I got a text message this morning that read, “Today is the crucifixion of Cancer Jesus.”
Statement From USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart Regarding The U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team Doping Conspiracy
October 10, 2012
Today, we are sending the ‘Reasoned Decision’ in the Lance Armstrong case and supporting information to the Union Cycliste International (UCI), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.
The evidence of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team-run scheme is overwhelming and is in excess of 1000 pages, and includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team (USPS Team) and its participants’ doping activities. The evidence also includes direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in funding.
Together these different categories of eyewitness, documentary, first-hand, scientific, direct and circumstantial evidence reveal conclusive and undeniable proof that brings to the light of day for the first time this systemic, sustained and highly professionalized team-run doping conspiracy. All of the material will be made available later this afternoon on the USADA website at www.usada.org.
Read the rest here: http://www.usada.org/cyclinginvestigationstatement.html.
Additional articles I recommend:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444799904578048352672452328.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/sports/cycling/agency-details-doping-case-against-lance-armstrong.html.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/10/news/usada-outlines-armstrong-evidence-in-case-file_256450.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/usadas-reasoned-decision-on-lance-armstrong-follows-the-money-trail.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/six-former-armstrong-usps-teammates-receive-bans-from-usada.
http://www.georgehincapie.com/news/Statement-from-George-Hincapie/.
I’m going to go ride my bike. Goodbye, Cancer Jesus.
Update: Hat tip to Gypsy for the link to the full doc (it wasn’t yet released when the post went live): https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9YzclxcT0NHNHNQTUV4MkpSSWc/view?pli=1&sle=true.
“…they “…ratted out…” themselves when asked to be witnesses…”
…of their own volition, knowing full well the repercussions of such an action.
Mikey, biggest Lance apologist on this site, at least after BGW woke the fuck up and smelled the coffe.
…tea, guest…i woke the fuck up & smelled the tea…
…yerba mate’ to be specific…
“Despite that, the known facts are numerous enough to warrant a sanction.”
@Rogbie— seen, brother. We have covered this previously; if you corroborate enough hearsay, a litigation can succeed. It’s the identical argument as “circumstantial” evidence. This is nothing new.
My question stands: Why does LA deserve a more severe “sanction” than others also guilty of the exact same “offenses?” Why aren’t these other dopers mercilessly hounded fifteen years after the fact? Some dopers are more equal than others? The whole thing just stinks— especially when advocated for by howling mob in forums such as this one.
I don’t believe for a moment that pro cycling is clean today. Or any other top-level professional “sport” for that matter. We need to be careful how we pick and choose our targets. I think if one went back and re-read Kafka’s _The_Trial_, inserting “Lance Armstrong” for K, it would seem uncomfortably familiar to current events.
“Mikey, biggest Lance apologist on this site,”
@guest— have I ever, even once, suggested that Lance Armstrong is innocent? I mean, other than citing the fact that he passed some six hundred doping controls during his pro cycling tenure. He played the game and won. So now the “rules” have changed, fifteen years later? Weak sauce.
Even if the rules have changed GOOD! Fuck him and his horse.
Stepping down from my unicorn for a second….
“Why does LA deserve a more severe “sanction” than others also guilty of the exact same “offenses?”
a) he is identified by USADA as the ringleader and instigant
b) unlike others he did not come forward and provide evidence
The rules he has broken (and he has… he really, *really* has) were the ones in place at the time.
“b) unlike others he did not come forward and provide evidence”
@guest— Really? The defendant— the alleged perp— has declined to confess? Do tell!
@Mikey,
Mate, you’re coming across as a real Dick.
I’m with Mikey.
Let this witch hunt go.
And if it does continue, the witnesses need to suffer as much as defendant.
…it’s my understanding that it was attorney mark fabiani who first started bandying about the term “…witch hunt…” in conjunction with the investigation into lance armstrong’s doping habits…
…technically it doesn’t apply here because the armstrong case involves actual illegalities, as have been admitted to by the majority of the participants…
…what we have is a term pretty much everyone assumes they know the definition of & therefor for the likes of fabiani & company those assumptions create a nice misrepresentation of fact…
…one guy says it, it’s conveniently repeated & then next thing you know, it’s parroted in the manor it is here…
…this is not a witch hunt by any actual definition of the term no matter how often the armstrong apologists repeat it…
…i don’t expect those who obviously haven’t taken time to inform themselves of the presented facts in the case to trouble themselves any further by researching even more facts but this is witch hunt nada…
…500 to 600 clean drug tests ???…a figure mr armstrong cavalierly waves about & which in turn is parroted by his apologists…
…it was researched & between the uci & the usada, the number of sanctioned tests was closer to 250 over the years, some of them no more than hematocrit procedures for health testing reasons…
…factor in testimony by those teammates who were a part of lance’s doping circle as to just how easy it is to beat a drug test when one has the benefit of a little advance warning & a few simple tools, ie: saline solution & suddenly, it doesn’t seem as implausible as mr armstrong would have it appear…
Mikey, Lance deserves a harsher sanction by opting to take his right to not go before an arbitration panel.
