USADA now after Lance

That is bad.

 

I don't know if he I'd found to have doped then livestrong could be all but done. So you can pay lobbiest to fight for you or sit back and watch all you worked for go up in flames with Lance.

 

...and Lance's case gets kicked to the curb again:

Judge Dismisses Lance Armstrong's suit against U.S. Anti-Doping Agency

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks has dismissed Armstrong’s lawsuit against USADA, allowing the agency’s doping case against the seven-time winner of the Tour de France to continue.


In his ruling, Sparks wrote that despite what he termed USADA’s “woefully inadequate charging letter,” Armstrong’s challenges regarding due process “are without merit” and were dismissed without prejudice “for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”


The ruling stated further that Armstrong’s remaining claims “are best resolved through the well-established system of international arbitration, by those with expertise in the field, rather than by the unilateral edict of a single nation’s courts; the Court thus declines to grant equitable relief on Armstrong’s remaining claims on this alternative basis.”


Armstrong has the options of appealing in federal court, proceeding with arbitration or accepting USADA’s sanctions for what the agency has called “a doping conspiracy” involving the former pro cyclist and associates at his former U.S. Postal Service team.


(more in the full article)

 

The case was dismissed. But, if you read the full text of what the judge said, he did agree with Lance's claims that the USADA hasn't been handling things appropriately and that he does have the right to due process and, if Lance isn't given due process, the courts reserved the right to take action against USADA.

I actually read it as being more positive with respect to Lance's case than negative. It sounded doubtful that the courts would have done what was originally requested.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/judge-issues-stinging-criticism-of-usada-in-armstrong-case

The whole thing is a big circus. It will be interesting to see what happens. Bruyneel and some of the others are going to arbitration, so I would suspect that Lance might as well just let the circus play itself out as that may turn out to be the path of least resistance. He can't stop it now--Bruyneel and others will be going through the process with or without Lance.

But if it turns out that Leipheimer, Hincapie, Vandevelde, Vaughters, Andreu and others more credible than Hamilton and Landis step up and admit they doped and saw Lance dope, etc., then I don't know how Lance could possibly deny everything unless it's still limited to Hamilton, Landis and some other less credible sources (i.e. disgruntled former employees, etc.).

The best thing he probably could do is the least imaginable--telling the truth and fessing up to what he did. The Truth shall set you free. While there'd be hell to pay, would it really be worse than continuing to pay tons of legal bills? If he was part of a large contingent of respectable names who all came clean, albeit reluctantly and after-the-fact, then wouldn't that be a good thing?

But I would expect lots of former sponsors could and would sue Lance, Bruyneel and the others for fraud, etc. or at least recoup a lot financially from them. What a mess.

Wouldn't it be crazy if Floyd and Hamilton were right? Even partially. It would kind of explain how Floyd went so nuts, wouldn't it? Although he still was responsible for his actions and should've accepted personal responsibility for his actions. I'm sure it tore him up inside if he knew firsthand that Lance wasn't clean and was getting away with it, but that doesn't excuse his own doping and it's not Lance's fault he got caught--they weren't even on the same team when Landis and Hamilton were caught doping.

I'm going to watch Froome, Contador and Valverde fight it out in the Vuelta tonight and look forward to watching 41 year old Jens Voigt wreak havoc for another year next year and will probably make it a point to go watch him in the Tour of California to see if he can rip the peloton up again by attacking early on Mt. Baldy--he's incredible.

 

Wow, cycling's Axis of Evil has aligned itself with Lance...

From VeloSnooze: 'USA Cycling supports UCI’s power to interpret WADA code in Lance Armstrong case'

 

I agree with much of your post, but I don't think it would be unusual or crazy if Landis were right. Cheating like this is fairly predictable based on the incentives. Canseco was/is a sketchy character but he was absolutely right--yet there was more effort expended to discredit him then consider what might be true. Look at the recent slob from the Giants, people connected to covering MLB still fell all over themselves trying to be the first to credit the arse for coming clean. oops! he only did so after his attempt to cover it up was exposed. The facts are that the drugs work and guys take them to be better and get aid. Of course I assume that lance cheated, but it doesn't make me right, but I think it's far more closer to the state of the sport.

