Lance Armstrong on BBC: I'd do it again.

redonk wrote:

Lance Armstrong may have been an Ahole, but he's done a lot of good in the world too, and I do believe most of his competition was doped when he was racing. Is it fair? I'm not really sure, but so many people have this bizarre idea that he alone was doping and that's why he won. Nonsense.

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He and his entire team was backed by the UCI to never test positive regardless of testing.

What "good" has the guy done besides promote himself? I was aware of cancer before him.

pop_pop! wrote:

redonk wrote:

Lance Armstrong may have been an Ahole, but he's done a lot of good in the world too, and I do believe most of his competition was doped when he was racing. Is it fair? I'm not really sure, but so many people have this bizarre idea that he alone was doping and that's why he won. Nonsense.

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He and his entire team was backed by the UCI to never test positive regardless of testing.

What "good" has the guy done besides promote himself? I was aware of cancer before him.

Educate yourself fool.

"All the more honour and respect to the ones that make the right decision then. The ones like Christophe Bassons, who Armstrong literally chased out of pro cycling."

The catch 22... you wouldn't know the names of the folks that chose to run/ride clean. Also, they would probably be berated on message boards like this for being "a bust" or "lazy" because they couldn't compete with "the Kenyans/Pros/other rest of the peleton"

Dial it up wrote:

In those times it WAS an easy decision, you dope.

Any PED user can use the same justification.

The Lance fanboys are amazing. As someone else mentioned, no other convicted cheater has ever been defended like Lance.

And, please, enough with the "everyone was doing it" defense. Yes, it was very prevalent, but why have convicted dopers (such as Hamilton and White) apologized to "all the clean riders?"

yuiop wrote:

Dial it up wrote:

In those times it WAS an easy decision, you dope.

Any PED user can use the same justification.

The Lance fanboys are amazing. As someone else mentioned, no other convicted cheater has ever been defended like Lance.

And, please, enough with the "everyone was doing it" defense. Yes, it was very prevalent, but why have convicted dopers (such as Hamilton and White) apologized to "all the clean riders?"

You don't think people in Spain defend Contador?

Yep both Hamilton and White apologized to the clean rider. The clean rider accepted the apology. We aren't sure what his name is because he never finished in the top 170 of the tour. Did you read Hamilton's book? The guy was all about saving face and making $. Most people come out and apologize etc when in reality they aren't sorry one bit because they aren't ignorant of the situation like most people on here are.

Good for Lance for being honest in this spot. It is certainly a viable option to hate the guy for how he treated other people. But to hate him for doping is just ignorant. Not to mention you can't hate his competitive drive and refusal to lose in races.

Still in his basement:

The first time I saw Lance Armstrong was on the ESPN TV show "Running and Racing" around 1991. He was being interviewed by Marty Liquori. Lance rubbed me the wrong in that interview with his arrogance, and he continues to irk me to the present day every time he opens his mouth.

So you're saying he can cheat and be honest at the same time?

zohan wrote:

I dont respect his doping, but I do respect his honesty.

I was a cyclist and followed the pro scene for years. I never liked Armstrong's attitude and was certain he was a doper.

But then he admitted it, and I know have much more respect for him. I don't think he was doing anything "out of the norm" as far as that goes. The issue as many have pointed out is in how aggressive he was in proclaiming innocence. He should have just stuck to the "I've never tested positive" and ignored anyone else.

Kind of like how a certain female marathon record holder does.

Also, you'd be absolutely foolish to think pro cycling is relatively clean. That's one point I think Armstrong is still fibbing about. I doubt he believe's it's clean now, either. But what can he say about 2015? Yea I'd dope again? No, can't say that, else he will never have a chance to get reinstated.

My proof by the way, is Chris Horner winning the Vuelta at age 41 or there about. Yes, I'm to believe that in a doping free world, a man who has never won a GT wins one more than 5 years older than has ever been done before (who by the way has always had suspicion upon him).

Tommy2Nuttz wrote:

So you're saying he can cheat and be honest at the same time?

zohan wrote:

I dont respect his doping, but I do respect his honesty.

His honesty in the interview just recently saying he would go back and do it again is what I meant. Every athlete to ever dope and become successful would do the same thing and it is refreshing to hear some have the balls* to actually say it.

*ball

Dial it up wrote:

Tommy2Nuttz wrote:

So you're saying he can cheat and be honest at the same time?

His honesty in the interview just recently saying he would go back and do it again is what I meant. Every athlete to ever dope and become successful would do the same thing and it is refreshing to hear some have the balls* to actually say it.

*ball

Oops thought you were responding to me as I said something similar earlier about honesty. nvm, playa play on

Dial it up,

Unfortunately for Lance and his fanboys, the Tour de France website does not list Lance as a Tour champion. Do you still consider Ben Johnson the 100m gold medalist from Seoul?

And why is anyone celebrating his "honesty" after the guy lied and discredited others for years?

