Reactions from the Pro Peloton to #USPSConspiracy (USADA) - post here

[clydesdale]

Tweets deleted now but found here: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/doping

Katie Couture:

@MillerBode if it bums you out, show your support for lance! [edit]

Bode Miller:

@kcourture87 he's guilty

Katie Couture:

Of course the great @MillerBode would know more then a judge a jury and 500 drug tests proving innocence. You must have secret info.

Bode Miller:

@kcourture87 as u will see through testimony, it's not really secret info, and it's certainly not just me that knows it :-(

Unreal. Never saw that coming and good on him. He constantly surprises me, in a good way. He's a good egg.

 

[BroDeal]

Unreal. Never saw that coming and good on him. He constantly surprises me, in a good way. He's a good egg.

Bode Miller has called out Armstrong in the past.

 

[TubularBills]

"This is not a prescription for drug-free sport," says John Hoberman, a historian at the University of Texas who has written extensively about doping in sport.

"The activity itself has become pharma-dependent. And the idea that the best-intentioned people at the World Anti-doping Agency are going to make this go away is a dream."

thanks for that article. Brilliant. never thought id see something like that come out of the bbc.

My Pleasure.

Exorcising the demons one post at a time.

exorcising present participle of ex·or·cise (Verb)

Verb:

Drive out or attempt to drive out (an evil spirit) from a person or place.
Rid (a person or place) of an evil spirit.

The Exorcist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN9p-XCCRwU&feature=related

 

[TubularBills]

What we are seeing here is selective blindness. All these guys, from Eddy M. to Axel M. to everyone else on the inside can not say anything because they would be exposing themselves.
In brief; any pro from the last 35+ years who is not pizzed off by the proof of Lances' fraud was doing the same thing, and thought he was doing it as well. Maybe when they see how much Lance was in bed with the UCI they will get mad.....who knows?

On the contrary, very $pecific Blindne$$.

 

[SilentAssassin]

I want to see the evidence. When will it be published? I hope it's just not witness accounts.

 

[LugHugger]

thanks for that article. Brilliant. never thought id see something like that come out of the bbc.

True but to be fair, the guy is a Professor of Germanic Languages and I'm not sure how that qualifies him (any more than us) to speak with gravitas on the subject

 

[Benotti69]

True but to be fair, the guy is a Professor of Germanic Languages and I'm not sure how that qualifies him (any more than us) to speak with gravitas on the subject

He has written extensively about doping in sports

 

[the big ring]

True but to be fair, the guy is a Professor of Germanic Languages and I'm not sure how that qualifies him (any more than us) to speak with gravitas on the subject

John Hoberman (2005). Testosterone Dreams. California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22151-6.
John Hoberman (1997). Darwin's Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-82291-2.
John Hoberman (1992). Mortal Engines: The Science of Performance and the Dehumanization of Sport. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-914765-4.
John Hoberman (1986). The Olympic Crisis: Sport, Politics, and the Moral Order. New Rochelle, New York: Aristide D. Caratzas, Publisher. ISBN 0-89241-224-0.
John Hoberman (1984). Sport and Political Ideology. Austin: The University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-77588-1.

I'm guessing he knows a bit about the subject...

 

[taiwan]

Gustav Erik Larsson: “It is quite obvious that Armstrong has doped,”

“I do not think there is anyone in the cycling world to believe that he has been clean throughout their careers,”

“The mid-90's were a dark period in the sport of cycling. But it is good that it is taken care of and that things are punished in the end. The message must go out and we have to work for a clean future,”

As CN points out it's pretty rare particularly for a current rider to come out with as IMO straightforward and rational a statement as this so bravo.

 

[Benotti69]

Guardian again

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/201...protected-culture-bullying-secrecy?intcmp=239

Was Lance Armstrong protected by a culture of bullying and secrecy?

The extent of Armstrong's surrender is underlined by the knowledge of what he has previously said about the "guiding principles" taught to him by his single mother Linda: that "to give up was to give in". Armstrong reiterated that view in his first autobiography, It's Not About the Bike, written in 2000. "Pain is temporary," he wrote then. "If I quit, however, it lasts forever." And quit is what Armstrong did on Friday.

He quit and this ban lasts forever.

 

[la.margna]

Paolo Savoldelli, two times Giro winner, former team-mate at Discovery Channel, today partially employed as motocycle-commentator by RAI Sport:

http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/index.php?page=news&cod=52216&tp=n

not very critical of Lance, rather USADA, one interesting sentence however, that one night at a team dinner during Le Tour, Lance told the team that they shall tell him if anybody speaks unfavourable about Lance. (which for me personally says much more then all the rest in this interview, Lance the bully)

 

[Arnout]

Paolo Savoldelli

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/savoldelli-armstrong-made-enemies

A reaction we can expect from a former teammate who does think/know Armstrong doped, but doesn't want to tarnish his own reputation. Especially the last part of his reaction is quite clear in that respect.

 

[hrotha]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/savoldelli-armstrong-made-enemies

A reaction we can expect from a former teammate who does think/know Armstrong doped, but doesn't want to tarnish his own reputation. Especially the last part of his reaction is quite clear in that respect.

Indeed.

Savoldelli does not envisage that his erstwhile leader will ever make a full and frank confession.

“I’d rule that out. He isn’t naïve and now he has taken the decision that suited him best. But he’ll go on fighting.”

