Lance Armstrong found guilty of doping

So, now the USADA have released their evidence, which on first glance is pretty damning

BBC Sport - Lance Armstrong: Usada report reveals doping evidence

another of his teammates has admitted being part of the drug taking scene

BBC Sport - George Hincapie admits to using performance-enhancing drugs

and the actual report is here

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9Yz.../view?sle=true

I remain sceptical that we will ever get an admission from Lance, he is too entrenched to turn round and admit it (if true), but I have to say I'd made up my mind that there was more than smoke around this having read David Millar's autobiography, which gives great insight into the sport and its culture at the time Lance was at the very top. It is simply inconceivable to me that he managed to win so many races, and so many tours whilst completley drug free against so many top riders who were definitivley on drugs. Add to that the evidence of the teammates, which has to be taken as what it is, evidence provided by people who cheated, but is too accurate and consistent to be false IMO, unless there is a massive conspiracy created to discredit Lance, which would be expensive, pointless and ultimately far more far fetched than the doping allegations.

I await with interest what the UCI come up with in response, whether they accpet the charges brought by the USADA and strip Armstong of his TDF's or whether they choose to attempt to discredit the evidence

Having read the 1st 75 pages of the document (another 125+to go) I fail to see how Lance could possibly assert his innocence in the face of the evidence. It is far to elaborate to be a fabrication, with 2 many people recalling the same incidents in detail

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

From what I did read in the news today, I still didn't see any hard proof of it.
Now we are lead to believe that he had built up some kind of a criminal organization and he was forcing grown up people to do doping for his own benefit.
Call me a skeptic, but I only believe what the anti-doping tests say not what someone tells 10 years later under pressure from the USADA.
This looks more an more like a witch hunt to me.

The evidence shown today has testimonies from 26 people testifying against Armstrong. If they're making this stuff up - and with so much detail, there should be loads of people out there ready to contradict and discredit what they've said.

Where are these loads of people? The only one's I know of, are Lance and his lawyer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Firstgear

The evidence shown today has testimonies from 26 people testifying against Armstrong. If they're making this stuff up - and with so much detail, there should be loads of people out there ready to contradict and discredit what they've said.

Where are these loads of people? The only one's I know of, are Lance and his lawyer.

---

So now we accuse sportsmen of doping based on testimonials instead of lab tests. What next? Middle age witch hunt coming back?

You need to read the actual report produced by the USADA, not just the news spin based on a couple of headline making statements. The evidence is incredibly damming, the statements are detailed and consistent and very believable. Included is a failed test for testosterone which went away, and a retest of old samples taken before the EPO test was developed, which show the presence of EPO. The association with Michele Ferrari, the denials of continued association disproved by email communication and massive sums of money changing hands. The denials of any knowledge of his teammates doping when he was the kingpin of the team and the de-facto team principal, it all stinks. The sport was rotten to the core at that time and to believe that Armstrong was able to rise above it all, not observe the drug culture first hand and win against these guys for 7 years is scarcely believable. That's not to say it wasn't still an incredible achievement, as the playing field was pretty level, most if not all of the top competitors were in it just as deep.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Read the evidence, the testimonies and the lab evidence, the riders, team staff and relatives all telling the same consistent story. To construct and maintain such a fabrication over 7 years and 20+ people would be impossible for the USADA. I strongly recommend you read David Millar's autobiography as well, just to give an understanding of the culture that existed at the time.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

For those who are saying "There's no evidence", there is masses of evidence, from eye witness testimony. Seriously; that sort of thing would be good enough for a murder conviction, nevermind cheating at sport.

I'm still not all the way through it, (140 pages so far) and it gets worse and worse. Including some pretty damming scientific evidence based on old blood and urine tests on top of all of the testimonies

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mark

For those who are saying "There's no evidence", there is masses of evidence, from eye witness testimony. Seriously; that sort of thing would be good enough for a murder conviction, nevermind cheating at sport.

---

Chances are it'll go to court anyway as former sponsors start asking for money back. There's even talk of trial for perjury.

I didn't think the level of evidence would be this strong. No wonder he refused to give them the chance to have this all come out in a trial.