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French doping agency forwards report on Armstrong...what's this about?

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Anonymous

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BroDeal said:
Say what? The French have done the best job of anybody.

Well, they better train their testers better! If I was a tester and a rider closed the door on me for 1/2 hour and it is mandated that I am to stay in view/contact with him all during that time then I'd call off the test and mark it as a missed doping control.

Both sides should know the protocol and it seems both sides screwed up, which is only helping feed the media speculation.

Meanwhile, the Spring Classics are taking place so I can care less about this story.

BTW, how come we never hear about Basso's doping controls? Being a more recent recovering doper we don't hear much about the 24 tests he's gone through. Or is anyone else other than LA up to 24 yet? What about Boonen, Millar, et al? Don't they get tested too?
 
Gee333 said:
BTW, how come we never hear about Basso's doping controls? Being a more recent recovering doper we don't hear much about the 24 tests he's gone through. Or is anyone else other than LA up to 24 yet? What about Boonen, Millar, et al? Don't they get tested too?

Maybe they don't feel the need to alert the world every time they break wind. :)
 
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Anonymous

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BroDeal said:
Say what? The French have done the best job of anybody. They caught people last year not because of their Giro performance but because their blood profiles were suspicious. The Italians have sanctioned a bunch of their biggest stars like Petacchi, DiLuca, Basso, Ricco, etc.

i did mention in my post that not only where the french crap, but the italians where worse, and the spaniards pointless.. ;)

i agree as above, french testing, allowing the guy to shower and go out of sight.. pathetic job... if your job is for instance, to guard the prime minister, and you decide its acceptable for him to go out of your sight for half hour while he showers, and in that time he is shot dead whos fault is it? his for getting shot, or yours for not doing your job..

surely its about time, there was some group or organistation that just regulated all the testing and was responsible for all testing following a strict set of guidelines and procedures that its testers were aware of, the teams and managers were aware of.. wouldnt that make things simple...

oh hang on.. what am i saying :eek:
 
Apr 7, 2009
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Is Anyone else as tired as I am of L.A. and all of the comeback stories (LA vs. Contador, Catlin program, Custom Trek bikes, ...etc)? The non-stop coverage of his every move is beyond over exposure, and it would have been great to see AC, Levi, Schleck brothers et. al. battle it out without the distraction that Lance (and all that surround him) has become. Paris-Nice and Castilla were great races, but too much was reported on how AC's break down affected his leadership before the tour vis a vis Lance (not to mention LA comments about the race) and the broken collar bone was covered more than the race on some sites (Velonews?!). Lance was great in one race for 7 years, but I am smelling a Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards fiasco.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong denied on Tuesday having ?misbehaved? during a random drugs test conducted by the French anti-doping authority last month.

The seven times Tour de France champion was requested, while training in France, to provide urine, blood and hair samples to a tester from the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD).

The AFLD said on Monday the 37-year-old American behaved strangely when the tester asked him to provide the samples and it sent a report to the International Cycling Union (UCI).

The UCI said it could not rule on the matter since the test, which proved to be negative, was commissioned by the AFLD.

Armstrong, who described reports in France on Monday that he had ?misbehaved? as outrageous, said he just wanted to have the tester?s ID checked before complying with the request.

?I had never heard of labs or governments (the AFLD reports to the French government) doing drug testing and I had no idea who this guy was or whether he was telling the truth,? the Astana rider said in a statement.

SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS

?We asked the tester for evidence of his authority. We looked at his papers but they were far from clear or impressive and we still had significant questions about who he was or for whom he worked.

?I was there with (team manager) Johan Bruyneel and two other people. We told the tester we wanted to check with the UCI to confirm who he was and to make sure he wasn?t just some French guy with a backpack and some equipment to take my blood and urine.?

Armstrong added everything happened within 20 minutes and that there were no further problems.

?Johan had confirmed with the UCI that the tester had authority from the French government to take samples. I immediately provided blood, urine and hair samples?all the samples that he requested, as he requested,? the Texan said.

?In addition, the form asked the tester to state if there were any irregularities or further observations from the testing process and to that he wrote ?no?.?

It was Armstrong?s 24th test since he resumed his career after 3-1/2 years in retirement.

?This is just another example of the improper behaviour by the French laboratory and the French anti-doping organisations,? added Armstrong.

?I am sorry that they are disappointed that all the tests were negative but I do not use any prohibited drugs or substances.?

Armstrong, who broke his collarbone in a race in Spain last month, is battling to be fit for the Giro d?Italia which starts in Venice on May 9.

The American looks poised to compete in his first Giro after organisers issued a statement saying he intended to meet victims of the earthquake that has hit the Abruzzo region of Italy when the 17th stage of the Giro passes through the area on May 27.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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One PR disaster after another - dear oh dear, the Second Coming is well and truly rattled - he reminds me of Madonna, doesn't like it when people question his supposed authority.

