Bye Lance

[LEE]

The Andreus testified in 2006 that they heard Armstrong tell a cancer doctor that he had doped with EPO in 1996. Armstrong swore, under oath, that it did not happen.

This may be why he's so cagey about admitting she was correct.

[ferret]

I think it would have been good for Piers Morgan to have done the interview, what with him being a bit of the anti christ in the usa at the moment.
I have only watched the BBC clips, but every thing looked too comfortable to me, she didn't seem to make him sweat and she looked more nervous than Armstrong

[spesh]

Didn't dope after coming out of retirement... interesting.

Is that "interesting" as in "yeah, riiiiiight..."? 

Veloclinic (the artist formerly known as Captain Bag) has taken a look at LA's blood profiles from 2009, and calls LA out on that one.

http://veloclinic.tumblr.com/post/40819756884/armstrongs-2009-comeback-blood

For those allergic to his idiosyncratic abuse of the English language, here's another study of LA's blood values:

http://downthebackstretch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/its-all-about-blood.html

See also:

http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1113450

They all say pretty much the same thing - LA's blood values were not behaving as they should have done, if he had been clean.

[Veloman]

I have only watched the BBC clips, but every thing looked too comfortable to me, she didn't seem to make him sweat and she looked more nervous than Armstrong

Direct question: Did you dope?
Direct answer: Yes

etc etc

What more do you want?  He agreed he would be apologising to people for the rest of his life.

He has not publically revealed information about others, but he has said he will cooperate with those interested in finding out what happened, so perhaps there is hope.

Perhaps there is also hope that Contador can be exposed for a cheater and lose the other titles he currently holds on to.

[David Martin]

It's not so much the drug taking (though Lance seems to have been far more switched on and analytic about that) as it is the controlling, threatening, bullying and so on which made the situation what it is.

There are those who bleat on about drugs tests as if they are some simple thing where you just turn on a tap, flick a switch or feed the sample into a machine running MovieOS that says 'Drug detected'. Drug testing is hard, especially with the plethora of synthetic naturals being used (EPO, HGH etc).

There are two ways to defeat drug abuse - build a culture where it is unacceptable, and make the penalty for association extremely harsh.

..d

[citoyen]

Anyway I think the LA story is fascinating.

Me too. The way the story has unfolded over the past couple of years is like The Wire, each new instalment unravelling another layer of intrigue. Remember how the first series of The Wire was about street corner kids peddling dope to each other, but by the final series it was about the corruption and power games at the top level of city politics.

Now that the UCI are in the crosshairs, we're finally getting somewhere meaningful with this story. It won't have a happy ending, but maybe at least there's some hope that the real kingpins will fall.

And then we can watch it start all over again...

d.

[TimC]

I've just seen a few 2-3 minute clips from the interview, and it's fascinating stuff. While I think the boundaries of the interview were clearly defined before the event, I'm in no doubt that the responses are - at least for the most part - genuine. I suspect that the Betsy Andreu stuff is too personal to be easily given up, and the  'comeback' may be what he's hanging on to to try and show that he really was a quality athlete - no, honest!

What does come through loud and clear is that he was and is arrogant and controlling and, although he seems to accept that and his wrongdoing on an intellectual level, he's still having difficulty believing emotionally that he really was wrong. 'I did it because that's what I had to do to win' is self-justification, not catharsis. But it's powerful stuff, nonetheless. I wonder where it will lead?

[citoyen]

I suspect that the Betsy Andreu stuff is too personal to be easily given up

My [very vague] understanding is that he has to be careful what he says about the Betsy Andreu allegations because of the legal situation with Stephanie McIlvain.

d.

[Hot Flatus]

I did it because that's what I had to do to win' is self-justification, not catharsis.

Nevertheless, factually, it is almost certainly true.

[citoyen]

He also said he had to cheat not to gain an advantage but to level the playing field. He can't have it both ways.

Oh hang on, he's Lance Armstrong, of course he can have it both ways.

d.

[RJ]

one thing i'm wondering - did he actually ever really even have cancer? or was that just another lie, as well, to engender sympathy towards him and divert attention?

