Lance Again

[ColinJ]

Well seeing as we all think it is ok to win at any cost, we should start lobbying for a TDF for drug users. They would probably be faster than the non drug takers, there would be no expense with regards to testing and the cycling Federation need not continue to feel embarassed by handing down pixx poor sentences.

If the public who pay for these guys to earn milions by racing do not care if they take drugs or not, the sport will always be screwed.

That's actually not a bad idea. (Not being sarcastic). I wonder how the public will see this. Drugs are rife in all sports (not implying its therefore OK or not OK, just saying).

A cheat is always a cheat. Don't you think that the worst cheats would cheat by entering the races reserved for non-cheats? Rather like now, in fact!

 

[Tin Pot]

As a dramatisation I think it should have an alternate ending where world doping agencies concede they were wrong and allow chemical, genetic and bionic enhancements in sport.

Lance II would be awesome.

 

[blazed]

You cannot watch or enjoy pro cycling with out the little doubt in the back of your head that whichever rider you are seeing is doping. Any one rider could easily be doping at any given time.

This is not because of Armstrong it's long been the way in cycling. The biggest names in cycling were dopers, but nobody has the hate that Armstrong does. His work outside of cycling is incredible as well. Regardless of doping, he's an extremely hard working, ambitious, determined individual and that is to be respected.

He was the best cyclist of all time. And he still cycles almost everyday and fanboys like me can give him kudos on strava.

 

[Citius]

You may not be able to trademark your name in the UK but you certainly can in the USA. I would be surprised if Armstrongs legal team did not close that loophole early in his career.

You seem happy to assume lots of things on the basis of very little knowledge. 'Livestrong' is trademarked. Lance's birth name is not. As others have said, just move on.

 

[roadrash]

Lance armstrong is a nobhead , allways has been, allways will be
someone earlier in the thread said .. so what he doped , everybody did it,
personally i think everybody is is rather a sweeping statement.
pantani has also been mentioned , another nobhead
in fact lets make it short, .... cheat = nobhead
there are many cyclist in the pro peleton today that i admire but should they be found to be cheats also, then they also become a nobhead

I cannot understand the need to cheat at anything....., your either good enough or your not .
thats my two pennys worth.

 

[blazed]

Lance armstrong is a nobhead , allways has been, allways will be
someone earlier in the thread said .. so what he doped , everybody did it,
personally i think everybody is is rather a sweeping statement.
pantani has also been mentioned , another nobhead
in fact lets make it short, .... cheat = nobhead
there are many cyclist in the pro peleton today that i admire but should they be found to be cheats also, then they also become a nobhead

I cannot understand the need to cheat at anything....., your either good enough or your not .
thats my two pennys worth.

If you are competing in a field where the competition are doping, and you dope, you are hardly cheating.

Your doping does not give you an 'unfair' advantage, it simply puts you on a level playing field.

 

[roadrash]

one question , can you say with absolute certainty that EVERYONE ELSE was doping .

it doesnt put you on a level playing field , it makes you a cheating nobhead just like any other doper

 

[Andrew_P]

Pretty sure even if you remove the spin from Hincapie & Armstrong if I bowled up to a European competition fresh faced and successful in my own country and got blown out the back by half way through giving the choice of joining them or giving up on being a pro I probably would have been at it as well. My personality type would have meant I would have ended up like David Millar but I can also see how big the lie became and can see why it was defended the way it was by personality type such as Armstrong's, after all he was a multi million pound business by then so had a lot more than his cycling titles to defend. I also remember Millars account of his first training ride with a pro team and him getting blown out the back and struggling to even hang on. I understand you could view it as spin to excuse the drug taking but fairly confident it happened to a lot of raw talent.

 

[400bhp]

Your doping does not give you an 'unfair' advantage, it simply puts you on a level playing field.

No it doesn't

 

[Milkfloat]

The difference between normal cheats and Armstrong that makes him an uber-knobber is that he wilfully ruined careers and arguably lives along the way.

 

[Big Dave laaa]

You've nailed it there in one short sentence @Milkfloat

 

[John the Monkey]

The difference between normal cheats and Armstrong that makes him an uber-knobber is that he wilfully ruined careers and arguably lives along the way.

...and seems to have actively perpetuated the culture and practices of which he claims to have been a victim.

 

[mustang1]

The difference between normal cheats and Armstrong that makes him an uber-knobber is that he wilfully ruined careers and arguably lives along the way.

Are you talking, for example, about other people on his team with which he shared his prize winning money?

I just get irritated because Lance was singled out as a cheat. The reason seems to be because
1. He was also a bully.
2. His cheating method yielded greater results than other cheating methods.

Or maybe he was targeted for being top dog.... Topple down effect.

 

[Citius]

Lance was different because of how he dealt with it. He used his dishonesty to enrich himself and wilfully destroyed the careers of others - who (ironically) he knew were telling the truth about him.

 

[Hip Priest]

You cannot watch or enjoy pro cycling with out the little doubt in the back of your head that whichever rider you are seeing is doping. Any one rider could easily be doping at any given time.

This is not because of Armstrong it's long been the way in cycling. The biggest names in cycling were dopers, but nobody has the hate that Armstrong does. His work outside of cycling is incredible as well. Regardless of doping, he's an extremely hard working, ambitious, determined individual and that is to be respected.

He was the best cyclist of all time. And he still cycles almost everyday and fanboys like me can give him kudos on strava.

He may have been the best TDF rider of all time, but not the best cyclist of all time. That honour goes to Eddy Merckx.