Of course this is by no means the only problem he has to deal with - in fact, messing the testers around for half an hour is nothing compared to one of the leading authorities on blood doping declaring that the 99 samples were 'positive' without any doubt:
http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden
 
Mar 19, 2009
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All these samples urine & tiny 4cc blood samples are almost totally irrelevant.

Autologous blood doping simply requires a quick 15 minute transfusion right before a race start, and hemodiluting on a drug similar to hespan or pentaspan will give a low hematocrit reading without decreasing the total body hemoglobin or oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. Somebody might get a 20% power boost with a quick blood transfusion. Recovery substances in training might only give a 5% boost >>>Maybe not even that much. And an 02 carrier like Actovegin (which US POSTAL was caught with possession in 2000) has been shown to give up to a 10% increase in sustainable power. So 20% from the blood, then another 10% from the 02 carrier not even banned. All in just mere minutes. So these steroid testing, etc is almost pointless.

If people knew this they wouldnt be arguing about Lance's awkward experience with that one out of competition test.

And it doesnt produce any kind of PR 'disaster' , it helps if the French anti-doping has issues with Lance, it shows the average rider and the regular joe in America that the french are 'biased and out to get Lance.'
 
Mar 11, 2009
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BigBoat said:
All these samples urine & tiny 4cc blood samples are almost totally irrelevant.
Almost but not quite. A rider could take EPO and other things for the benefits during training and their short half-life.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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Big Boat, whilst I agree the anti-French sentiment plays well with Mr & Mrs Could Care Less About Cycling in B*mf*ck, Missouri the very fact that negative press is merging about Armstrong, that even CN have no other option but to cast the Second Coming in a less than favourable light is a PR disaster.

I see he'll be at the Giro to give aid and succour to the victims of the earthquake - however, the 2 million euro appearance fee he has pocketed has allegedly pushed the cost of TV rights beyond the reach of Versus - such sweet irony...
 
Why biased?
The French turn up in France to take a legitimate dope test.
It's biased to suggest his behaviour is acceptable.

If it were any other rider, we would be talking missed test.
On their way to a Michael Rasmussen.

The American looks poised to compete in his first Giro after organisers issued a statement saying he intended to meet victims of the earthquake that has hit the Abruzzo region of Italy when the 17th stage of the Giro passes through the area on May 27.

How's he going to manage that? Either he intends to abandon the race, or he has a twin!
Time to forget the bike and turn to politics.
 
Mar 15, 2009
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French wrong again

I think this is a tempest in a teapot and another sure sign that things are not being done right in France.

1. I think we can all agree that Lance has been tested a lot. 24 times to date. THere are those who are posting that this is fiction. Why would Armstrong post this info publicly if it were wrong? That would be a disastrous PR move.

2. Given he has been tested a lot, I am sure he was expecting more testing for sure to happen in France. It is only logical. In fact it was THE big development in anti-doping last year with AFLD doing their own controls and catching Kohl etc. He had to be expecting this.

3. Whether you think he used to dope or never doped, I think it is a safe assumption now to say it would be virtually impossible to get away with doping with this level of scrutiny.

4. So why the controversy--the AFLD guy showed up without the usual UCI or WADA credentials and Armstrong wanted to make sure it was not some rogue guy. End of story.

5. If the tester didnt inform Armstrong immediately that he could not leave his sight and that doing so would be a violation, Lance would not have left and taken a shower. If he did let Lance take a shower, more incompetence and a huge blunder. Not that it made any difference. His blood and urine are still the same and the hair is still inadmissable to WADA and UCI.

BTW all the test results were negative.
 
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Anonymous

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so the tester had dodgy creds, the test was conducted poorly to say the least with the tester allowing armstrong to do what he wants, and the test, which was inadmissable anyway proves negative...

and armstrong is the one who gets critisised..

sounds like another good day at the office for l'equipe... :D
(wonder what trick they have up there sleeve next, raiding his hotel during the giro at 4am to shave his legs for him.. and then splash it over the front page of l'equipe when it is discovered he waxes...)
 
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Anonymous

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davestoller said:
I think this is a tempest in a teapot and another sure sign that things are not being done right in France.

1. I think we can all agree that Lance has been tested a lot. 24 times to date. THere are those who are posting that this is fiction. Why would Armstrong post this info publicly if it were wrong? That would be a disastrous PR move.

2. Given he has been tested a lot, I am sure he was expecting more testing for sure to happen in France. It is only logical. In fact it was THE big development in anti-doping last year with AFLD doing their own controls and catching Kohl etc. He had to be expecting this.

