Tour de France

[dave13]

Yeah, David Walsh's piece was very interesting, i'd followed the story piecemeal over the years and the summation was great. He's been on iTalkSport a few times and comes across as a good Journalist.

[ror]

Amazingly there are people out there who think Lance did not take drugs and he is being setup!!

[Sea_point]

Amazingly there are people out there who think Lance did not take drugs and he is being setup!!

Believable really, sure there are still people out there that think Declan Kidney is a good Ireland coach and any criticism is based on an anti-Munster agenda...

[Donny B.]

This sport's always going to be a joke when you've morons like Alex Dowsett blindly defending the "legend" that is Lance Armstrong....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19910165

[ronk]

This sport's always going to be a joke when you've morons like Alex Dowsett blindly defending the "legend" that is Lance Armstrong....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19910165

FTA

Team Sky rider Dowsett, 24, said: "He is still a legend of the sport. A guy who had cancer came back and won the Tour de France.
"I think it's not really important and I really don't think it matters."
...
Dowsett joined Team Sky for the 2011 season from the US-based Trek-LiveStrong squad - an under-23 development team created by Armstrong to nurture emerging talent.
He added: "All I know is that we all are racing clean. So, it was a different sport back then."

I'm going to repeat that last part

He added: "All I know is that we all are racing clean. So, it was a different sport back then."

How stupid does he think we are? As far as I'm concerned Dowsett just hinted that he's taking drugs.

[Woody01]

For those that need some detailed background to all of this I would highly recommend Tyler Hamiltons autobiography "The Secret Race". Its a very good read and hard
to put down.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Secret-Race ... 422&sr=8-1

Just finished it over the weekend and his explananation in book of Lances media and legal tactics brings a wry smile to your face when you see what he has been doing the past 24 hours. The cancer card rolled out and his foundation and of course trying to discredit the whole USADA process as being a witch hunt.

Glad to see he will finaly be brought to book but cant help feeling there will be so many who still wont believe this. The only reason he could raise all
the money for cancer was his image and profile built off the back of drugged up Tour de France wins.

[desperado]

Read it over 2 days lat week (the Secret Race); good - but if you really want some definitive books on this then "From Lance to Landis" - Dave Walsh, "Bad Blood" - Jeremy Whittle and finally "Rough Ride" - Paul Kimmage are all much better.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm reading the David Walsh book too (it's called 7 Deadly Sins but is it the same book? I asked my Dad to get me From Lance to Landis but the guy in Easons told him that the other book was the only David Walsh one they had) and it's brilliant. Just about half way through and really enjoying it.

I don't usually like Walsh in the ST because I don't feel that he knows about certain sports in great depth. It may well be my own lack of cycling knowledge that makes this seem better but even so he's a lot funnier than I'd have thought and it really is brilliantly written.

If you're big into cycling then I'm not sure how much you'll learn but I'm really enjoying it.

[IanD]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20954810

US cyclist Lance Armstrong will be interviewed by chat show host Oprah Winfrey, amid reports that he might publicly admit to doping.

[fourthirtythree]

And in other breaking news the man knows as "the pope" admits to membership of the catholic religion. There are unconfirmed rumours of a large ursine animal defecating in the forest. Sounds unlikely, we'll have to follow that one up and fact check it.

Oprah? He must be finding a way to "monetize" his confessions. Wonder how that will work out for him. Maybe getting it out in the open will make him less of a complete arsehole.

[jezzer]

I doubt they'll have much time to cover doping, what with all the cancer survivors to interview. The usual audience is apparently being switched for 500 cancer babies, hoping that proximity to Lance will help cure them.

What a joke.

[Donny B.]

This whole thing about Armstrong "confessing" to make himself a hero and let him come back to competing in triathlons is making me ill.....

[Peg Leg]

And in other breaking news the man knows as "the pope" admits to membership of the catholic religion. There are unconfirmed rumours of a large ursine animal defecating in the forest. Sounds unlikely, we'll have to follow that one up and fact check it.

Oprah? He must be finding a way to "monetize" his confessions. Wonder how that will work out for him. Maybe getting it out in the open will make him less of a complete arsehole.

