A message from the Chalkbot on the path of the Tour de France (from “The Amateur” www.cancerendurance.com)

On October 10, 2012, USADA CEO Travis Tygart released a statement regarding their investigation into the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team’s “doping conspiracy”.  Attached to this statement is a 202-page document detailing the reasoning behind the decision to ban Lance Armstrong from cycling for life.  Also attached are the affidavits provided by the cyclists and others who testified.

Yesterday, Lance Armstrong released a statement regarding his decision to step down as chairman of Livestrong, a position he has held for the past 5 years.  Armstrong is also the founder of Livestrong.  Later that morning, multiple sponsors, including Nike , RadioShack, and Trek, announced that they will be breaking ties with Armstrong.  » Continue reading “USADA Releases Report, Nike And Trek Break Ties with Lance Armstrong…and Other Thoughts on His Doping”

Lance Armstrong announced on Wednesday that he is stepping down as chairman of the Livestrong foundation. He founded the cancer-fighting charity when he was battling cancer himself. He wants them to be able to focus on their causes instead of Armstrong’s newest doping allegations.

Armstrong released a statement to announce his departure:

This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.

“As my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer. It has been a great privilege to help grow it from a dream into an organization that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors.

“My family and I have devoted our lives to the work of the foundation and that will not change. We plan to continue our service to the foundation and the cancer community. We will remain active advocates for cancer survivors and engaged supporters of the fight against cancer.”

If things weren’t already looking dim for Armstrong after his newest allegations, Nike has dropped him as a spokesperson due to mounting evidence against him.

Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.

Ouch.

The Livestrong foundation has raised more than $500 million in support of cancer patients.

I guess when it rains, it pours. Right, Lance?

Well, the battle is over, the last time Aerys reported on the Armstrong situation, it was said that he was going to keep fighting to keep his name clear. Now that doesn’t seem to be the case and the USADA moved in for the kill…

The United States Anti Doping Agency has laid the hammer down. Lance Armstrong has had all seven of his Tour de France wins and has been banned from the sport for life. He must forfeit all wins from 1998 to current.

The decision came from the USADA after Armstrong announced that he was was not going to continue fighting them on the doping charges.

USADA CEO Travis Tygart on the decision to ban Armstrong:

Nobody wins when an athlete decides to cheat with dangerous performance enhancing drugs, but clean athletes at every level expect those of us here on their behalf, to pursue the truth to ensure the win-at-all-cost culture does not permanently overtake fair, honest competition. Any time we have overwhelming proof of doping, our mandate is to initiate the case through the process and see it to conclusion as was done in this case.

His lifetime ban reasoning?

His (Armstrong’s) numerous anti-doping rule violations, including his involvement in trafficking and administering doping products to others.

Armstrong commented that he was tired of trying to fight this fight.Regardless of whether or not he is guilty, the cloud of suspicion will always hang over his head. No matter what you think of him or your views on doping, you can’t deny that Armstrong’s Livestrong campaign has not been a joke. He inspired millions and raised over $5oo million in cancer research.

Nike came out early Friday morning in support of Armstrong and said they have no plans to stop support of him or the Livestrong foundation.

Lance’s new opponent is more dangerous than Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso.

As the 2012 Tour de France moves into the rest day, 7-time champion Lance Armstrong is facing his biggest battle to date – excluding his fight to survive life-threatening cancer.  After years of defending himself against doping allegations from a variety of sources and winning every lawsuit those accusations generated, Armstrong must finally answer to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).  Formally charged with doping during at least some of his grand tour wins, Armstrong has fired back with a lawsuit against the federally-funded agency, claiming that the agency’s process violates his civil rights.

First, a few basics:

1.  I have no idea if Lance Armstrong has ever taken performance-enhancing drugs.

2.  In the USA, individuals are innocent until proven guilty in criminal cases.  In civil cases, however, this is not always the case.

3.  Lance Armstrong has never tested positive for doping.  And as he often claims, he is the most tested athlete in the world.  Even now, when he is competing in Ironman triathlons and marathons to raise cancer awareness, he is still held to those standards. » Continue reading “Lance Armstrong Wages War Again”

Here we go again…

The USADA has once again brought charges against seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong. He has been revoked from competing in any triathlons due to the new charges, a sport he took up when retiring from cycling.

The letter received from the USADA states that blood samples taken from Armstrong in 2009-2010 were “fully consistent with blood ma­nipu­la­tion including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.” From the article by the Washington Post:

USADA’s letter, dated June 12, alleges that Armstrong and five former cycling team associates — three doctors including Italian physician Michele Ferrari, one trainer and team manager Johan Bruyneel— engaged in a massive doping conspiracy from 1998 to 2011, and that “the witnesses to the conduct described in this letter include more than ten (10) cyclists. . .”

All of the six, including trainer Jose Pepi Marti of Switzerland and doctors Pedro Celaya of Luxembourg and Luis Garcia del Moral of Spain, face competition bans. USADA put all of the alleged violations in one letter, it stated, because it considers the six defendents part of a “long running doping conspiracy.”

The letter specifically alleges that “multiple riders with firsthand knowledge” will testify that Armstrong used EPO, blood transfusions, testosterone and masking agents, and that he distributed and administered drugs to other cyclists from 1998 to 2005. The letter alleges that numerous witnesses will testify that Armstrong also used human growth hormone before 1996.

Ouch.

In a statement that Armstrong released on Tuesday, he is still claiming that he has never used performance enhancing drugs. He was scheduled to compete in an Iron Man Triathlon in France in a couple weeks.

If it was the first time Armstrong has been accused of “riding dirty”, he may have a shot of clearing his name. His name has come up repeatedly and this time, I don’t think he is going to find a way out of this one. It’s sad that one of the best in the sport and not to mention a role-model to many, tarnishes his own legacy.

After a long two years, Lance Armstrong’s Federal investigation of whether or not he was using performance enhancing drugs, has been dropped by prosecutors.

The case was originally brought up against the Rock Racing cycling team and Armstrong’s name was dropped by teammates during the investigation.

Specifically, teammate, Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton stated in a 60 Minutes interview that he saw Armstrong inject the drug while training for the Tour de France in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Hamilton:

“I saw it in his refrigerator and I saw him inject it more than one time, like we all did many, many times.”

After the interview aired, Armstrong used twitter to defend his reputation:

 20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case.

Armstrong’s case has been dropped, but Federal investigators plan on keeping an eye on cycling doping charges.

In a statement issued on Friday, Armstrong said he was  ”gratified to learn that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is closing its investigation, It is the right decision and I commend them for reaching it.”

He was facing having his name and his accomplishments tarnished for life. Not only that, but his charity foundation, Livestrong would have suffered the consequences.

Good for Armstrong, would have hated to see it end in the opposite outcome.

The Tour de France is currently underway, and strangely enough, right now the focus isn’t so much on the cyclists themselves, but on a motorcyclist who, while carrying a cameraman, sparked a crash beginning with Nicki Sorenson.

With racers getting back in the action, there are plenty of opportunities to stream coverage (try here for up to the minute updates).

Even though the race is on-going, there is still much debate over cyclists and PEDs. There are many things the International Cycling Union is doing to prevent this doping, but the consensus seems to be that as long as athletes can get away with it, doping will continue.

This is nothing new in professional sports.

The race goes until July 24, and the final two days could see an appearance by Lance Armstrong, whose own doping investigation is ongoing.

I’m your average cycling fan.  You know, the one who, every July, gets up at 5am to watch the every single minute of live Tour de France coverage every day for three straight weeks, pores over race results year-long, reads all the pro cyclist’s tweets and watches any race I can gain access to, whether on TV or online.

Which is to say, I love the sport.

So I wasn’t the least bit shocked to watch “60 Minutes” last night and hear the latest in a series of allegations against cycling legend Lance Armstrong, this time by former close friend and soigneur Tyler Hamilton. His are basically the same claims made last year by disgraced American rider Floyd Landis who, along with Hamilton, rode on the US Postal team that helped Armstrong grab his seven TDF victories.

Hamilton admits he doped, saw Armstrong dope,  and says it was basically a required part of the training regimen for the A-list cyclists.  He has given this testimony to a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, empaneled to determine if Armstrong can be charged with fraud that caused the US Postal Service to unwittingly write checks for PEDs.

The fact that virtually every world-class cyclist has been caught taking PEDs makes this a less than startling revelation, though I always wondered: How in the hell did Armstrong pass tests when so many others, like cycling greats Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso, failed?

The answer came again last night:  He didn’t.

» Continue reading “Legalize PEDs, Punish Lance Armstrong”