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Victim of his own success.

Drug addled cheat who knows he's going to get rumbled...?

Surely if he was truly innocent he would fight it all the way no matter what, not just give up like he has.

Also the fact 10 of his old team mates were going to testify against him doesn't look good for him at all.

Sadly seems to be a victim of his own steroids.

I wanted to believe he was innocent, and did for quite a bit, but the evidence presented in the media is stacked against him. I think during Armstrong's time most of the top riders have been caught cheating.

Greg LeMond must be having a little chuckle now.

I've always wondered if everyone is cheating (with drugs) whether it is still then cheating as effectively everyone is then completing on a level playing field

Well, that's one way of dealing with it. But I'd imagine continued abuse would be harmful and so will never be sanctioned by the governing bodies.

The trouble with cycling is that most of the bigger "stars" who have been busted for doping are caught retrospectively after someone speaks out or there's a breakthrough in the drug testing i.e. a sample is given to WADA.

The entire reputation of the sport is tarnished and it's going to take a while before it recovers.

His accusations of the anti-doping agency 'creating' these charges via 'corrupt inducements' of his team-mates seem a bit ridiculous. Why would the drugs agency bother bribing 10 people? What do they have to gain from that? It'd be a huge waste of money, and that they are his old team mates just makes it worse.

I can understand him feeling persecuted and getting fed up with it all, but to continue to deny everything when there's ten of his friends and peers going against him seems a bit odd.

Why not just use all the drugs tests they took, instead?

Oh hang on, he never failed one, did he.

Analytical methods have improved 10 fold over the last 7 years, they can now detect lots that would not have registered before. It's probably the case that he knows they will soon uncover the truth. Lets face it, it's not a big surprise.

That and they've already said they've got blood evidence from 2009 and 2010 that shows he's guilty...

Simmering jealousy, personal vendettas, internal politics etc. I'm not defending Armstrong but clearing your name is a lot easier said than done, particularly if the system is stacked against you

I'm sure that you are right.
I just have this strange admiration for Lance Armstrong having kept ahead of the drugs testing for so many years  and never having failed a test.
Which is odd, becaue I am absolutely disgusted that Dwayne Chambers is allowed to compete as an equal. Just look at the guys muscles, and tell me none of that is due to is former steroid use. And no bleeding hearts 'well he's done his time' . The guy is a cheat and should be banned for life.

Great shame, by not trying to prove innocence then it does not look good on the face of it. Then again it would have cost him a small fortune in lawyers fees and for what, as it appears (according to team mates) that he was drug taking, so he keeps the money he has made and quietly disappears.

As a long time follower of cycling very disappointed in the revelations but it is/was one of those sports that has had drug use for many years now.

guilty or not, stripping him of his 7 TDF titles isnt going to do much though is it. Are all the riders who placed second in all those TDF's going to have massive celebrations now?

Doubt it, as all 7 of them have doping question marks over their heads as well

http://www.brettluelling.com/post/3435612945/armstrongs-tdf-victories

the 'he never failed a drugs test' argument is the biggest load of shite.... ummm... what about the one he failed in 1999 which they then covered up with a doctors note?

Having read his book, the bloke is a legend no matter what. He was on his death bed at one point then came back to achieve what he has today.

WADA said prior to the Olympics, that they retested samples going back to 2004, and they found a number of positive drug tests, and they have subsequently banned the people involved.

Maybe the USADA has done exactly the same thing with Armstrong's samples.

That we currently know of. USADA have said they will make their evidence known shortly. Prepare for another round of shit throwing.

The guy is a legend and what he has come back from and achieved not only the TDF victories but with Livestrong and cancer awareness is quite simply amazing.

I hope that he is innocent and this is just a witchhunt.

Looks a lot like a set up, but it may well not be as Cycling during the period was murky at best.

Either way I don't really care. To come back from what he came back from and achieve what he did was fucking superhuman either way, and the money he's raised for charity (nearly half a BILLION dollars) is far more important. And he was in Dodgeball.

.....everyone took drugs in that era except Lance who beat all the drug fuelled cheats fair and square and clean and despite his illness and there is a conspiracy by jealous cyclists and professional bodies against him

If I was also conspiring with the rest of the world against Lance, I might say he was a self deluded twat who needs to grow up

I'd agree except he's now made himself look a twat by not fighting the charges. Reminds me of a 5 year old saying I'm not playing anymore and taking his ball home as his side is losing and can't win. Not exactly in keeping with his image.

If he's innocent he should fight it, if guilty he should admit it. Otherwise history will remember him as a cheat who got caught and nothing more.

What if that 5 year old has been playing that particular game for the past 5-10 years?

Don't blame Armstrong for throwing the towel in, too many agendas being played against him for too long.  Cant be enjoyable having to spend half your time defending the same accusations over and over again.

He's essentially never quit at anything in his life.  Ever.  Yet is throwing in the towel on this one.  Seems a bit strange?

No smoke without fire... and there's been a chimney stack full of smoke.

It's part of the sport. Accusations were being made about Bradley Wiggins during the TDF and they continued in to the Olympics against Team GB. You've got to deal with it, besides if he is guilty then what the fuck has he got to complain about?

Always a bit of a legend in my eyes - but you cannot deny the evidence against him.

The irony of the Armstrong debacle is that everyone else was doping too - and none of them won the Tour de France seven times.

Still think his cancer work has been great though.

So it appears Armstrong has decided to come clean and admit to the cheating.

I know some stick up for him especially for his charity work, but to me the bloke is a twat and shouldn't be let anywhere near competitive sport ever again. This wasn't just a bit of cheating; it was spread over many years, bringing others on board, followed by years of lying about it including taking people to court and accepting damages from them.