Yep, not to mention Horner's watts/kg was amazing, when you take into account hes 41 it is literally unbelievable.

I have a strong feeling that history will be kinder to Lance. Over half of the top riders from Lance's era have been busted and another 30% have been implicated by being on a team that doped; that's nearly 90%. Nearly all of the top riders were doping; all things being equal, he was an incredible athlete. Without a doubt, Lance was a first class AH and deserves his current fate, but his Livestrong foundation did an incredible amount of good and history will sort out his life to be a littler more that just a cheater.

[quote]Xfit_guy_the_real_1 wrote:

Lance is more a man than any of you guys will ever be.

So he might have doped, but it was a level playing field. This Lars Ulrich Clown was doped up to the gills, too. Yet he never won.

/quote]

This must be why Metallica can play so fast. They're frauds. Their doping protocol is why REO Speedwagon is not the greatest rock band of all time.

oh please wrote:

I was a cyclist and followed the pro scene for years. I never liked Armstrong's attitude and was certain he was a doper.

But then he admitted it, and I know have much more respect for him.

You make it seem like he came clean to clear his conscious and not because of mounting evidence and persecution.

I was aware of cancer before him.

But were you aware of professional cycling before Lance?

I was not...

Does anyone watch MLB now that the juice is "gone"?

Do they still ride the Tour de France now that Lance is banned?

I hear lance loves the bbc

Bill and Monica wrote:

oh please wrote:

I was a cyclist and followed the pro scene for years. I never liked Armstrong's attitude and was certain he was a doper.

But then he admitted it, and I know have much more respect for him.

You make it seem like he came clean to clear his conscious and not because of mounting evidence and persecution.

I'm not as concerned with the motivation he had for doing it. The fact that he did it, and seemingly "full force." And that he isn't exactly apologetic about it when we don't really know the culture of cycling then (or now).

I think the hard part about all of this, is the hypocrisy and overall nonsense within the sport. Cycling, running, athletics, football, soccer, etc. Personally I only competed in running and now cycling so that's all I can really comment on. Regardless, everyone is going to have an opinion, and I know some will think that mine is off base. What we do know, is that the general consensus is that doping is bad. On the other coin, we have the fans of the sport, that say everyone did it, so it was okay for the guys during that time. Then we have Lemond down talking Lance, yet hanging out with Indurain during this year's tour. We have pro tour riders being motor paced by Lance, and then other's showing up to Levi's gran Fondo. We have Chris Horner signing with a US development team. Hincapie sponsoring a professional team. Past dopers working as directors. The list can go on and on.

Sadly, these people are my peers/history of the sport. These people are the guys I race against. Some of them I am friends with, some of them I think are foolish and bad role models. I looked up to Lance as a kid. I idolized him actually. Now, I'm blocked by him on twitter. I'm not Lance. I haven't won any tours. I won't ever win any tours. I'll be stoked if I end my career with 1/100th of Lance's accolades. Sure I will do some of the races he has done, and race in Europe. Maybe one day, have a big break through and sign a living wage contract that could support a family, not the current "barely able to live" wage I make racing a bike. Or maybe I won't. And I'll have to hang it up and pursue other means of happiness.

Sadly, as professionals, it's so hard to speak out. Because the sport is so riddled with the wrong people or scared people. Scared that if they hire someone who is outspoken, they'll insult the wrong people. So generally, we tend to keep our mouths shut. I think it's the same with our current generation of American runners.

Do I think the sport is getting cleaner? I really really hope so. I think so. I think that it's still dirty though. I don't hear good stories. And quite honestly, I think that the pros who truly are super clean, and say, "You can win without cheating at the highest level". Well, I think they are mostly trying to convince that to themselves. (I do believe our current worlds team was a very clean team. We also, got destroyed at Worlds.)

I think you guys would surprised how hard it is for professional endurance athletes to overcome bitterness and self doubt. Pros want to be the best. The endurance world of sports is solely based on your ability to be an aerobic/anaerobic freak. You can't awe people with your ball handling skills or footwork. Athletics don't allow fans to be persuaded into overlooking allegations because of the great touchdown or goal their favorite player just scored. Frankly, when you do something spectacular, there's a good chance some sort of allegation may be tacked onto your performance.

So for all the people that sit out there and say, "Hey, Lance just did what he had to." I want you to know, that there were good people who raced bikes, that you never heard of because of that guy. Life obviously isn't fair, I'm not sitting here trying to convince you how tough it is. Because, quite frankly, I'm super fortunate. I'm living the life I want and choose to live. It's just difficult having fans who comment on social media about a great race you had, turn around and see them post about a past doper being their role model. It makes you become a bit bitter.

I know that due to the sport being clean, I do not have to dope to be competitive. I know grand tour riders who ARE clean. But I can tell you that they haven't won anything yet. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. For now we as athletes and fans just have to hope for the best.