Lance Armstrong to be charged with doping offences - Washington Post

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The Washington Post reported that USADA has written to Armstrong outlining charges that relate to allegations of doping that began in 1998 and continued until 2011.

According to the report, the charges include previously unpublicised allegations of doping in 2009 and 2010, after Armstrong came out of retirement.

The USADA was not immediately available for comment on the report.

In a statement tonight, Armstrong said: "I have been notified that USADA, an organisation largely funded by taxpayer dollars but governed only by self-written rules, intends to again dredge up discredited allegations dating back more than 16 years to prevent me from competing as a triathlete and try and strip me of the seven Tour de France victories I earned.

"These are the very same charges and the same witnesses that the Justice Department chose not to pursue after a two-year investigation. These charges are baseless, motivated by spite and advanced through testimony bought and paid for by promises of anonymity and immunity.
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"Although USADA alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy extended over more than 16 years, I am the only athlete it has chosen to charge. USADA's malice, its methods, its star-chamber practices, and its decision to punish first and adjudicate later all are at odds with our ideals of fairness and fair play.

"I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one.

"That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence."

The charges brought by the USADA would immediately prevent Armstrong from competing as a triathlete, the sport he took up following his retirement from cycling in 2011.

Armstrong survived testicular cancer early in his career and went on to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005 while competing for the US Postal Service team and the Discovery Channel team.

He retired after the 2005 Tour de France, but returned in 2009, riding for Astana Cycling and RadioShack before retiring for a second time in February 2011, taking up triathlon earlier this year.

A statement tonight from the International Cycling Union, which did not name Armstrong, confirmed it had been notified of cases opened by USADA regarding several people.

"The UCI confirms that it has been informed by USADA of its decision to open anti-doping cases against a number of rider support personnel and a rider," the statement said.

"This is the first time USADA has communicated to UCI on this subject.

"The UCI is not aware of the information that is available to USADA on the persons concerned and has not been involved in the proceedings opened by USADA.

"The UCI will follow the case to the extent it will be informed and has noted that the persons concerned have been invited to send submittals on the allegations that are made against them.

"The UCI will not comment futher at this stage."
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...against-seven-time-Tour-de-France-winner.html



After all those years of L'Equipe and such alleging he had used performacne enhancing drugs, it could actually be true.
 
711 said:
Or we could just ignore the sport completely because they're a bunch of drug-cheats?

Yeah, I think I'll just do that.
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bingo - T de F means nothing anymore to me anyways. he wasn't the first nor will he be the last.
 
Does anybody really think the likes of Eddy Merx and Greg Lamond where not drugged to their eye balls? The human body cannot physically do what these guys put them through for that period of time without breaking down, it just doesn't fecking happen.

Contador will probably get off on a technicality but his tour wins shouldn't mean shit.
 
Aren't these the same charges the DoJ dropped earlier this year or last? Not that USADA has the same standards for guilt that a court does, but the witnesses would be torn apart in court because of their own backgrounds and shadiness. And that is, apparently, all the evidence they have. The articles suggest the TdS sample is "suspicious", which isn't the same as positive. The doctor says that also.

I'm not saying he's innocent, but the evidence is dubious at best. It wouldn't stand up to a trial but may for the quasi-judicial process of USADA.
 
Lance is innocent until proven guilty. An absolute legend, for me, he is the greatest athlete of all time.

 
JustAFan said:
At the worst, if he is guilty, all that means is that one cheat defeated a bunch of other cheats. So the playing field was probably level anyways.
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Given that the likes of Ulrich, Vinokourov, Basso etc have already been done with EPO and faced suspensions, Lance being found guilty hardly discredits his achievements.


But we all know the reason this shit is being brought up now. They have around a year left to formally remove his 7th tour win and 30 days to remove his 6th.
 
Wait, why is everyone in this thread defending him all of a sudden? If he cheated, he cheated :wenger:

He was formally charged today.
 
