Rams52 wrote:Reading all the other riders saying things like "I knew he was cheating/taking drugs etc" is slightly amusing to me. I obviously do not know either way but I remember reading an article a long time ago about his triaing regime leading into a TDF. It was crazy the amount of work he did. Sometimes 3 sessions a day; weights, 3 hour road ride, 1 1/2 hour high intensity stationary bike session. It was amazing the lengths he went to to succeed.
I heard the cancer itself changed his body in ways that later helped him on the road. It leaned out his muscle mass while he opted for treatments that didn't have negative effects on his lungs despite if being more painful. He was always a talented rider though and to be up so high for so long without getting caught when so many did suggests he's more likely to be clean. Either that or he constantly cheated and just didn't get detected which seems absurdly unlikely. Especially since he was more scrutinised than anyone else.
Couple that with the fact that most (perhaps all?) of his accusers did so only after getting caught. It seems obvious to me that Landis, Hamilton etc etc are trying to reduce their penalties or save some reputation by dobbing in Lance. They have no proof, they have no credibility. Floyd Landis is a proven liar and con man. He denied the allegations for YEARS. He even took money from regular people to fund his legal costs under the pretense of being innnocent and unable to fight on without millions in donations. Then his avenues are exhausted and he fesses up, but decides to take to Lance's reputation. What about repaying the money, Floyd?
This action, to me is sickening. He's effectively being punished without anything yet proven. If they have proof or medical information that gives something pretty concrete then great. But why now? This is 2 years after the apparently dodgy blood samples. A positive test is announced as such and a ban is immediate. But this isn't even being billed as a positive test but rather a politically correct statement about being consistent with blah blah blah. It seems that an easy target has been picked by a number of men with credibility issues trying to gain something back and the USADA has rounded them up and tried to make something of it. Until there is some proof other than the testimony of cheats, liars and con artists Armstrong cannot be punished in any form. He must be allowed to compete (and hopefully the powers come to their sense and remove the ban) under assumed innocence until that innocence is proven wrong.