3. Whether you think he used to dope or never doped, I think it is a safe assumption now to say it would be virtually impossible to get away with doping with this level of scrutiny.

4. So why the controversy--the AFLD guy showed up without the usual UCI or WADA credentials and Armstrong wanted to make sure it was not some rogue guy. End of story.

5. If the tester didnt inform Armstrong immediately that he could not leave his sight and that doing so would be a violation, Lance would not have left and taken a shower. If he did let Lance take a shower, more incompetence and a huge blunder. Not that it made any difference. His blood and urine are still the same and the hair is still inadmissable to WADA and UCI.

BTW all the test results were negative.

yeh.. but it is a good opportunity for those who dismiss lances entire career because every took epo in 1999 to stir up another hornets nest.. :D
 
Mar 19, 2009
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(dimspace) : so the tester had dodgy creds, the test was conducted poorly to say the least with the tester allowing armstrong to do what he wants, and the test, which was inadmissable anyway proves negative...

You cannot just break into somebody's living quarters without a good warrant from a judge and as the police.

While I agree Lance should have been with the testing officers, I disagree that they could just come in without being let in; and its technically a positive if you evade a control officer to the point of not being tested altogether. There could possibly be discliplinary actions but we'll have to see what happens.

Lance also ran from Don Catlin's testing officer in the Canary islands. It could have been because they had not reached an agreement, but Lance ran from his own independent testing nonetheless.

But it really is water under the bridge unless lance is trying to train while jacked on epo and 02 carriers, which would be suicide.

The only way anybody will be able to dope anymore is with autologous blood transfusions on race morning along with 02 carriers. MAYBE there is gene doping now too who knows. But the only SURE way to stop blood doping (which is 90% of the gains from doping) >>>> is too total body hemoglobin test right away after the stages finish. But racing has not slowed down any >>> Maybe Basso will come in with more power than he had before.
 
davestoller said:
3. Whether you think he used to dope or never doped, I think it is a safe assumption now to say it would be virtually impossible to get away with doping with this level of scrutiny.

Oh, come one. Where does this nonsense come from? There are numerous drugs and variations of drugs that are undetectable. You can be tested a thousand times or a million times and all the tests will be negative if you are using something that cannot be tested for.

If that statement were anywhere near being true then cycling would not have a doping problem.
 
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Anonymous

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im still amazed that you are all blaming the current LA for the LA of 99.. has nobody worked out yet that this isnt the original lance and he is actually a clone created over the last two years by disco-bio using stem cells from lance, combined with dna from ullrich (hence the slightly overweight stance), and pantani (hence the slight loathing of the french and fear of drug testers)

the real lance is now running a chip shop in Iowa :p
 
After all this controversy-- I get really tired of hearing the same bull****, but I always come back to the same question...
Why American Cyclists (Armstrong, Hamilton & Flandys) use the same resource over and over to blame the same Lab-whereas dopers like Bernard Kohl, Pieppoly, Ricco & the entire crew that have already been busted from the 2008 TDF-they never had a solid complain or dispute case against the same Lab that LA is getting tested by -and furthermore--24 tests are too much for him? so they must hard as well for the remaining professional cycling community who gets the same amount-- just to set an example- nobody created the same drama when the Sckleck bothers got a surprise visit by CONI in the middle of the tour de France and they never "got to shower before their testing" or bull**** like that... now- since the last year's dispute between ASO & UCI, the very AFLD has been the one institution busting the dopers-- neither UCI nor WADA-- so-- who's really working against doping? please cycling comunity open your mind...:mad:
 
Dodgy creds?
Either they had proper ID or they didn't. They did.
That bit of smoke is the key to the whole issue.
They did recognise the IDs.
Does anyone seriously believe they've never seen French testers ID?


Once they admit the knew who they were, they would have had to let them through the door.
Doesn't matter if they want to have a shower or telephone Pat, after that.

As BigBoat mentions, this is the second time in a few months, he has tried to evade the testers.

Anyone remember that old Discoer, Manuel Beltran's antics at the Tour?
 
Mar 10, 2009
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When Armstrong speaks about "I'm the most tested athlete ever in recorded history and this is what I have to endure..." or some such nonsense, this is what I hear:
'Whaaaaaa, whaaaaa, whaaaa.'
which sounds an awful lot like crying and complaining.

Jesus, Armstrong, get over yourself.
 
Well, I can see it being a bit of a pi$$er when some stranger turns up at your door perhaps every 2 or 3 weeks wanting to prod you, with the subtext being that he thinks you're a cheater.

But that's the life of an athlete, so just shut up. We all have annoyances at work. I get pi$$ed with my boss when he strolls in at 5:15pm with a list of $hit he wants me to sort out.

But I don't broadcast it to the world (usually! ;) )