BANNED FOR LIFE: Lance Armstrong To Be Stripped Of Tour De France Titles Over Doping Charges

[DanTex]

82. Armstrong was worse than the typical doper.

He wasn't someone who used drugs reluctantly, to keep up with the pack. He was one of the organizers of systematic PED use on the USPostal team. He not only doped himself, but he encouraged, some say forced, his teammates to use the drugs also. And he was known as an enthusiastic enforcer of the "omerta" -- the code of silence -- and would retaliate and bully people who tried to speak out against doping. For example, there was the infamous incident where he chased down Filippo Simeoni.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2004/jul/24/tourdefrance2004.tourdefrance1

You are right that they are all doing it, particularly in Armstrong's era. But that doesn't make it right. Letting Armstrong keep his titles simply tells the world that it's OK to cheat, and as long as you cheat more than the rest of the world, and bully or bribe anyone who dares speak out against you, you can come out the champion. I don't think they should give his titles to Ullrich or anyone else, because they were all dirty. But we shouldn't celebrate Armstrong as a champion because he wasn't the best bike rider, he was just the guy who had the best doping program, the most shameless cheater of them all. The record books should read that there was no champion to the Tour during the Armstrong years.