 

Lance gave up arbitration today. It's a sad day. Livestrong Lance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk (sucks)

 

When he gave up his fight they striped him of his 7 Tour de France titles and banned him from cycling for life.

IMO, they never proved anything except for they can harass someone into submission, then make a ruling with no hard evidence.

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sport...ng-usada-doping-case-20120823,0,1326584.story

I was secretly hoping that a clean human was capable of what he achieved. Unfortunately, he has been living a fraud.

I'd respect him a lot more right now if he would just fess up and admit to the wrong things he has done in his past. The worst part is he will try to continue his denial of truth. I think he gave up so the evidence against him would not become public. I hope the USADA releases the info.

 

I hate this. I don't feel any particular loyalty or animosity toward Lance, so whether he is convicted or not wouldn't really matter much to me. But the part I hate is that, at least for now, it won't go to court. We won't see witnesses present their information under oath, we'll continue to see them present it in the media. We won't see team records or testing documents presented. Lance doesn't get to present his side of things, nor will he be cross-examined, before a judge.

So we really don't have any verifiable answers.

And this isn't the end of it. There will be hearings for others, and maybe Lance will eventually take further legal action. In the meantime, we just get more years of specualtion.

At this point it's hard to even care anymore about truth and justice. I just want it all to go away.

 

love or hate, doped or clean; he did more to raise awareness of, and advance the sport in the US than anyone ever. LeMond kindled the fire and Lance poured gasoline on it (well maybe a little epo too). I don't really trust any of the players in this game - they all have personal agendas. Hopefully some real evidence will come out when/if Johan goes into arbitration so this can be put to rest.

 

Whatever, he won 7, an incredible feat. I will still show my respect at the top of the Rockstore climb. I do not even understand the bias against enhancements, be it Barry's herbal rubs or Alberto's beef dinners. These guys all do the same things and go about it the same way. These are professional sports played by adults.
The bean counters and also rans can go pound sand, they are just politicians, which by my definition are one step below pond scum. I really care what they think.

Livestrong Lance
Happy Trails

 

How can a US organization strip someone of intl titles?

 

Why is it that it seems most of these doping allegations are against US athletes????

 

They all doped and they will still dope..so what does this actually accomplish? Nothing a big waste of tax payers money to fullfill a personal agenda. It still does not diminish any of his accomplishments since I think they all were doping at some level..how far back in each field each year will they have to go before they find a rider that was not doping?

 

Why do so many people think that this dude is a victim, make excuses for his actions and feel sorry for him? Maybe he and Barry Bonds can hang out soon.

 

We need heroes. Cycling heroes are even better. People want to believe...

 

In other news, USADA announces it will lay off 75% of its workforce.

I don't take it as an admission of guilt or innocence, but honestly, I'm tired of reading about Lance doping and I'm sure he's tired of fighting it. Time to get on with life. Hopefully this frees up more of his time for the good of society.

 

Merckxx doped too, but he is still the greatest of all time and always will be. Lemond always seemed like a whiner to me--never cared for him. Lance probably doped, but I believe his peers mostly did too in his era--who will they give the titles to if they strip them? That would be interesting...Ullrich? Basso? Etc., etc.

If Bruyneel goes to arbitration, as he supposedly agreed to, then the "10 teammates" could come forward and USADA could get them to talk about what they saw Bruyneel and Lance do, etc. If that number "10" is real, and it includes Hincapie, Leipheimer, Vandevelde, Vaughters, etc., etc. then it's a sad day indeed.

Until that time, there's still hope that Lance is telling the truth. Although, I really doubt that. But I do believe he's playing by the same rules his predecessors and peers played by, except for Landis and Hamilton who got caught when they went to other teams / out on their own...

 

"Congratulations to Greg LeMond for being the only American to win the tour de france."

I just read that comment on velonews.

:lol: