Lance armstrong drops fight against doping charges

Pace2008 wrote: »

Of course we know, everyone competing in the sport at that level is doping. It's an absolute farce.

To be sure cycling is very dubious for doping and has been for a long time. Back in the day, before the mid 80's it was mostly amphetamines etc to keep them upright in the saddle as the toll on the body was and is unreal compared to other sports. Especially back in the days of small enough money and near daily racing not just the big tours. Most of the greats in cycling back then were implicated, caught or admitted it outright. Jaques Anquetil a monster of a cyclist, who unlike your Lances of the world competed throughout the season and not just aimed at the tour de france, he said that all the riders doped(with speed) and that you'd have to be mad to think anyone could do what they did without it. Problem was a couple of them died from it.

The diff came from the mid 80's onwards. Speed etc isn't much of a performance enhancer. In the sense that there's no way it's going to turn a carthorse into a racehourse, it'll just keep the carthorse going. It's still a level playing field. Drugs like EPO actually improve physical performance and can do so markedly and different people react in different ways. Some can make huge improvements on that stuff and win where they otherwise wouldn't have.

It was as clear as the nose on your face there was something other than water in his water bottle. When you see someone built for spinting/time trialling hammering specialised climbers on mountain stages you think GTFO. When you see damn near all his ex teammates done for doping and he expected us to believe he as the team leader was clean, you think GTFO. When his name is connected with dopers and suppliers and "doctors" in a cynical drive to win the Tour for the US of A and his backers, you think GTFO. When you see him play the cancer violin or the anti American bleat to deflect the accusations you think GTFO. In short Lance Armstrong, GTFO.

He'll still get support in the US. The mouthbreathers among them will refuse to admit he dopes. Doping in sport in the US is as bad or worse than it ever was in the old Soviet bloc(they dope in baseball FFS), they're just better at covering it up and backing their dopers. Fair play to the few yanks that have kept the anti doping pressure on, this day will be a nice reward for them.

It's not just cycling either. Not by a long shot. It just had the beady eye on it because it was sooooo obvious. IMHO there are bugger all in athletics that are clean and near zero among the consistent winners.