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Lance

That is impressive considering he has been treated for testicular cancer.
 
not sure he was a fraud other than hiding that he was doing what others were too. too bad it was a great story until it crashed down.
 
and intentionally tried to ruin anyone's life who tried to out him as a fraud.


Yeah I think that was the worst thing he did, once he was pretty much exposed he carried on the charade for almost another few years. Landis, Hamilton, the french reporter and the other ex teammate along with his wife pretty much had him dead to rights. On top of that he threatened and intimidated anyone who testified against him. Once Floyd Landis one the tour you know it was a complete sham. Doped to the gills. He was a middle of the road road/ and mountain bike pro for years prior.

In addition, if he quits after 3-4 they may not have gone back and tested the old urine or blood sample for EPO form years prior. Complete egomaniac. The original sample they got him on was 8-9 years old I believe, once they figured out they could test for EPO he went to straight up blood transfusions, risky to say the least. That's when Hamilton failed a test because they put somebody else's blood back in his system. Armstrong blackballed him years before he testified against Lance as well.

All that said, he was still an incredible once in a lifetime cyclist and athlete in a tremendously dirty game. It was impossible to win the tour de france without doping in that era and probably still is. He also raised a ton for cancer and did a ton with Livestrong but don't get me wrong I think the guy is one of the bigger D bags ever
 
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I'll watch this I guess, but someone else did a doc about him a couple years ago that was quite good. Not sure how much new ground they will cover...
 
Yeah I think that was the worst thing he did, once he was pretty much exposed he carried on the charade for almost another few years. Landis, Hamilton, the french reporter and the other ex teammate along with his wife pretty much had him dead to rights. On top of that he threatened and intimidated anyone who testified against him. Once Floyd Landis one the tour you know it was a complete sham. Doped to the gills. He was a middle of the road road/ and mountain bike pro for years prior.

In addition, if he quits after 3-4 they may not have gone back and tested the old urine or blood sample for EPO form years prior. Complete egomaniac. The original sample they got him on was 8-9 years old I believe, once they figured out they could test for EPO he went to straight up blood transfusions, risky to say the least. That's when Hamilton failed a test because they put somebody else's blood back in his system. Armstrong blackballed him years before he testified against Lance as well.

All that said, he was still an incredible once in a lifetime cyclist and athlete in a tremendously dirty game. It was impossible to win the tour de france without doping in that era and probably still is. He also raised a ton for cancer and did a ton with Livestrong but don't get me wrong I think the guy is one of the bigger D bags ever
You hit a lot of great points. Livestrong was an amazing fundraising campaign. No one can minimize that.

Cycling is/was an extremely dirty sport. He just happened to be the best at it. And consistently the best. It was just like the McGwire/Sosa documentary coming up on ESPN. Selig knew about it but everyone was getting filthy rich. The owners, the players, the TV networks. Everyone dug the long ball so they turned a blind eye. And Lance Armstrong made cycling an extremely popular sport as well. People would sit and watch the Tour de France. How crazy is that. But it happened. Until it got out of control. Eventually all good things come to an end. But it should be a really good watch.
 
You hit a lot of great points. Livestrong was an amazing fundraising campaign. No one can minimize that.

Cycling is/was an extremely dirty sport. He just happened to be the best at it. And consistently the best. It was just like the McGwire/Sosa documentary coming up on ESPN. Selig knew about it but everyone was getting filthy rich. The owners, the players, the TV networks. Everyone dug the long ball so they turned a blind eye. And Lance Armstrong made cycling an extremely popular sport as well. People would sit and watch the Tour de France. How crazy is that. But it happened. Until it got out of control. Eventually all good things come to an end. But it should be a really good watch.


If Lance doesn't come back in 2009 I am not sure he ever gets exposed 100% because he kept stirring the pot and doubling down. Sure the accusations from Landis and Hamilton would have always been around but again the cheating was no secret from those involved in racing. Hamilton failed the test in 2004 Landis won the Tour in 2006 and quickly failed the test and that is what started the mess. Those two were fine when riding with Lance because Ferrari who was the mastermind behind all Lance's doping as well as the teams he rode with was smart enough to beat the tests. Those two left team Lance and quickly failed tests really. The French book published around 2004/ 2005 LA Confidential pretty much exposed Lance and was spot on but he sued and bullied until it pretty much was covered up. He had failed tests before and just covered it up. The writing was all over the wall but many in the US just didn't want to completely hear it

There has been countless positives since the Lance days. the sport will never be clean as they are always out in front of the tests but as the testing advances they should go back and test old winners but that just gives the sport another black eye.

