October 15, 2012

Reading the USADA documents regarding Lance Armstrong and doping

In Frankie Andreu's affidavit he relates that Frankie and Lance went to Europe with the Motorola team. Their team was slow. They were riding at the back of the group because the Europeans were already using EPO.
Lance was real angry about the situation. In a post-race shouting rant said "These guys are on something, whatever it is we need to get it too or we're never going to be competitive".
There ya go. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.Lance got hooked-up and beat the Europeans at their own game for the next ten years.
Lance and Johann Bruyneel didn't invent doping for cyclists but they got together with Michele Ferrari and fine-tuned the best program in the entire sport.

When rumors of Lance using PEDs began to surface some people expressed a "who cares, let them do whatever they want" attitude.
My response has always been that if there's dope in cycling then cycling is no longer a sport for athletes. It becomes a competition for doctors; to see which doctor can develop the optimum cycling specimen. Michele Ferrari was clearly the greatest cycling doctor in the world.

In Floyd Landis' affidavit he related that in 2004, at a dinner following the Paris-Roubaix race Landis complained that team management was selling bike provided by sponsors (presumably Trek). Landis made the point that Armstrong was flying in a private jet while other team members lacked a proper bike.
Bruyneel later reamed Landis, explaining that they had to sell the bikes to raise cash for the doping program. Well, they couldn't put the doping program on the budget sheet and get it paid for the same as lodging or travel.
I wonder if Trek will come back on them now. Probably too late for that. The team doesn't exist anymore.Maybe they could sue Lance. They'd have to get in line I guess.

So the whole peloton had a code of silence, an omerta. None would speak of the rampant doping in the sport because to do so would ruin everyone's sponsorship, contracts, and lifestyles.
And no one was more determined to maintain the omerta than Armstrong.because no one had as much to lose.
Even though the doping program was well known among all riders the fiction of clean athletes was maintained in all public appearances and interviews. The situation was unsustainable and would have collapsed long ago if not for Lance Armstrong's absolute scorched-earth policy toward anyone who even hinted about riders doping in a public comment.And no one had the power and money to scorch the earth like Lance.

So, yeah, Lance doped but so did all the "elite" riders. The most damaging information to come out of the USADA documents is the universal opinion that Lance Armstrong is a prick, and a miserable person. The doping revelation will cause severe damage to his fortunes but the stories about his dick-headed-ness will put the final nail in his public career.