The Article: WSJ - reopened!

[Anonymous]

Kind of ironic the part about the 60 stolen bikes. I like how Trek, the fanboys, and Coolhand were so outraged by LeMond supposedly selling bikes.

Guess where else he has shown up?

At least he's not a mod on this site .......

http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f2/words-lemond-15918.html

 

[Bicicleta]

They spent too much time blabbing about Floyd being clean in '06 Tour. What a bunch of (*&^ that is. We wanted more drugs, sex and rock and roll, instead we get contrite beer drinking menonites.

 

[La Vie Claire]

Quote from article:

"Mr. Armstrong and his advisers said Mr. Landis used the threat of going public with his accusations to try to get a job riding on Team Radio Shack"

Then why not go to the police and get Landis arrested and charged with extortion. And since Landis has zero credibility, surely the authorities would spring to action. Hey, it worked for Letterman (twice). Or maybe there's a really simple reason why Lance didn't go to the police...

 

[buckwheat]

see I disagree. we now know 3 riders have talked to the feds (or at least the wsj) one of them has confessed to doping and assumedly incriminated lance, two of those are riding the tour (including the doper?)

and we also now have a good idea were the funding came from to buy a lot of it, the mysterious trek bikes that trek dont know where they went.

we also have direct allegegation now that kristin was present in a room when patches were handed over.

I agree with you, this is a mere prelude.... I like this too.

According to Mr. Landis, Mr. Bruyneel told him that the money raised from equipment sales helped pay for doping.

also this

Robert Burns, general counsel for Trek, said the company was aware that bikes meant for U.S. Postal riders were being sold, but said it didn't know what the money was used for. "Occasionally, you'd see a bike on the Internet somewhere where it would surprise us," said Mr. Burns, who recalled an instance where one of the team bikes was sold in a bike shop in Belgium. There wasn't much Trek could do to stop such sales. "Once that stuff goes to the director sportif and the mechanic of the team, it's in their possession," Mr. Burns said. He declined to comment about whether Trek had been contacted by investigators.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't see it that way. Compared to what is known and discussed here, it's weak sauce. Compared to what has been presented in the main stream media, it's much more significant.

We certainly knew this stuff before, but it was pulled from one leaked and poorly written email. Now, while it's the same story (SSDD in Lance-ese), we have one of the premier print media institutions in the US basically presenting it as legitimate news.

The great majority of the article is Landis stories. Regardless of whether I believe them, there is little to me that would sway me if I were objective about the subject. Most people reading are either weighted to the side of the Armstrong myth, and anyone in the middle could easily say, "well, we have one side of the story...what else?" and be right.

Great, 3 unnamed riders admit doping at USPS. That is far from a staggering revelation. Bikes being sold for cash to buy drugs...says Landis. Again, I believe him, but if I were an attorney for Mr Armstrong, I would be laughing right now at THIS article. Maybe not Novitsky, but THAT? I stand behind my assessment, it was a weak article.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the fact that another former postal rider has admitted doping went on over those years and admitted doping himself is pretty huge to be honest. Assuming its not a rehash (tyler, frankie etc). That assumedly means the feds now have a "credible" witness

I do love the way they refer to him as Mr Armstrong, clearly some pretty strict legal advice gone on there.

On the negative side, if it was trek money (bikes) and not us postal money being used to buy dope then the fraud investigation takes a bit of a hit.

 

[bobs nob]

If I were him or one of his fanboys, I would be here right now doing this:

It's not so much WHAT is in the article. It's stuff we all know. It's more WHERE the article is. The volume needs to stay turned up.

I notice that ESPN isn't running it in its ticker, but if the volume stays on, they may need to do some reporting. (But wait, he might not come to our ESPY's awards show. Spike the story!) Some people don't acknowledge how one hand washes the other around here.

 

[buckwheat]

The great majority of the article is Landis stories. Regardless of whether I believe them, there is little to me that would sway me if I were objective about the subject. Most people reading are either weighted to the side of the Armstrong myth, and anyone in the middle could easily say, "well, we have one side of the story...what else?" and be right.

Great, 3 unnamed riders admit doping at USPS. That is far from a staggering revelation. Bikes being sold for cash to buy drugs...says Landis. Again, I believe him, but if I were an attorney for Mr Armstrong, I would be laughing right now at THIS article. Maybe not Novitsky, but THAT? I stand behind my assessment, it was a weak article.

But you're missing the point, all the things mentioned in the article are being investigated under penalty of perjury.

NO one in the Armstrong camp is laughing.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I am not commenting on the Federal investigation. I am solely talking about that "article" which is little more than a cut and paste of Landis quotes.

I wrote this earlier in the thread - I think it explains why the article still has significance.

I am not expecting anything particularly explosive (no, no sources just my opinion) but whatever is printed is done by the WSJ - so it will be done to their high standard. I realize you put in the qualifier - but it will not be false information.