The punishment of the Tour De France is just ridiculous
 
You hit a lot of great points. Livestrong was an amazing fundraising campaign. No one can minimize that.

Cycling is/was an extremely dirty sport. He just happened to be the best at it. And consistently the best. It was just like the McGwire/Sosa documentary coming up on ESPN. Selig knew about it but everyone was getting filthy rich. The owners, the players, the TV networks. Everyone dug the long ball so they turned a blind eye. And Lance Armstrong made cycling an extremely popular sport as well. People would sit and watch the Tour de France. How crazy is that. But it happened. Until it got out of control. Eventually all good things come to an end. But it should be a really good watch.

Big difference between Lance and the baseball guys is not everyone in MLB was juicing. In cycling, everyone with aspirations to actually win was on something.

Armstrong is obviously not a good dude and has treated people quite poorly, however from a strictly athletic performance level, he was incredible. I don't think the fact that he was using performance enhancers takes away from that in the least since the field was level.
 
After seeing Terry Armstrong, Lance's stepfather, Lance gets a lot of sympathy from me. What a terrible person!
 
interesting so far.. Pretty clear after 2-3 yrs there was only one option to win and he took it as did everyone else.

In cycling if everyone is doing it then its a level field and you are compared to your equals.. And few people really compare times in cycling because so much other stiff changed too.. Interesting to hear how many people were looking for that edge so early in the sport and it was considered OK for a long time.

In MLB many juicing compared to people in that time frame but then you are trying to compare records to people from 75 yrs ago.
 
interesting so far.. Pretty clear after 2-3 yrs there was only one option to win and he took it as did everyone else.

In cycling if everyone is doing it then its a level field and you are compared to your equals.. And few people really compare times in cycling because so much other stiff changed too.. Interesting to hear how many people were looking for that edge so early in the sport and it was considered OK for a long time.

In MLB many juicing compared to people in that time frame but then you are trying to compare records to people from 75 yrs ago.


The winner of the tour the year before Lance and the strongest cyclist before him was Marco Pantani ; he as well was popped for failed tests as were several others that came after him. Pantani's bad test at the tour came several years later as well after he had died. they are most likely still taking PED's today. It's 100% part of the sport.

I thought Part 1 was worth watching. Entertaining for sure
 
interesting ending. he was very controlling and protective on the sport side.. Did some great stuff on the business side. You can see he still has some anger that many gave in who also tried to prosper from the doping..
Landis clearly wanted it both ways, took it, made money, got caught, got pissed, turned evidence, got money again and lost it.

But it strange how its 50/50 of the guys who doped some are still revered and some lost most everything because of it and at the same time they all are admitting they did it.

I was surprised it really spent almost no time on the actual racing aspects of it, the work effort, training, money spent on support and bikes etc..
 
interesting ending. he was very controlling and protective on the sport side.. Did some great stuff on the business side. You can see he still has some anger that many gave in who also tried to prosper from the doping..
Landis clearly wanted it both ways, took it, made money, got caught, got pissed, turned evidence, got money again and lost it.

But it strange how its 50/50 of the guys who doped some are still revered and some lost most everything because of it and at the same time they all are admitting they did it.

I was surprised it really spent almost no time on the actual racing aspects of it, the work effort, training, money spent on support and bikes etc..


I think Landis got pissed because after he took one for the team and sport they were unwilling to let him back on any team and he has said numerous times over the years he was just looking for a job and a team member not to be the lead guy on any team. when he was turned down by everyone he decided to blow the whistle and that is why Lance hates him to this day. He was the first that blew the whistle and was crucified and run through the dirt by Lance and his team of attorneys, support team and millions of fans. Landis was a phenomenal mountain biker back in the day but there was no money in it so he got on the juice and joined the peloton.

That said, I don't think either of two ( Lance or Floyd) are very trustworthy individuals. Neither a pillar of ethical or moral stature. Dirty game to say the least. I think Tyler Hamilton probably has the most honest outlook on the whole situation and how it went down. I read Hamilton's book 5-6 years ago was actually pretty damn good
 
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I liked his cameo in Dodgeball, for whatever that's worth.
 

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