Hyperbole. Lance was the best Tour de France rider in the entire history of the event. Just because you hate your job, and you despise the attention he received and still receives doesn't validate your claims that he would have been a nobody without the drugs.
He did what he was told. That made him a good employee until the whole house came tumbling down. The drugs didn't do jack schiddt for his fitness, that's the real craziness of the whole thing.[/quote]
It goes without saying that Lance was and is an exceptional athlete. I'm not sure if you know Lance at all, I do and was a teammate of his. He was a 'Child Prodigy' athlete back when he was a pre-teen who excelled at the Triathlon and then transitioned to cycling. Lance has had his A** kissed for many, many years. That natural talent along with his strong/self centered personality(of which most great athletes possess) and the benefit of having access to the finest coaches, sponsors, and doctors (PED's) in the world adds up to a 7-Time Tour de France Champion. Of course he was efficient bio mechanically on the bike and probably one of the best if not the best 'Overall' athlete in cycling. This combined with a well planned and extremely complex drug program made him who he is. Without the drug program, and not just EPO but the cocktail of other PED's which aid in recovery and injury prevention, Lance would not have achieved 50% of what he did.
Yes, you need to be a great cyclist but you also need some KICK A$$ DOPE to pull off what Lance did or almost pull off. For you to completely discredit his drug use in aiding his success is completely IGNORANT. You need to stop reading about what it takes to be a great athlete and actually go and do the work to understand it. It's safe to say you were NEVER an elite athlete and NEVER will be.
Keep dreaming YAWNY!!!! Maybe Santa will bring you a spin bike for Christmas and you can pretend to be in the Pyrenees racing Lance, Alberto and Marco. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!