It is not so much what is printed - more who is printing it, very difficult for other publications to continue to write fawning articles about LA when the WSJ is stating the opposite.......all this while a Federal investigation is quietly working away in the background.

 

[Anonymous]

I wrote this earlier in the thread - I think it explains why the article still has significance.

exactly. and also, while many of us knew he doped, there are many people in america and across the world for whom this will be their first knowledge of it. no major publication has ever printed anything like this against lance.

 

[this_is_edie]

exactly. and also, while many of us knew he doped, there are many people in america and across the world for whom this will be their first knowledge of it. no major publication has ever printed anything like this against lance.

This article will not sway any Armstrong fans and for other Americans out there, don't most believe that pro cycling is doped to the gills?

 

[thehog]

Prelude.

Print article gets much better.

 

[Kennf1]

Wow, the one semi-corroborating source is Gerlach? Weakness.
Can't believe they did a half-page advert for this light piece.

 

[Anonymous]

This article will not sway any Armstrong fans and for other Americans out there, don't most believe that pro cycling is doped to the gills?

go on twitter and search on @lancearmstrong the amount of americans with livestrong bands saying "lance, we beleive in you, ignore the haters, we know you did it clean".. there are pages and pages of them

On a seperate note: what *******ised, sanatised version of this article will CN print tommorow?

edit: there is absolutely nothing wrong with the word bastardised forum censor

 

[Anonymous]

But you're missing the point, all the things mentioned in the article are being investigated under penalty of perjury.

NO one in the Armstrong camp is laughing.

I was referring to the Lemond comment about tomorrow being a turning point. That article is not a turning point. It has some interesting information, but is a cake that is only 1/100th baked. I expected something more from the WSJ. Maybe there is more to come, but that was a disappointment to me. I understand what you guys are saying, but that story should have baked a little more before being pulled out of the oven. They did it to time it with the opening of the Tour, but it was a bad choice IMO. I can see that I am on a pretty lonely hill on this one, but that is how I see it.

 

[Big GMaC]

I do love the way they refer to him as Mr Armstrong

Actually, I was reading some of their other sports stuff and everyone is 'Mr.' or 'Miss'

For example:

'Mr. Terry is upset at being denied the England captaincy for having an affair, whilst at the same time Mr. Gerrard kept the captaincy after allegedly sleeping with and impregnating his wife's 16 year old sister'

(Which is a juicy UK/Football story that will come out soon when the injunction runs out).

Shame 'Mr. Armstrong' is not a fan of hookers and blow, could have earned him some supporters.

 

[Anonymous]

exactly. and also, while many of us knew he doped, there are many people in america and across the world for whom this will be their first knowledge of it. no major publication has ever printed anything like this against lance.

I just don't think this will convince many of them. If I were still objective on the subject, it wouldn't push me into the "he definitely doped" column.

 

[Anonymous]

'Mr. Terry is upset at being denied the England captaincy for having an affair, whilst at the same time Mr. Gerrard kept the captaincy after allegedly sleeping with and impregnating his wife's 16 year old sister'.

that ones old news now surely?

 

[LastRide]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704911704575326753200584006.html?KEYWORDS=floyd+landis

Almost afraid to read it...

More of an article about Floyd really. If thats all the gear Floyd did to get those results he was a Bad *** himself. I admire the guy even more.

Was a little bit of a let down in some ways, strippers? big deal. The other stuff about the transfusions was quite insightful but nothing more than what we knew anyway. I really thought there might be some better corroboration about what Floyd had said.

Might have more impact to the mainstream cycle fans and general public, especially with all the photos in larger sizes in the hard copy form.

Will be interesting to see how many other media outlets run with this.

 

[Anonymous]

I just don't think this will convince many of them. If I were still objective on the subject, it wouldn't push me into the "he definitely doped" column.

ok.. who the F*** are you and what have you done with TFF?

 

[diego maradona]

Wow, so Armstrong had a party!

And Frankie Andreu admitted to doping again!

Whoopie do.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, the one semi-corroborating source is Gerlach? Weakness.
Can't believe they did a half-page advert for this light piece.

Well, The Hog says that this is a prelude...so we know for sure this is the full article.

I cringed when I read Gerlach's name. "We interviewed a former (we hope) junkie about this, and he said there was doping...he also wanted to know if he could borrow 5 bucks." I mean, I hope the guy stays clean, but being sober less than a year gets you a chip and some work on your life, but does not a source for the WSJ make.

 

[Big GMaC]

that ones old news now surely?

well it is kind of like this, informed people know, papers only just getting round to it. (but thats because of the legal thing)

 

[thehog]

Prelude.

Print article gets much better.

Much better.

 

[Anonymous]

ok.. two questions

1) how will cn report this

2) how will the aso view this, is this going to distract from and therefore damage the tour (assuming as they must that this is only the start of 3 weeks of allegations)