God damn, that’s a pretty severe punishment. I’m not surprised, though. With the amount of teammates who started admitting there was a lot of doping going on…I’m just amazed he gave up. He always fought accusers tooth and nail.
Nope.
But whether or not anything will be found… folks are still going to be suspect.
It’s a lose-lose situation. Not saying he did, but there’s a very simple way you can EPO up over long periods of time, among other things.
I was on the fence before, but I don’t buy he’d give up if he were innocent. I can’t believe a man who knew he was innocent and won those titles clean would just give up before it even got real.
One way to think about it, though: I have zero faith the guys below him were virgins. He was doing something most of the peloton was doing. From that perspective, since everyone was on equal ground in a sense, he was still the best.
he did test positive once and produced a back dated prescription for a cream, meant to treat saddle sores
not sure it had enough in it to make him pop, but yeah.
I think all pro sports should have mandatory drug tests across the board. None of this random shit. Just test everybody, and the issue will go away eventually.
I do believe that Lance did something. The whole “I trained SUPER DUPER HARD and beat everyone, including cheaters!” is a nice feel good story but cmon…you were a sort of contender before you got CANCER, and now you’re godlike? Nah.
On the other hand, they HAVEN’T AFAIK ever got him positively testing for anything, so them stripping him of his titles is a bit (see: A LOT) witch hunt-y. Lance just said “i’m not dealing with your shit anymore” like the guy who stops answering his crazy ex’s text/emails, and the ex goes “THIS PROVES YOU WERE CHEATING ON ME”
Not to mention, the USADA has been after him for 17 years, when their statute of limitation is 8. so shadiness all around this shit