Lance Armstrong to be stripped of all seven Tour de France titles

[FB]

When someone is so much better than the opposition they are either a freak of nature or cheating. In Lance's case it appears to be the latter and I'm I'm pleased he has been found out. Wonder if there are murmurings about Miguel Indurain? Although some of the descriptions I've heard and read about his physiology I think he may well fall into the "freak" category.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22868823

 

[Brogan]

Indurain's lungs were so large apparently, they used to displace his stomach and other organs, pushing them down.

 

[FB]

Indeed so, this is from his Wiki page.

" Indurain had a physiology superior to fellow athletes. His blood took seven litres of oxygen around his body per minute,compared to 3–4 litres for an ordinary person and 5–6 litres for fellow riders. His cardiac output is 50 litres a minute; a fit amateur cyclist's is about 25 litres. Indurain's lung capacity was 7.8 litres,compared to an average of 6 litres. His resting pulse was as low as 28 BPM,compared to an average 60–72 bpm, which meant his heart would be less strained in the tough mountain stages.His VO2 max was 88 ml/kg/min; in comparison, Lance Armstrong's was 83.8 ml/kg/min and Greg LeMond's was more than 92 ml/kg/min.
He consulted the Italian professor, Francesco Conconi, from 1987 and his weight dropped from 85 to 78 kg under his guidance"changing himself into an all-round rider", said Philippe Brunel in L'Équipe. He was 10 kg lighter than when he was a junior. "

His at rest heart rate compares favourably with a Bull Elephant!

 

[Incubus]

Presumably this means the record books will now revert to citing Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Indurain as joint record tour winners with five wins apiece?

 

[KekeTheKing]

Hopefully these Tours are left without a winner, seeing that several of the second place men have already been convicted of doping. Lord knows how far down the standings you would have to go to find someone clean.

 

[The Pits]

I think I could end up as the winner of the 1999 tour, and I never even entered.

 

[Incubus]

Why 1999 though, was that the only year you failed to take any illegal substances?

 

[The Pits]

I was in France.

 

[Brogan]

This isn't specific to Armstrong but this short BBC video highlights how the cheats are always one step ahead of the tests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17554106

 

[F1Yorkshire]

 

[FB]

Oh that is fantastic! If anyone want to hear "defending the indefensible" have a listen to Sportsweek on R5 when Lance's lawyer tries to pretend he isn't a drug cheat. One of the few times I've enjoyed Gary Richardson's aggressive interview style.

 

[gethinceri]

I have always avoided buying cycling gear that he wore or sponsored because I didn't trust his protestations that he was "clean". I think I'll treat myself to a new bike soon, with no restriction on make, hooray!!

 

[FB]

Wonder how many people are binning their Livestrong rubber bracelets? Also, wonder how a man so wrapped up in health based charity work reconciles the dangers he has exposed his team mates to given the descriptions of what went on?

 

[FB]

This is an interesting listen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ngqxd

 

[Speshal]

Hopefully these Tours are left without a winner, seeing that several of the second place men have already been convicted of doping. Lord knows how far down the standings you would have to go to find someone clean.

I saw an interview with Bradley Wiggins upon this very subject the other day, iirc he mentioned that in one of the tours won by Armstrong you'd have to award the victory to the man who came in 5th place

 

[Brogan]

Most, if not all cycling will forever be flawed in the eyes of a lot of people now.

How can any title be trusted when the cheats are always one step ahead of those trying to catch them?

 

[siffert_fan]

Hopefully these Tours are left without a winner, seeing that several of the second place men have already been convicted of doping. Lord knows how far down the standings you would have to go to find someone clean.

The cycling federation has stated that that is exactly what is going to happen. A sad comment on how widespread cheating was (and quite possibly still is).

 

[tooncheese]

I think the likes of Rodriguez, Evans, Wiggins are probably clean. When you look at how often cheats used to be caught, and how much slower the riders are going now compared to Armstrong, and Pataini; it looks very promising. But then you see former cheats Contador and Valverde leaving Rodriguez for dead in that stage in the Veulta.

 

[Irishgreen]

DON'T SHOOT ME.

I think it's sad that a great athlete like Armstrong thought he had to resort to drugs to win.
Says more about the sport than the sportsman I.M.O.

 

[FB]

Armstrong was only a great athlete as a result of the drugs Irishgreen and, from what I've heard and read, forced others into his seedy World which is even more disgraceful. It ended up in a vicious circle as the truly great riders had to resort to the same doping regimes as the journey men to be able to beat them.

I've struggled for years with cycling and athletics as you juts can't see how these guys can be so good without external stimulants. I just hope the relatively good run of things recently in both sports isn't the quiet before the storm.