From the “Cycling Investigation Statement”:
“The riders who participated in the USPS Team doping conspiracy and truthfully assisted have been courageous in making the choice to stop perpetuating the sporting fraud, and they have suffered greatly. In addition to the public revelations, the active riders have been suspended and disqualified appropriately in line with the rules.
“Lance Armstrong was given the same opportunity to come forward and be part of the solution. He rejected it.
“Instead he exercised his legal right not to contest the evidence and knowingly accepted the imposition of a ban from recognized competition for life and disqualification of his competitive results from 1998 forward.”
That is why Armstrong received a life-time ban and disqualification of results. Armstrong chose to take the ban rather than testify under oath about his actions.
From the “Reasoned Decision”:
“While this Reasoned Decision summarizes overwhelming evidence of Mr. Armstrong’s doping that would have been presented at the hearing had Mr. Armstrong not refused to challenge the charges against him, it necessarily cannot include all of the evidence that would have been presented at such a hearing. Had there been a hearing even more evidence would have been presented, including, evidence obtained through arbitration panel subpoenas and potentially evidence from government investigations.
Furthermore, at a hearing USADA would have been able to examine on the record and under oath members of Mr. Armstrong’s inner circle and others with knowledge of Armstrong’s doping who refused to come forward or were unwilling to speak with USADA absent a subpoena. Mr. Armstrong’s refusal to participate in a hearing prevented the testimony of many other witnesses from being heard.”
And one last bit:
“Mr. Armstrong, however, refused to meet with USADA, setting in motion the sequence of events that led to USADA’s charges and ultimately to Mr. Armstrong’s sanction by USADA in accordance with the rules.”
Armstrong received the punishment a coward deserves. The others, while they did cheat, had the courage to tell the truth and the grace to accept their punishments–the first step in going forward.
“Mate, you’re coming across as a real Dick.”
@Hurben— why do you say that? Is is an emotional response, or do you think my argument isn’t rational?
I have never argued that LA is innocent, nor that he’s a nice fellow. Emotionally, I’m in the same camp as the torch-and-pitchfork crowd. Rationally however, the entire episode is a goat rodeo, and has nothing to do with “justice.” It’s bad for the sport.
“…it was researched & between the uci & the usada, the number of sanctioned tests was closer to 250 over the years, some of them no more than hematocrit procedures for health testing reasons…”
@BGW— careful work has winnowed it down to a mere two hundred fifty clean doping controls… so you’re saying that’s too few? How many would you suggest? How would it help?
“Mikey, Lance deserves a harsher sanction by opting to take his right to not go before an arbitration panel.”
@Rogbie— come on man, the alleged perp has declined the opportunity to confess, and this is a surprise somehow? What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?”
This amounts to a non-legal entity (the USADA) saying, “my way or the highway.” Pure ego. Pure emotion. How is this good for the sport??
“goat rodeo”
Bwhahahahahahahahahahaha
I liked to see a goat rodeo actually. Sounds like fun.
I think the point (and it’s especially important if you’re going to make a fact based argument) is to not perpetuate the 400-600 test lie that LA throws around.
Other than that, I’m generally with you. I don’t know what good it does and it is a witch hunt. Who doesn’t think that all of his former teammates were pressured? They did not come forward because of a guilty conscience. They came forward because they were about to get popped, and they were guilty. They all played the game better than the tests. I’d like to think the peloton is cleaner now, but I have no illusions that it’s clean. I’d like to believe that Levi and George are telling the truth when they say they’ve been clean since 2006 or 2007. But I don’t. Put a big asterisk on the whole bloody decade and move on. Call it the failed regulation (or the “we were fooling ourselves”) era and make the tests better.
