FLandis letter, links

[Beech Mtn]

Howmans from WADA speaks again -

WADA chief Howman confirms several enforcement agencies are investigating Landis doping claims: Bruyneel questioned about allegations

“This is a significant inquiry and the indications I have is that that significance is not going away,” he told Press Association Sport. “Therefore it's of great importance. It's of great importance to the fight against doping in sport and to the countries who are engaged.

Howman confirmed to Press Association Sport that the investigation has broadened. “I am aware of the progress and I am aware that there are now a number of enforcement agencies engaged, but I can't stipulate who as I'm not entitled to do so.”

 

[Beech Mtn]

A new one from the WSJ -

U.S. Casts Wider Net in Probe of Cycling

A federal probe into doping in professional cycling is proceeding quickly, and investigators are currently in discussions with several riders and their attorneys to secure their cooperation after the Tour de France ends later this month.

Cyclist George Hincapie of the BMC professional cycling team, now competing in the Tour de France, has been called by Mr. Novitzky but hasn't talked directly to him. One person familiar with the matter said that Mr. Hincapie's lawyer has been talking to investigators and that Mr. Hincapie is likely to agree to talk to Mr. Novitzky when he returns to the U.S.

"That was exactly the way I also did it," said Mr. Kohl, referring to Mr. Landis's allegation that he and other U.S. Postal riders received blood transfusions during the tour in a hotel room. "The details of the blood bags and the checking for cameras and microphones, the cutting up of the bags and flushing them in the toilet, it all took place in exactly that way," he added.

 

[arrhythmia rules]

Hincapie & Hamilton

*** edited by mod ***

only links, please

 

[Race Radio]

Anyone who questions Armstrong is a troll

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/04/SPD91E8JPB.DTL

 

[Beech Mtn]

Reuters Canada -
Focus on Landis, Armstrong lawyer tells U.S. authorities

"The more appropriate investigation and use of taxpayers' money should focus on the confessed fraud committed by Landis, an admitted perjurer with an agenda," Armstrong's lawyer Timothy Herman said in a statement on Saturday.

"These kind of leaks and the stories based on them, are inaccurate, are extraordinarily unfair and are used for publicity and advancing personal agendas."

 

[luckyboy]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/m...07-10_disgraced_floyd_landis_rides_alone.html

Article on Hein Verbruggen's emails to Landis (taken from the thread)

 

[Beech Mtn]

The Atlantic -
Why It's Good That Lance Armstrong's Career Is Over

 

[Publicus]

Seems like formal invitations to the party have started to go out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/sports/cycling/14cyclinginquiry.html?ref=sports

 

[blackcat]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/m...trong_sponsor_trek_in_cycling_drug_probe.html

 

[Publicus]

This is getting more interesting by the minute. Armstrong was just a rider.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/sports/cycling/15armstrong.html?_r=2

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

*** edited by mod ***
links only please

 

[Polish]

“When the Postal Service was the sponsor of the team, I was a rider on the team,” Armstrong said. “Just like Frankie (Andreu), Kevin (Livingston), Tyler (Hamilton) or George (Hincapie). I was no different than anybody else.”

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010...tions-addresses-ownership-of-usps-team_128907

Hey, maybe the final episode/scene of US Postal will resemble the final episode/scene from Seinfeld.

 

[Colm.Murphy]

staggering...

Velonation has tagged Armstrong on the lie about ownership and has extended quotes from Armstrong today. Funny stuff about USADA, UCI and WADA at the end. Of course he'd prefer they handle this stuff! He can pay it off!

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4...will-cooperate-with-Landis-investigation.aspx

CN has posted all of the purported emails between FL and HV. Really funny and staggering at the same time. Wow. Wow.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vebruggen-labels-landis-a-nuisance

 

[DAOTEC]

Verbruggen to testify?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/vebruggen-labels-landis-a-nuisance

Vebruggen labels Landis a nuisance

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

ESPN has also tagged the latest Lance lie.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5380225

 

[alberto.legstrong]

Lance will only cooperate with Fair investigation

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=5379604

"I've done too many good things for too many people."

That is gold, Jerry, Gold. I'm better than you. So therefore, I get to decide when the heat is too hot and take my ball and go home. NOT.

 

[Beech Mtn]

SF Weekly -
Lance Armstrong Denies Link to Doping-Tied Company -- Registered to Armstrong Address

Thanks to Dim for posting this over in the "goose is cooked" thread.

 

[Parrot23]

See remarks by Landis legal team on Kristin Armstrong

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/m...ance_armstrong_supporters_irks_former_cy.html

 

[Beech Mtn]

NY Times: The Lede -
Cycling Bloggers Scour Armstrong’s 2005 Testimony

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Armstrong’s personal lawyer, Tim Herman, said that the confusion was caused by the fact that the company that owned the team, Tailwind, had decided to give Mr. Armstrong stock in 2004 but did not actually do so until December, 2007.