That says it all. I suppose that's as far as someone who did many of the same things with regards to doping and who was in LA's team can go. Overall I liked his statement, except for the usual "shall we go after the elders?" bit, which ignores the reason why the SOL has been waived. Then again, that *is* the kind of legal bit you might expect pro riders who haven't actually followed the case closely to not know about.

 

[pugdog]

Savoldelli is my all time favourite rider. No one is to criticise him or I'll chase them with a pair of angry pug puppies.

 

[Cavalier]

I'm guessing he knows a bit about the subject...

Be careful when trying to show expertise. This clown is renowned apparently as a leading Sports Lawyer. 5 minutes on his blog though will show you he's an idiot. And he's a doctor of law and a senior lecturer. Argues Armstrong's innocence by citing that he "served the sport without evidence of malpractice and continues to serve humanity, by assisting tremendously in a noble and sacred cause".

His response once I started picking apart the holes in his argument was to block me on twitter. He even tried to point out that there was no extending the SOL. Apparently he hasn't heard of legal precedent and Hellebuyck.

 

[classicomano]

Gustav Erik Larsson: “It is quite obvious that Armstrong has doped,”

“I do not think there is anyone in the cycling world to believe that he has been clean throughout their careers,”

“The mid-90's were a dark period in the sport of cycling. But it is good that it is taken care of and that things are punished in the end. The message must go out and we have to work for a clean future,”

As CN points out it's pretty rare particularly for a current rider to come out with as IMO straightforward and rational a statement as this so bravo.

Wow respect, very refreshing.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Wow respect, very refreshing.

Is this his twitter account @GustavVeronica?
Might be nice to drop him a tweet of support.

 

[hrotha]

Is this his twitter account @GustavVeronica?
Might be nice to drop him a tweet of support.

I think that's mostly his wife, although they probably intended it as a joint account or something creepy like that.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

I think that's mostly his wife, although they probably intended it as a joint account or something creepy like that.

It does seem like it is a joint account but it is the one linked of his webpage.

 

[python]

little surprise from ekimov...but interestingly he did blast usada as i would have expected:

I'll leave the actions of USADA with no comment - said Ekimov, Let me just say that for me, Lance Armstrong will always be the greatest racer. He overcame death. Lance himself admitted, I know who won the seven "Tour." And in this I fully agree with him.

 

[the asian]

little surprise from ekimov...but interestingly he did blast usada as i would have expected:

I'll leave the actions of USADA with no comment - said Ekimov, Let me just say that for me, Lance Armstrong will always be the greatest racer. He overcame death. Lance himself admitted, I know who won the seven "Tour." And in this I fully agree with him.

It seems like Lance has instructed his cohorts to blast USADA at every possible opportunity. He may be thinking that it will help him in the PR war.

 

[joe_papp]

Paolo Savoldelli

Rider: Paolo Savoldelli

Quotes: Although Savoldelli admitted that he “would not put his hand in the fire for anybody, not even Lance,” he was critical of the USADA case.

“I think that it’s been propelled by political motives and I don’t think they’ll succeed in taking everything off him, as it goes against the principle of the statute of limitations, which is eight years,” Savoldelli told Corriere della Sera.

It was put to Savoldelli that USADA is sending out a strong message in stripping Armstrong of his titles, demonstrating that nobody is unimpeachable.

“Yes, it’s true but going back 14 years doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Savoldelli said. “What will we do with Coppi, Bartali or Merckx?”

"It seems that the federal investigation came to nothing and American justice doesn’t go in lightly on things like that. The federal investigator Novitzky was the bulldog of the Balco case. For this reason, the perseverance of the sporting justice system seems ridiculous to me and I think that the anti-doping investigator wants publicity. When Lance says it’s a waste of public money, he isn’t completely wrong…”

“I was only in Tenerife with him once, but he wasn’t at altitude because he was with Sheryl Crow.”

“Armstrong had a temper and he clashed with a lot of people. I didn’t leave him on very good terms myself because at the Tour he had behaved like a real patron,” Savoldelli said. “He was a braggart and it doesn’t surprise me that somebody wants to make him pay. He created a lot of enmity, sometimes without reason: he and Bruyneel felt they were invincible."

“One night at dinner, he said: ‘If you hear someone saying bad things about me, tell me.’ He needed it to psych himself up even more…”

“I’d rule that out. He isn’t naïve and now he has taken the decision that suited him best. But he’ll go on fighting.”

Source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/savoldelli-armstrong-made-enemies

 

[joe_papp]

Jay Zech

Rider: Jay Zech

Quote: Jay Zech, co-owner of Gung Ho Bikes in Manchester Township, said the whole investigation was a waste of time and money. Government officials have better things to do with their time, he said.

"I hope like hell that tax dollars aren't funding this witch hunt," Zech said. I understand that there's doping and I understand that we need to do all we can to prevent it, but I see no point in chasing after someone that has been out of the sport for how long."

Source: http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_21394306/local-cyclists-react-armstrong-decision

LOL

 

[BroDeal]

Samuel Abt's opinion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/opinion/rip-lance-time.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&src=twrhp

Interesting that Armstrong had no problem with lying right from the beginning of his career.

 

[luckyboy]

Posted this in the wrong thread earlier..

Geraint Thomas - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19386735

It was very saddening to wake up to the news about the whole Lance Armstrong saga on Saturday morning.
Not just because of Lance but because of the damage it will, well, has been, causing to the sport I love. It has been going on for years, and every time it comes up, it drags cycling back down the 10 steps it has just risen.
My Twitter feed was full of the story, as you can imagine, with some people already "trash talking" cycling.