…christ almighty, mikey…it’s kinda obvious that this is nothing more than an intellectual exercise for you at this point, so please take the time to read the published facts of the case rather than simply challenging whatever comments are made on this site because you’ve most likely read a book that helps you personally define what is & isn’t logic &/or ‘rational thought’…
…although you & i may have limited personal history, i’m perceptive enough to realize that you ARE both an astute & intelligent human being but that being said, your stance on this case seems predicated more on verbal manipulation than actual fact…it’s certainly a tactic the armstrong legal team relies on…
…how tiring it is to have you constantly bringing up the very banal “…is this good for the sport ???” when it was the sport that allowed the problem to evolve, not those who question it’s veracity & direction…what the sport needs is to legitimize itself by way of eliminating it’s cancerous portions & moving on to a cleaner era…
…questioning the need for serious housecleaning by addressing past indiscretions does not bring a negative aspect to the sport when it’s used for that purpose whereas allowing it to continue riff with corruption does…
…talk about a goat rodeo & you’re making yourself drunkcyclist’s little cowboy hatted buckaroo with your posturing…
“…christ almighty, mikey…it’s kinda obvious that this is nothing more than an intellectual exercise for you at this point”
@BGW— absolutely. I don’t care one way or the other about Lance Armstrong. Rationally, he’s the victim of a howling mob on— there’s no other word for it— a witch hunt. That’s all I’m saying. We should realize when we’re being emotional and keep in mind that it may or may not correlate to “justice.”
“…how tiring it is to have you constantly bringing up the very banal “…is this good for the sport ???””
But dude, it’s relevant. No one questions the NFL. No one questions MLB, the NBA, premier soccer or any other big-time sports leagues. Are they clean? HELL NO! So why should we allow our favorite sport to be kicked around and abused in this way? Is pro cycling really nothing more than a doping drama? I prefer to think not. My opinion is that this focus on doping— and specifically tearing down the sport’s biggest celebrity— is detrimental. I’d rather focus on Spartacus making his 500-millisecond bike changes, or some skinny Italian kid going up the highest pass in the Pyrenees at twenty fucking miles and hour. Forze!
Mikey gets a free box of fries if he can get this thread to 300 posts.
…were a judgment (in any situation) to be based purely on emotion, then yes, granted it would be crass, illogical & would correlate to justice perhaps only by chance…
…that is not to say that emotion in context with fact is in any way wrong…it’s simply a reflection of passion & concern & does not supersede the facts as you seem to imply…
…first off, i’d like to know why you are ignoring the published facts ???…that does not seem to represent ‘rational thought’…
…secondly, your great concern seems to be that this is nothing but a fabrication based solely on emotion wherein there are clear facts & thus you’ve put yourself in the position of parroting fabiani, armstrong, et al who’s emotions clearly rule their perspective because they have the most to lose…
…there are two sides to the emotional investiture in this case…please keep that in perspective…
…again, witch hunt is inappropriate use of the phrase because witch hunts were based solely on emotion…this clearly ain’t a witch hunt…
“…again, witch hunt is inappropriate use of the phrase because witch hunts were based solely on emotion…this clearly ain’t a witch hunt…”
Yes it is. And Mikey said it perfectly.
“No one questions the NFL. No one questions MLB, the NBA, premier soccer or any other big-time sports leagues. Are they clean? HELL NO! ”
Why only Pro bike racing ?? Why is no other sport hunted and disgraced in this way ??
What’s happening to the one-nut wonder diminishes us all.
And fries or not if this thread goes beyond 300 I will be very disappointed. That legacy is reserved for lj’s pot hole post.
…“yes it is…”…ya ???…then explain it with your logic…i need to hear your explanation, not the reasoning of somebody else that you’d like to hitch your wagon to…
…& what the fuck do all the aforementioned sports leagues & their situations have to do with pro-cycling ???…where’s your logic regarding that…
…we can’t stand alone ???…we aren’t allowed to show our warts when an effort is being made to clean up our sport ???…why the fuck not ???…if you’re gonna take a stance, i want YOUR fucking details…
…& you talking about what “…diminishes us all…” ???…bwahahahahaha !!!…thanks for the fucking laugh…
Everyone on the planet is doped up one way or another.
Caffeine, nicotine, happy pills, sad pills, etc etc etc.
What’s your dope ??
Mine is nicotine and beer. Granted I’ll never climb the Alps in reality but the delusions allow me to do it all day every day.
Too many glass houses.
…that’s all you’ve got ???…
…like i said – “…thanks for the fucking laugh…”…
You be welcome old man.
Now do the World a favor and die like a good chap.