I think that's a given.  Probably not caused by the drugs either, since he was in the prime age range for testicular cancer.

Could HGH accelerate the growth/spread of a cancer? 

[Lordy]

I still haven't seen a strong reason as to why now, Oprah was poor on that level (and others).  If i could understand that i'd have a clearer picture.  Like others i'm fascinated but only because he was so unavoidably big to avoid during his career and i feel genuinely fooled by the man/lies.  Equally, I'd be (or may even will be) just as fascinated when Big Mig admits it all as well.

[Rhys W]

After a promising start, it quickly turned into a predictable damage-limitation PR exercise. Oprah is an agony aunt and was far too sympathetic, always looking for his "story" to understand, rather than get him to answer allegations. It was like getting Esther Rantzen to conduct the Leveson Inquiry.

I think now he's a borderline psychopath, his talent wasted in cycling. He'd make a successful corporate CEO.

[JenM]

Transcript of the interview is on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/21065539

[LEE]

Armstrong said during the interview that he hasn't doped since 2005, and didn't do so during his cycling comeback between 2008 and 2011.

But World Anti-Doping Agency chief executive John Fahey insists chemical evidence shows Armstrong did dope during his comeback years.

"The evidence from Usada (the US Anti-Doping Agency] is that Armstrong's blood tests show variations in his blood that show with absolute certainty he was doping after 2005,"

[Cudzoziemiec]

Somebody sent me a link to this article, which they thought I might find amusing for other reasons:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-16/lance-armstrong-s-confession-is-just-the-start.html

Its main point is

Instead, let’s pause to consider -- if only for as long as Oprah Winfrey’s two-night interview with Armstrong -- the underlying reasons that steroids are so common in sports: Because we value winning above all else, and pay winners accordingly. Because we expect to see transcendent athletic performances with casual frequency. Because of the unrealistic physical demands of endurance sports. Because we have embraced performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals in virtually every other realm (the bedroom, the classroom, the battlefield, and so on).

which seems basically right.

[Bicycle Repair Man]

How are the mighty fallen !!!



Dave Yates

[clarion]

Armstrong said during the interview that he hasn't doped since 2005, and didn't do so during his cycling comeback between 2008 and 2011.

But World Anti-Doping Agency chief executive John Fahey insists chemical evidence shows Armstrong did dope during his comeback years.

"The evidence from Usada (the US Anti-Doping Agency] is that Armstrong's blood tests show variations in his blood that show with absolute certainty he was doping after 2005,"

He's a liar.  He admits he's a liar.  He's been telling big big lies consistently for years.  What earthly reason would there be to believe him now on anything?

[andygates]

Trapped in a very big, very public, very expensive mess of lies.  I almost feel for him, really.

[clarion]

I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.

[tiermat]

I get the impression he has gotten so far wrapped up in his own web of lies he can't tell truth from fiction.

Once I admired him, for the way he came back from the brink to go on and be a contender.

Then it all just seemed too good to be true, too much of a American Fairy Story.  At that point I sort of lost faith that he was clean.  His assertion that he had never failed a blood test (careful use of wording), the wording of which never changed, sort of sold me on the fact that he is a cheat and a liar, albeit a good one.

I no longer have ony of his books, if I did I would be doing the same as BRM.

[Bicycle Repair Man]

I have always thought that he either was that good or he had a very good medical team. I was always prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt in the absence of any hard evidence.
Alas, no more.

Dave Yates

[clarion]

You have been very generous towards him.

[Exit Stage Left]

Then it all just seemed too good to be true, too much of a American Fairy Story. 

It is an American Fairy Story. It's the Wizard of Oz. We invest our faith in Lance, who inspires us, and we transform ourselves by unleashing what was within us all the time. At the end the curtain slips, and we see an ordinary man. Along the way we have acheived more with his inspiration than if he hadn't deceived us.
It was only ever an entertainment anyway, the aim of the Tour isn't to find a true and unsullied hero, it's to sell copies of L'Equipe, and to harvest all the associated media money. It was the greed of the International Olympic Committee in allowing pro athletes to compete that caused the confusion.
I certainly don't feel betrayed.

[Deano]

He belongs to the lawyers now.