Another cycling blogger and journalist, Joe Lindsey, wrote in a post on Bicyling magazine’s Web site, “If true, that’s a curious sequence of events,” because “Tailwind Sports disbanded the Discovery Channel team — its most profitable property — at the end of 2007, right when Armstrong reportedly received his stock.”

And Joe Lindsey's article is here -
Off His Game: Lance Armstrong used to have a fluid spin on the road and off it. What happened?

Tailwind, incorporated in Maryland in 2001, today has zero public presence and is listed by the Maryland Department of Assessments as forfeited, meaning the business’ existence was terminated by the state for a delinquency. A separate incorporation with the California Secretary of State, for Tailwind Sports Corporation, lists the same Austin, Texas street address as Capital Sports and Entertainment, with its status as “surrender” and a filing date of July 1, 2002.

 

[arrhythmia rules]

Been reading odd bits and this one with the lawyers comments really sticks out:
Herman's termination of a deposition that Handfelt's firm conducted last year in which they asked Armstrong's ex-wife, Kristin Armstrong, if she ever saw her ex-husband use performance-enhancing drugs. Herman, who represented Kristin Armstrong in the litigation, instructed her not to answer that question and many others.

So basically the lawyers stopped Kristin answering; the only reason for this would be she would answer "yes". Speaks volumes. Well maybe this time she will be called and answer.

Read more http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2010/07/14/2010-07-14_attacks_on_floyd_landis_credibility_by_lance_armstrong_supporters_irks_former_cy.html?page=1

 

[Beech Mtn]

MSNBC picks up the Boulder Report article by Joe Lindsey -
Is Armstrong’s empire crashing around him?
Ex-Tour king has flopped in race this year, and drug probe is moving fast

 

[Colm.Murphy]

National Post chimes in...

A decent Canadian paper has weighed in.

Lance Armstrong: Hero or fraud?

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/Lance+Armstrong+Hero+fraud/3283803/story.html

Pondering all the latest...things are adding up to fraud more than hero.

 

[Colm.Murphy]

Dale Robertson, a Texas (Houston) journalist/kool-aid dealer, weighs in with a big "I don't know"....

The locals have questions, Mr. Armstrong. What say you?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/cycling/7110772.html

 

[Beech Mtn]

New York Magazine -
Could the New Lance Armstrong Doping Allegations Stick?


Not much new information for those who followed the case, but there is quite a lot of Lance's history makes it into the mainstream press in this article:

Armstrong has never failed a drug test, but he has raised plenty of suspicion. On the 24th of those inspections, Armstrong, who had just come back from a long training ride, took a shower while his team manager, Johan Bruyneel, checked the credentials of the man from ALDF. He tested negative, but the ALDF made a stink, saying the twenty-minute delay likely compromised his results. During the 1999 Tour, traces of corticosteroid were found in his urine, but the amount was not enough for a positive test result, and Armstrong produced medical records showing he'd been using an approved cream containing the banned substance to treat saddle sores. More damning, in 2005, L'Equipe, the French sports paper, claimed they'd tested six of Armstrong's fourteen "archived" urine samples from the Tour of 1999 and they'd come in positive for EPO, a hormone used to increase red blood cell production. (The UCI didn't have a urine test for EPO until 2001, two years after the samples were taken.) Armstrong fought back, questioning the testing methods, the motives, and the integrity of the samples, and since the tests didn't meet UCI standards for a positive result (two separate samples, A and B, would have had to have tested positive, and the A samples were destroyed in 1999), the matter eventually went away. He's also faced accusations from former teammate Frankie Andreu, who testified under oath that he'd heard Armstrong tell his cancer doctor he'd used steroids, testosterone, and EPO, and from three-time TDF winner Greg LeMond, who said Armstrong threatened to defame him and destroy his business interests after LeMond questioned Armstrong's associations with the Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who was convicted in an Italian court for administering performance-enhancing drugs. Two years later, Ferrari's conviction was overturned.

 

[Beech Mtn]

Washington Post -
After Tour de France, Lance Armstrong and ex-associates could be dogged by federal doping investigation

Though subpoenas have been issued for documents, none has been served on cyclists, a person with knowledge of the probe said. Novitzky has instead sought interviews with potential witnesses, offering proffers of limited immunity that protect them from prosecution unless they lie, the source said.

Attorneys for former Armstrong teammates George Hincapie and Tyler Hamilton say Novitzky contacted them, but no meetings have occurred. Former Armstrong teammates Dave Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde also have been contacted, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

The case against Michael Ball has been going on for some time, according to this article:

Novitzky, who appears to have significant investigative latitude, began looking hard at the team, known as Rock Racing, and its owner, fashion designer Michael Ball. Last winter, a formal investigation with Ball as the target was launched, according to sources.