Lance Armstrong cheated?!

[Red Fighter 1073]

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2141710

apparently, the french have found that Lance Armstrong cheated during the Tour De France. what happened is that during the '99 Tour, Armstrong gave six urine samples which tested positive for the red blood cell booster, EPO.

now, im not trying to sound racist but, as people who are on the show "Pardon The Interruption", have said, im not quite sure i can trust the french. after all, Lance came in and beat them at their own race. SEVEN TIMES! also, how can you be certain that the urine sample was really Lance's?? just a possibility i was thinking of.

anyway, what are your thoughts on this issue??

[PyrosNine]

EPO? What the heck is that? And why did they only discover this now, a good 6 years later?

And I can't quite see what effect boosting red blood cells would have upon an athlete. It may just be a simple misunderstanding, like his medical condition affected the test.

[Staizer]

more red blood cells would mean more oxygen being carried through the body. It is pretty odd that they should discover this now, as opposed to when they did the tests, apparently it didn't matter then, so why should it matter now?

[meb955]

oxygen is the key here. the drug is designed to increase red blood cells, which builds stamina. and it was discovered now because the technology didn't exist until now to discover the drug (which, although undetectable, was still illegal in 1999). armstrong used the drug during his cancer treatments and cited it as a reason he's still alive.

however, on the other side, the magazine that broke the story has ben against armstrong almost from the beginning and has leveled accusations before with no evidence. it wrote after the last one was over that a sigh of relief had gone up in the sport over armstrong's retirement. also, since the main samples were destroyed in testing 6 years ago, nothing could be done now. plus, there are serious questions about the validity of the sample and the id the magazine used.

plus. most fellow competitors have jumped to armstrong's defence. while the coordinator of the tour works for the same company that owns the magazine and has been criticized by france's own anti-doping director.

it's much too early to draw any conclusions on this, one way or the other.

[shiney]

It's just sour grapes. They have been trying since he first won to discredit him because Lance Armstrong damages french pride like no other. If they strip him of his titles or try to levy any sort of fine, restriction, penalty or punishment on him, it's not going to be pretty.

This is just ridiculous and petty. They need to man up and admit they lost.

[G.I.R.]

They can't, Shiney... they're french. It's not in their genetic code.

[Megiddo]

To quote Robin Williams:

And every year the French go:

"He is on chemicals."

I'm going it's chemo-therapy you little toadsuckers.

"Okay he has one testicle, he's aerodynamic. Everybody cut off your balls, you'll be quicker. Do it!"

[Megiddo]

btw how do u change the color of text?

[shiney]

Surrendering is. So losing should be too. But I guess false pride and ignorance overrules morality and doing what's right.

[Lockeownzj00]

The thing a lot of people fail to realise is drugs have not been the exception, but the norm in biking and the tour de france for years.

I read an article during the last tour de france with interviews of several former and current bikers, many anonymous, talking about the misconception that it was only a few players--indeed, amphetamines, and various other "boosting" drugs were used routinely, with the winners further being based off the drugs as the base skill, not their...well, real base skill.

I wouldn't necessarily put it past him, but I highly doubt it.

Also, see maddox's "i'm not racist, but..."