He's had plenty of chances to admit to it. Why wait until now? Sounds like he's only done it so he can compete in triathlons (or whatever he does). No doubt the choice of using Oprah was made due to the fat pay check he'll be getting for it.

But you can't take away his charity work though. He has raised so much money and awareness - cheat or not, it has probably helped thousands of people.

absolutely spot on.

Armstrong is a complete fraud. Wanker of the highest order. A bully too. Glad he's been caught, I just feel sorry for riders who weren't doping.

The irish reporter was correct all along, the transformation of average rider pre cancer and super human post illness was never possible without drugs.

100%

Can't disagree with that.

Mind you, pretty much the entire front of the peleton was doped up back then. So he can claim to be the best at cheating I suppose.

Right again shock

T'is true, however if one were to be cynical, it provided a useful distraction (cover) to limit the potency of questions at the time of being a corrupt, lying, bullying cheat.

A certain peadophile in this country used charity work as a similar tactic.

The only way he raised so much awareness was by his sucess...?

Let everyone take drugs in sport, then the field is level again. Only the hardcore win

How many years did he spend denying the allegations before coming clean?

That's the worst bit for me.

She should have just played him this video and asked him why we should believe anything he says:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZgns7CXeUI

He quite clearly shows himself to be a cold, calculating, lying cunt in acting all self-righteous about Paul Kimmage calling his era of dominance in the sport a cancer on the sport of cycling, and it is equally clear any act of contrition in this interview with Oprah will just be another facet of his being a cold, calculating, lying cunt trying to find a way to rehabilitate his career.

I can remember reading about a chap in the UK who contacted Livestrong about his cycle fan dad who had just been diagnosed with cancer.  A few days after his dad answered the phone and it was Lance on the other end and he spent a considerable amount of time talking and discussing treatment. He then kept in contact during the illness.

This is missing the point though.

Just because you have had cancer doesn't make you exempt from being a lying, cheating cunt. He is a human first and a cancer patient second.

Not missing any point. He is a cheat and a liar, but still human.

But without the fame, it would of been any normal person talking and helping another person! The guy wouldn't of been anything without doping.

For the first time in my life I agree with you, congratulations.

Nicola Cooke spoke very eloquently on this. What Armstrong has done is ruined dreams of other drug free cyclists. He's cheated them out of titles and money.
I think you also need to consider the people whose reputations he has completely trashed by playing the innocent card. He has been truly hateful to innocent people.
The guy is a grade A cunt - human or otherwise. Personally I hope every company who has sponsored him sues him for the money back. i hope every title he has won sues him for every penny. He has lived a false life.
Fuck him. He has ruined linnocent lives to live a lie and rake in the money - corporate whore and grade A cunt.

It's one thing to dope, get caught, and take your punishment (with an apology or not), but what makes Armstrong an ubercunt of the highest order was his constant denials, attacks on people who questioned him, and then when finally confronted with a mountain of evidence taking the stance of "i've been tested shit-loads, always been clean, have been defending myself for years, and am now fed up defending myself so I'm just not going to bother anymore".  The weasel didn't have the bollocks to apologise straight away or to slip away quietly.

It will be interesting to see what he comes out with in his interview though.

I think this sums it up perfectly

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sportingscene/2013/01/what-lance-armstrong-did.html

A few years ago most people in The UK wouldn't have given a flying fuck about this.
Win a few races/gold medals and suddenly we're all pushbike crazy.

Oh well. At least he finally had the ball to come clean.

I couldn't care a flying wheel if he cheated,

Bradley Wiggins has as well, it'll come out, but he's such a hero, he has ginger sideburns. Bradley is a drug cheat, like almost every winner of the Tour de France. Here Brad, here's your drugs, you're a hero, best make the most of it while it lasts. They love you in UK, your shit smells of perfume, hope you get some good ad contracts, the British suck-poops love you, coin it in :smugfu:

Dosser knew

But he's so affable, he wouldn't, would he? Scumbag will be found out. You can tell by his uncomfortable smirk, only a matter of time. Milk it for all it's worth Bradley. DRUGGIE

POSTMARK THIS:

Bradley Wiggins is a druggie. Don't return to sender, it's guaranteed.

Dopey boy Wiggins, they're onto you, CUNT of the highest order. Do you seriously believe this muppet?

Con artist, yeh, your hero, he's a druggie, only time will tell. why do you think he is so evasive and shifty, this legend of British sport?

If you think Wiggins cheated and clearly feel strongly about it, why do you not care if Armstrong was doping?

Maybe he saw him at a crack den? Dostoyevsky seems the type...

Somebody else here also on something...

Stupidity or troll dust?

Troll Dust? I take it that's what Tesco call their own brand cider these days?

Bit early to be on the sherbys Dosty?

Whilst cancer-recovering Armstrong was clinching his first tour and rubbishing a clean but unremarlkable cyclist Christophe Bassons, I chose to believe the clean guy.

Didn't know for certain then but the evidence against Armstrong has mounted over the ensuing years due to research carried out by Paul Kimmage and others.

Doss, you seem to be saying you don't like Wiggo and that your hunch based on reading facial expressions is that he's a drugs cheat.  Think we can all form our own judgements there unless I'm missing something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee1kM79f6aY

I know Radiohead are from Oxfordshire, but that classic song deserves better treatment than that. Armstrong is not worthy to even be associated ...

Not directly linked to Larry, but looks like football and tennis have once again dodged the Fuentes smoking gun.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22353145

I dont often agree with Andy Murray, but it looks like an attempt to cover up the wider implication of sports that the spanish are good at.