Well, this peso was a bit o' fun but it really is a sad time for Lance and cycling.
I think other cyclists have been talking for some time; certainly Floyd Landis pointed finger at Armstrong years ago, shortly after Landis tested positive. I guess it was dismissed as Floyd dragging others down with him, but since then others have talked. I don't think they're all coming out of the woodwork now, it's just that now they're about to be subpoenaed at the same time. Lance is of course innocent until proven guilty. Since he's passed every drug test ever administered (except, apparently, one, but there's no need to get into that now) they'll have to "convict" him with other evidence; including in this case at least ten other riders who have seen him use or heard him talk. That number is pretty damning. A cynic might say he's now pulling out of the proceeding because he knows he'll lose and after all the evidence comes out he'll look even worse. I don't think it's a case of him pleading "no contest", more a matter of him not mounting a defense and allowing the conviction to register. As I said before, if he really was doping so was (is) everyone else. Hard to believe that anyone can do the Tour at the intensity of today's athletes and not be on something. What makes me sad is that I really admire the guy. He beat cancer to become the best road cyclist of his era, maybe of all time. He raised so much for cancer research and education. In case anyone who doesn't know cycling wants to see just how good he was, watch him win the grueling l'Alpe d'Huez stage in the 2001 Tour de France. It's a stage that finishes at the mountaintop, the third major climb of the day. After six hours and three climbs watch him sprint to the finish as others struggle. Watch him earlier in this clip as he stares his rival Jan Ullrich in the eye, basically ~tells~ him he's about to attack (sprint away), then does it, leaving Ullrich gasping: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F94TCxLYZew&feature=youtube_gdata_player After he retired, Armstrong said that was his best day on a bike and one can see why. No matter what the results of all this legal and political crap might be, this is how and why I'll remember Lance Armstrong the racer. Cheers, frank "What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." -- Christopher Hitchens --- Original Message --- From: Bob W <[email protected]> Sent: August 27, 2012 8/27/12 To: "'Pentax-Discuss Mail List'" <[email protected]> Subject: RE: PESO - Lance's New Gig > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > [email protected] > > What with all the dope stuff and having all his Tour de France titles > stripped from him and all, times are a bit lean (big legal bills to > clean up). So Lance called up an old sponsor to see if they had > anything for him. > > They found the perfect job for him: > > > http://www.photoshop.com/users/knarftheriault/assets/f45a6a413b624110b2 > 64edd3d0f1900e > > *http://tinyurl.com/9zatqwd* > > ;-) > > Hope you enjoy. Comments welcome. > > I should say that I am really bummed about the whole Lance thing. I > really thought he might be clean, or if he wasn't then absolutely > everybody was (is) doing it and he's just a (non-European) scapegoat. > > Either way, very sad... > that's a low blow! But still, very well spotted, and funny! I don't understand how the US doping agency think they can strip him of his TdF titles, which have got fuck all to do with them. As far as I understand it he has never failed a dope test and should be treated as innocent until proven guilty. Apparently several of his former team mates are prepared to testify against him, but one wonders why now? If they strip him of his titles they should probably strip all the Tour winners since, oh, well before the days of Tom Simpson right up until well, not very long ago. In a way, if they're all using the same drugs then they're competing on a level field, and the only thing that separates them is their physical ability - and isn't that what sport is all about!?! In a TV programme about British cycling success, they said that they went for the track events before going for the road because they wanted to compete in a clean field, and waited until road cycling had been cleaned up. B -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
