Lance Armstrong Stripped of 7 Titles

[Rich Knapp]

He isn't a quiter, he's not getting any younger.

He has beet cancer, won 7 times (a record ether way ).

He owns a Gulf Streams privet jet and many many "Man Toy's" .

I think this is his way of retiring with out the tagged in his mind as "quiting" .

He will be a legend ether way. As a disease fighter myself, retiring is the same as quiting.

Sorry but true. Something a healthy person can no way, no how understand.

[RobMoriRB]

No one will de-thrown Armstrong ever....he is the icon of not giving up

[SeventySeven]

I dont understand how you can strip a guy who passed all his A B tests...

[BendtheBar]

If it looks like a witch hunt, and quacks like a witch hunt...

I think he was probably guilty. That's not a very clean sport. But it appears they weren't going to stop. I probably would have moved on at some point too.

[BigJosh]

Ydah i didn't think he ever failed any tests. IMO this organization just put there credibility in the shitter. They are doing everything possible to ruin an athletes rep, hurt his career and devalue his accomplishments based on hear say. If that isn't an abuse of power, i don't know what is. If he fails a test fine, run him up a flag pole, thats the way it goes. But he didn't fail a test. This sets a scary precedent

[JacktheThriller]

Its complete bull. He is just fed up with defending his titles. He is ****ing retired. Let him be.

Lance Armstrong's Statement of August 23, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas - August 23rd, 2012 - There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense.

I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA’s charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA’s motives, its conduct, and its process, the court ultimately decided that it could not intervene.

If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?

From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs. I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own 8-year limitation. As respected organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges. The international bodies governing cycling have ordered USADA to stop, have given notice that no one should participate in USADA’s improper proceedings, and have made it clear the pronouncements by USADA that it has banned people for life or stripped them of their accomplishments are made without authority. And as many others, including USADA’s own arbitrators, have found, there is nothing even remotely fair about its process. USADA has broken the law, turned its back on its own rules, and stiff-armed those who have tried to persuade USADA to honor its obligations. At every turn, USADA has played the role of a bully, threatening everyone in its way and challenging the good faith of anyone who questions its motives or its methods, all at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. For the last two months, USADA has endlessly repeated the mantra that there should be a single set of rules, applicable to all, but they have arrogantly refused to practice what they preach. On top of all that, USADA has allegedly made deals with other riders that circumvent their own rules as long as they said I cheated. Many of those riders continue to race today.

The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced. The idea that athletes can be convicted today without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves. It’s an unfair approach, applied selectively, in opposition to all the rules. It’s just not right.

USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart.

Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.

[Transformed]

What a shame. If he never tested positive for the drugs, then why do they think that they can strip him of the title? And it is past the point. Why bother now?

[Iamnoone]

I watched all 7 of those tours. Lance did not dope. He is just a monster
in the saddle. He will always be the greatest cyclist of all time in my eyes.
Those who got second behind him don't want his victories

[MikeM]

I'm conflicted on this as I'm a rabid cycling fan for many years now, since Greg Lemond won the Tour.

First of all, I think it's unlikely Lance didn't cheat. Seriously, damn near all the other elite riders from that time have been caught doping, yet he beat them handily? Maybe he's the greatest athlete since Pheidippidies invented the Marathon, but that would be one mondo feat if true.

HOWEVER, he has never failed a drug test anywhere, anytime. Who cares what anyone says about seeing this or that? Sure, maybe he beat the tests, but what does that say about the tests?

Look at it another way, suppose he failed a test and trotted out hundreds of cyclists and whoever else to say he was never out of their sight in decades and he couldn't possibly have doped, so he is innocent. Think that would overturn a positive test? Nope. So why does the fact he never failed one is allowed to be overturned by hearsay make him banned and stripped of his titles?

And another thing, if the WADA truly wanted to clean up the sport and not just hang trophy heads on their wall, why would they allow admitted cheats to continue to race as long as they "told the truth about Armstrong"? The guy's retired, how does letting others continue to race clean up anything?

And make no mistake, huge names in American cycling are mixed up in this. Armstrong was allegedly the head of this huge conspiracy to dope and help others dope, yet he and his manager (and a few doctors) are the only ones charged on the say so of a few retired guys?

But, very prominent riders right now were on those teams too. What, they knew nothing about it? Weren't involved? It's a team sport, how could they not? Why would they not be part of something to make the team more successful?

Then again International Cycling Union has a reason to keep things under wraps to salvage whatever reputation they have left, so I get why WADA doesn't want them to essentially investigate themselves.

Bottom line, judge basically said it was a witch hunt. WADA has a flawed process and I for one do not respect them for what they have done.

Even if they are right, it doesn't matter to me unless they can prove they are right. And they can't. They just have the best kangaroo court in the business and no one to stop them.

[BendtheBar]

A must read for anyone interested in the topic.

Mike Anderson on His Life as Lance Armstrong's Personal Assistant | Road Biking | OutsideOnline.com

MY LIFE WITH LANCE ARMSTRONG
I was Lance’s personal assistant for two years, during the height of his racing career. Do I think he cheated? Yep. But my real problem is something that diehard fans seem unable to grasp: the vengeful tactics he uses against people who tell the truth about him, on and off the bike.

By: MIKE ANDERSON