Count Orduck said:
Wait, why is everyone in this thread defending him all of a sudden? If he cheated, he cheated :wenger:

He was formally charged today.
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Because he has not been proven guilty, and also because he has done more for the cancer issue than anyone else.
 
mariachi-19 said:
He's being defended because its not exactly a secret that everybody in the top levels of cycling is doped to their eyeballs.
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Which is fair enough, but in this very thread you've said that Contador's wins should be totally discredited.
 
everyone in the world have tried to pin something on him and failed miserably. why are they going after him here? stupid waste of time and money.
 
Something not right about this investigation. It is now rumored other riders like Leipheimer, Hincapie etc have all been given anonymity and complete exoneration (no matter what wrong doings they themselves might have) if they testify against Armstrong.

Also, on the topic of doping. It is rather easy to say 'they're all doping' (which they might be) but I prefer to apply 'innocent until proven guilty' right across the board in everything in life. But that's just me.
 
Stretch said:
Something not right about this investigation. It is now rumored other riders like Leipheimer, Hincapie etc have all been given anonymity and complete exoneration (no matter what wrong doings they themselves might have) if they testify against Armstrong.

Also, on the topic of doping. It is rather easy to say 'they're all doping' (which they might be) but I prefer to apply 'innocent until proven guilty' right across the board in everything in life. But that's just me.
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They are trumped up charges that they have no concrete evidence of so they've offered people who might be upset with him a chance to get back because they were caught doping. He very well may have doped, but these charges are just them trying to pin something on him because they want to.

If they grant anonymity/immunity to riders, they could just be making things up and passing them off as rider testimony. WADA/USADA aren't exactly flawless institutions. He should have the right to face his accusers.
 
first cyclist to be pulled for doping was in the 1800's. in the tour since 1903. anquetil did em , IMO those who not been charged or nick'd means feckall every rider of note has done drugs. how indurain was never pulled is strange , maybe the drugs staying ahead of the tests.
 
I don't think they have any concrete evidence against Armstrong.

And for those who think the Tour is meaningless if riders dope - well, to the individual clean rider it is meaningless, and I can sympathise with Wiggins and his sentiments - but for the interested observer it was far fuller of romance and derring do than it is today. Remember that doping was rife from 1903 till maybe the late 90s. And if you think that now there's a level playing field, think again. Sky is basically Man City, and their doping is financial.
 
DEVELOPING: U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart says the agency will ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life and strip him of his seven Tour de France titles for doping.

Armstrong on Thursday night dropped any further challenges to USADA's allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs to win cycling's premier event from 1999-2005.

Armstrong says USADA doesn't have the authority to vacate his Tour titles. However, Tygart told The Associated Press that USADA can do it.

Tygart called the Armstrong case a "heartbreaking" example of a win-at-all costs approach to sports.
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http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/...doping-charges-putting-7-tour-titles-at-risk/
 
In the statement, Armstrong did not concede having used performance enhancing substances during his celebrated cycling career. On the contrary, he said he would "jump at the chance" to put the allegations to rest.

But the 40-year-old Texan said he refused to participate in the USADA process, which he called "one-sided and unfair."

He disputed the agency's authority to take away his titles.

Armstrong's attorneys contend that he has "passed every drug test ever administered to him in his career - a total of 500 to 600 tests... more drug tests than any athlete in history."

The agency said in a letter to Armstrong that it has blood samples from 2009 and 2010 that are "fully consistent" with doping.
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Seems odd that he could have gotten away with doping all those years without getting caught, does anyone know how that works exactly? Are there other drugs administered to confuse the test, or are the drugs slight variants of banned substances in an attempt to work around the rules?

Having that many witnesses sounds pretty bad, but it has to hurt their case they don't have a single failed test from the time he was winning the the Tour De France.
 
gooDevil said:
Seems odd that he could have gotten away with doping all those years without getting caught, does anyone know how that works exactly? Are there other drugs administered to confuse the test, or are the drugs slight variants of banned substances in an attempt to work around the rules?

Having that many witnesses sounds pretty bad, but it has to hurt their case they don't have a single failed test from the time he was winning the the Tour De France.
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But its ridiculous that they have not yet had to state who they are, or what their actual testimony is. These people have also, apparently, provided testimony on condition of immunity from prosecution for any drug rules they may have broken.

If they are serious about eradicating drugs from the sport, then go after everyone with the same zeal...not just one person.
 
Armstrong must be the most tested athlete in the history of sports. If he is not he is certainly up there.

The fact that they havent found anything positive over his whole career is evidence enough, no?

Fully agree as well on these former teammates who are willing to testify against him, why have they remained anonymous so far?
 
Why are they gunning so hard for him now?
 
EPO? I read somewhere it's easy to test negative despite being on the stuff. Blood samples are the only way to detect the use of EPO, thanks to an increase in red blood cells.
 
Reads to me like he doesn't give a feck anymore. If they find him guilty, and the titles go to the likes of Jan Ulrich and Marco Pantani what does that say about cycling as a whole? Take it from one cheat to the next and unlike Lance, both of those guys were found guilty of doping in their professional careers.

Unless they can prove beyond doubt that Armstrong used and thats actual tests not the statements of serial cheaters, how can they strip him of his titles?

I bet you there are few people that would come out of the wood work and say Eddie and Greg use performance enhancers, yet neither of them were tarred like Armstrong has been.
 
He's clearly guilty. He'd never give up the fight if he was innocent and stood a chance. Just trying to spare himself the embarrassment. And to all of you saying well, all the top ones are cheats etc; that may be true but there are clean riders out there and these cnuts are stealing their chances of ever challenging for the major honors. Game over, Lance. You might be a decent man but you're just another bastard of an athlete.
 
The thing is apart from saying "He clearly is," where is the proof? There has been none so far.

If he proves his innocence now, he will have to do so again in the future when they threaten to strip him of his titles later on.
 
Elliott said:
He's clearly guilty. He'd never give up the fight if he was innocent and stood a chance. Just trying to spare himself the embarrassment. And to all of you saying well, all the top ones are cheats etc; that may be true but there are clean riders out there and these cnuts are stealing their chances of ever challenging for the major honors. Game over, Lance. You might be a decent man but you're just another bastard of an athlete.
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That's your opinion.

As for sparing himself the embarrassment - he said in his statement that people have already made their mind up on whether he is innocent or guilty, and he feels he can not change these perceptions - kinda like you can't prove a negative.

He passed every test that he was given, and people still won't believe him.
 
Elliott said:
He's clearly guilty. He'd never give up the fight if he was innocent and stood a chance. Just trying to spare himself the embarrassment. And to all of you saying well, all the top ones are cheats etc; that may be true but there are clean riders out there and these cnuts are stealing their chances of ever challenging for the major honors. Game over, Lance. You might be a decent man but you're just another bastard of an athlete.
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Rubbish. He is not "clearly" guilty at all.

As has been said he has passed every test they ever subjected him to. Why is that not being accepted?

The burden should be on the USADA to prove his guilt and thus far they havent done so.
 
mariachi-19 said:
Reads to me like he doesn't give a feck anymore. If they find him guilty, and the titles go to the likes of Jan Ulrich and Marco Pantani what does that say about cycling as a whole? Take it from one cheat to the next and unlike Lance, both of those guys were found guilty of doping in their professional careers.

Unless they can prove beyond doubt that Armstrong used and thats actual tests not the statements of serial cheaters, how can they strip him of his titles?

I bet you there are few people that would come out of the wood work and say Eddie and Greg use performance enhancers, yet neither of them were tarred like Armstrong has been.
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Exactly.

Particularly when they refused to identify who their witnesses were, or what their testimony was. And then the fact that they offered them immunity.

Landis has proven that his testimony cannot be trusted and that he repeatedly lies for his own self-interest. It's easy to say "now I'm telling the honest truth" when you have been proven to be guilty.
 
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