Tyler Hamilton, time to man up. Support Floyd.

[Polish]

They were expected to be happy water-carriers. Forgive them for their ambition. That they were popped as contenders on other teams says only that one team had better program security than the others, no more.

Yes I agree, Ambition did them in - not Postal.

vanity of vanities, all is vanity

 

[Anonymous]

Passage through USPostal/Discovery destroyed a lot of lives. Hamilton, Landis, Heras, the names go on and on and on. All of them with careers wrecked, reputations destroyed, finances doomed. Only one jets from mansion to mansion on different continents, gets millionaire endorsement deals, and shines bright as a clean American hero. The question is not why would the others speak up, but why wouldn't they?

Everyone got ground up and spit out by the Bruyneel Machine, all these shadows of selves sneaking about in ridiculous little exhibition races, meekly keeping to the code of silence that ruined their lives. They don't break the code because breaking the code means they would be blackballed. But they're already blackballed and they didn't even break the code. Do these riders really believe the code of silence protects them? It's used by the powerful riders to protect themselves at the expense of all the poor suckers who get caught.

and the interesting thing is that all of these postal guys, many many... ONLY get caught when they are with another team...think about it...

 

[bobbins]

It'll cause problems for those still riding if Tyler validates Floyds claims. Hincapie and Barry really need to own up and move on in their new clean (well Barry anyway) teams.

 

[perico]

Barry's already denied that any of it is true.

 

[Berzin]

Passage through USPostal/Discovery destroyed a lot of lives. Hamilton, Landis, Heras, the names go on and on and on. All of them with careers wrecked, reputations destroyed, finances doomed. Only one jets from mansion to mansion on different continents, gets millionaire endorsement deals, and shines bright as a clean American hero. The question is not why would the others speak up, but why wouldn't they?

Everyone got ground up and spit out by the Bruyneel Machine, all these shadows of selves sneaking about in ridiculous little exhibition races, meekly keeping to the code of silence that ruined their lives. They don't break the code because breaking the code means they would be blackballed. But they're already blackballed and they didn't even break the code. Do these riders really believe the code of silence protects them? It's used by the powerful riders to protect themselves at the expense of all the poor suckers who get caught.

What's at play here is the psychology of the sheep. They all rode in support of Armstrong, witnessed and partook in the methods that turned a donkey into a thoroughbred and figured, "If he can dope and win a grand tour, so can I".

As Landis said, he took the doping methods he learned while at Postal and transferred them over to Phonak. He then thought he had won the Tour, but was caught.

Same thing with Roberto Heras. Since he's Spanish, it was the Vuelta for him. But he too got pinched.

Hamilton came close at the Giro, and was doped out of his mind while doing it.

He also got popped later on. But all these disgraced riders share the same thing-their onetime desire to be like Lance. They are probably still scared of him and admire all that he has accomplished. They probably feel good about themselves for defending Armstrong's honor with their collective silence.

The only thing that will make these guys talk is if Federal Investigator Novitsky comes knocking on their door. Don't expect Hamilton, Vaughters or Andreu to offer up incriminating testimony of their own free will.

 

[Roland Rat]

As Landis said, he took the doping methods he learned while at Postal and transferred them over to Phonak. He then thought he had won the Tour, but was caught.

I'm actually starting to believe Landis was set up. Well, maybe not believe, but accept that it's a possibility. How much for a false positive, Pat? £100k do it? That'll teach that traitorous SOB a lesson.

 

[Jonathan]

and the interesting thing is that all of these postal guys, many many... ONLY get caught when they are with another team...think about it...

It seems that Landis has offered an explanation for that. Two significant things happened: Bruyneel warned Armstrong not to use EPO because there was a test, and when Armstrong tested positive, this was settled with the UCI. So it looks like Bruyneel was clever enough to ensure that nobody on his team would test positive. He might be exceptionally meticulous.

 

[Jonathan]

I'm actually starting to believe Landis was set up. Well, maybe not believe, but accept that it's a possibility. How much for a false positive, Pat? £100k do it? That'll teach that traitorous SOB a lesson.

The handling of doping samples is a pretty strict protocol; it's not a joke that Landis could almost build a case based on white-out used on a form. Using that system fraudulently is not easy, and I'm even less inclined to believe the doping lab would cooperate.

The most likely explanation seems the easiest one: Landis did test positive for something he used, but will get himself into more financial and legal trouble if he admits that particular case. Perhaps he is following Basso's example, who also confessed to doping, without actually pointing to any specific race.