How does that work? Makes him more of an arsehole to me. The heartbreak has been caused, the careers have gone in the bin, friendships destroyed..... how will Lance Armstrong, talking about Lance Armstrong, for the benefit of Lance Armstrong and Lance Armstrong's bank balance, make Lance Armstrong less of an asshole?
The thoughts of him up there going to confession with mother Oprah, shedding false tears for his supporters (read: wage payers) is pathetic, no doubt his ego will be right there with them, licking the tears back off his face!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I'm already cringing about the sympathy he'll get from Oprah and the audience.

Wonder will he say he was pressured into it or go down the route that he was frustrated with his progress after recovering from cancer?

Reading that 7 Deadly Sins book, the control he had over the media and of people who spoke out against him was incredible. Walsh also says that allegations against him always followed a similar path. He'd find out about the allegations, threaten to sue and then drop the case once it went out of the media. The Sunday Times were one of the only ones that he actually took to court and this brinsmanship as Walsh called it, enabled him to stay out of the courts but also keep the allegations out of the press too.

[IanD]

http://cdn17.castfire.com/video/305/224 ... =MobileWeb

Ahead of Lance on Oprah Travis Tygart, the head of USADA, has already spoken to CBS '60 Minutes Sport'. Really interesting.

[fourthirtythree]

Maybe getting it out in the open will make him less of a complete arsehole.

How does that work? Makes him more of an arsehole to me. The heartbreak has been caused, the careers have gone in the bin, friendships destroyed..... how will Lance Armstrong, talking about Lance Armstrong, for the benefit of Lance Armstrong and Lance Armstrong's bank balance, make Lance Armstrong less of an asshole?
The thoughts of him up there going to confession with mother Oprah, shedding false tears for his supporters (read: wage payers) is pathetic, no doubt his ego will be right there with them, licking the tears back off his face!

It won't make any of his actions in the past any better, any of the careers he's ruined or lives he's made a mess of any better, but it may stop him behaving like such an arsehole in the future as he will have less reason to behave as he did. Or not. Maybe it might just take some of his power to ruin people away. I think his self-righteousness and vindictiveness are just his actual personality.

[desperado]

I'm reading the David Walsh book too (it's called 7 Deadly Sins but is it the same book? I asked my Dad to get me From Lance to Landis but the guy in Easons told him that the other book was the only David Walsh one they had) and it's brilliant. Just about half way through and really enjoying it.

I don't usually like Walsh in the ST because I don't feel that he knows about certain sports in great depth. It may well be my own lack of cycling knowledge that makes this seem better but even so he's a lot funnier than I'd have thought and it really is brilliantly written.

If you're big into cycling then I'm not sure how much you'll learn but I'm really enjoying it.

From Lance to Landis was published 2007. I read some review saying 7 Deadly Sins had no new revelations so I haven't bothered reading it yet. From Lance to Landowner is great although it's structure where it flicks back and forth on time can be confusing. Amazing it took so long to nail him and shows the dangers of what big corporations money and a rotten governing body can allow happen in a sport.

[desperado]

I'm already cringing about the sympathy he'll get from Oprah and the audience.

Wonder will he say he was pressured into it or go down the route that he was frustrated with his progress after recovering from cancer?

Reading that 7 Deadly Sins book, the control he had over the media and of people who spoke out against him was incredible. Walsh also says that allegations against him always followed a similar path. He'd find out about the allegations, threaten to sue and then drop the case once it went out of the media. The Sunday Times were one of the only ones that he actually took to court and this brinsmanship as Walsh called it, enabled him to stay out of the courts but also keep the allegations out of the press too.

I was in Austin in Nov. Actually dropped into Mellow Johnny's. Amazing how many people stateside think he's the victim. Bad old jealous Europeans.

[IanD]

New evidence in Lance Armstrong case

http://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2013/01 ... rong-case/

From the article.

Swiss Cycling president Richard Chassot has defended the Lausanne laboratory saying it has often taken a tough stance on doping.

Chassot told 20min.ch: "In many cases, notably the (Floyd) Landis affair, they haven't been afraid to put themselves in danger. Martial Saugy is a good and serious guy, who has often taken a strong position against doping.

"Regarding the samples tested, there are only numbers on a tube. At the laboratory in Lausanne, they couldn't say to themselves, 'This is Armstrong's sample, he can't be positive.' If something happened, it's at UCI level."

UCI being blamed by the Swiss Lab. I have to say I am delighted to see a bit of in fighting amongst all vested interests - means the walls are crumbling and we might get the truth.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Apparently Lance apologised to the staff at Livestrong today. Haven't heard what he said but I'm really looking forward to this Oprah thing now.