lol, Is that really you?
Posted on 08/23/2012 10:18:32 PM PDT by Domandred
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.
You should think about what you just wrote. Tyler Hamilton “denied” that Lance used drugs. Then, under pressure of the investigation, and while apparently doping himself (he did get a positive drug test from the olympics), he changed his story, and says Lance used drugs.
And you believe his current, proven drug-user statement, rather than his prior statement.
How do you know which time he was lying? Why do you think he was lying before he was under pressure to change his testimony and they had something to hold over him to force that change, but was telling the truth AFTER he was forced to change his story?
As to your second point, it’s a quasi-government agency. They are ALWAYS going after the life’s work of people who are successful, when it suits their purpose, and without any evidence at all.
“I KNOW Lance Armstrong! I’ve ridden alongside of him in the peloton! I can tell you with 100% certainty, he’s a cheater. “
Put up or shut up you lying assed liberal coward!
Apparently, there is one thing that Lance Armstrong is number one at. He’s much better than all the other cyclists at doping without having it show up in his hundreds of blood tests.
Maybe all the other bikers are just idiots, and that’s why they get positive drug tests, while Lance does not. And Lance apparently has the only doctor capable of doping a biker without it showing up in drug tests.
At least they aren’t arguing that Lance slipped under the radar because nobody ever suspected him. There are probably lots of bikers who don’t ever get tested. But Lance was tested constantly.
BTW, he certainly could have used drugs, at some level. Maybe he used drugs that were legal and therefore didn’t show up. Maybe he used illegal drugs but in such low doses that it wasn’t detectable — but then you have to wonder why that would help him, but others would use more drugs and get caught.
But what is clear is that, by the RULES of the sport, he is innocent. The rules say “fail a drug test, you are guilty”. He passed the drug tests. The rules don’t say “Get 10 people mad enough at you to claim they saw you use drugs, and you are guilty of it”.
BTW, all those saying “10 people would never lie about anything”, how do they explain how dozens of democrats lie about our republican stars like Sarah Palin all the time? By their rules, Sarah Palin must be guilty of everything she has been smeared with, because so many people have said it.
It would be funny, and sad, if Lance simply humored these other drug-users when he talked with them, because they made him uncomfortable, and also he didn’t want to make them feel worse that they were drugged up and he wasn’t and they still couldn’t come close to beating him.
You know, Lance could have told ever one of them that he used drugs, and it wouldn’t prove a thing — he could have just been joking with them.
I also wondered, would a bunch of riders in a peloton actually chat about their drug use during a race? That doesn’t make much sense.
This is about Obama’s liberal Homosexual agenda. Obama appointed the homosexual Travis Tygart as the “CEO”, read: one of those unconstitutional and illegal Czar’s, of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, whatever the Hell that is. Lance was rumored to be a homosexual and the liberals went nuts for it. Lance denied it and there is no evidence that he is a homosexual. Once Lance was no longer going to be the homosexual poster boy, Tygart went after him and hasn’t let up.
Addressing JB's claim that he rode in a peloton with LA, mountain bike races don't have pelotons, there is a starting line pack until the starting gun then all hell breaks loose........he's a liar and he knows it that's why he's gone silent.
But to address your statement, no silly, they don't chat during the race. They all meet in a bar at the end of the day long race, pound down beers and hit on the goupies in the bar. All the while talking about the most successful methods of doping........I thought everyone knew that? :)
Arguing with me won’t change Armstrong’s fate.
I agree that Tygart has had a vendetta against Lance for some time but I don’t agree that it was b/c of his sexual orientation. Lance has been solidly heterosexual from the beginning. There was never any question. He has 5 kids.
Many homosexuals have had marriages and children. When the rumors started that Lace might be homo the left-wingers went nuts. They celebrated and held him as their guy. When he denounced the rumors they turned on him. Liberals are vicious, mean-spirited, and hate-filled.
I don’t disagree with your statements about gays having kids or about the viciousness of lefties. I have followed Lance Armstrong for a long time, though- 15 years- and have never heard anything about him being gay. Not saying it wasn’t out there, just never heard a peep about it.
What annoys me is how those richardheads are running around saying they have “stripped” Armstrong of his 7 TdF titles. Only UCI can do that, and I don’t see it happening without a full confession, it would be the worst black eye pro cycling ever got.
FUSADA, eat my shorts. The ones I wore at the Hotter’n Hell Hundred yesterday.
He did leave his wife and 3 kids for a superstar woman.
Lol.. showing like a neon sign, eh?! ;^)
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