What other important things are happening in the pro cycling world at the moment?

Cat4Lifer

True--they didn't get busted like he did.
Ulrich is still considered the '97 TDF winner.
Vino is still considered to have finished 3rd in the '03 TDF
Basso is still considered to have won the '96 Giro
Sean Kelly still has all his victories
Juhan Muesseuw is still the winner of three Paris - Roubaix & three Tour of Flanders.

Yeah, they didn't get busted like Lance did.

Commodus

erm...Vanmarcke signed onto Raboba...um...Team 'Your Name Here'.

bigfred 

They announced the 2013 course for the TDF? I honestly thought of Corsica as Italian. Hmph, learn something new everyday. But, really, in my defense, "Porto Vecchio" doesn't 'sound' French. Now, does it?