That, TripleT, is one of the lowest comments that I’ve read on this site.
You’re not even worthy of being called a Troll.
…if calling you out because i was sceptical as regards your knowledgeable capacity of a subject that you DID weigh in on leads you to respond in such a manner, it really doesn’t speak highly of ANY intellectual capacity you might possess, now does it ???…
…if you wanna look like a bigger idiot than you often do with your posted drunken blather, it’s certainly your prerogative…
…but i agree with hurben…that’s pretty fucking low…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g
…step up, dude…
@130 Mikey, calling witch hunt is deflecting. Saying the sport is getting torn down is deflecting. Saying he never failed a drug test so it’s all good is deflecting.
Why would you deflect from the reality that the most celebrated American rider is a dope cheat? Not liking it is ok, but deflecting it and saying he should not be exposed is odd. If you say more should be caught, LA was not the only one, then that is great, I agree with you. Maybe it will be easier once the American kingpin goes down.
“No one questions MLB, the NBA, premier soccer or any other big-time sports leagues.” Untrue, anyone with half a brain knows the deal. This likely explains why those sports are so popular.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5live/5lspecials/5lspecials_20121015-2155a.mp3
“With contributions from former Tour de France cyclists Tyler Hamilton, Matt De Canio, Christophe Basson. Lance Armstrong’s former soigner Emma O’Reilly tells us about an abuse that was rife inside his US Postal Service Team.”
Worth a listen if you’re still interested no matter which side of the fence you’ve decided to land. I will say this; if LA never doped then he is the victim of the most fantastically elaborate and widespread conspiracy this side of the “Moon landings”.
“Why would you deflect from the reality that the most celebrated American rider is a dope cheat? Not liking it is ok, but deflecting it and saying he should not be exposed is odd. If you say more should be caught, LA was not the only one, then that is great, I agree with you. Maybe it will be easier once the American kingpin goes down.”
@Barry— so “the American kingpin goes down…” Who’s next? They’re all dopers. How many of them do you destroy? You won’t get all of them. Where does it end? And I ask yet again, how is this good for the sport?
““No one questions MLB, the NBA, premier soccer or any other big-time sports leagues.” Untrue, anyone with half a brain knows the deal. This likely explains why those sports are so popular.”
O RLY? Am I uninformed of USADA’s massive investigations into each on the ball-and-stick leagues? All the “kingpin” multiple-champions being prosecuted and stripped of their glories? Going back fifteen years? Longer?
“How many of them do you destroy? You won’t get all of them” Hopefully as many as possible. Start at the top, pick the easy fruit and let it rip. i would say you go back and deliberate as far the the evidence suggests. fifteen years is likely not going to pass the public money cost benefit. But with this case, these clown are all still involved, this is not digging up the past.
Good point on USADA not challenging major televised sports. I see them having no business with NFL since it is not olympic, but for NBA and soccer it is the ultimate tell that the IOC is not actually anti-doping rather anti-doping scandal that they let sleeping dogs lie in this area. Still, i see no reason to discount the current case due to a lack of a case currently on going against Usain Bolt, Dwight Howard, or any other too good to be true physiques. That is just sour grapes.
“Hopefully as many as possible. Start at the top, pick the easy fruit and let it rip. i would say you go back and deliberate as far the the evidence suggests. fifteen years is likely not going to pass the public money cost benefit. But with this case, these clown are all still involved, this is not digging up the past.”
@Barry— I feel this sort of “scorched earth” policy is detrimental to the sport of cycling. Why not whistle past the graveyard like the NBA and premier soccer examples you (quite correctly) cite? Why do they get a free pass?
…ummm…the horse is kinda already out a the barn door, ya ???……
…so instead of wondering how it looks to the visitors, how about just solving the problem with the barn door so it doesn’t keep happening ???…
…make sense ???…
to continue the metaphor, the horse just got tossed from his own charity and got dropped by his biggest sponsor. surely oakley and trek to follow…
over under on them clawing back monies? the LA’s SCA testimony he said all his contracts had anti doping clauses built in, this ain’t gonna be pretty.
“the horse just got tossed from his own charity and got dropped by his biggest sponsor. surely oakley and trek to follow…
over under on them clawing back monies?”
@Barry— seen, brother. I wonder though, how does the manner in which Nike, Trek and Oakley spend their marketing dollars become a concern of ours? What other dopers do they have contracts with? NFL, NBA, etc?
I’m about to throw a leg over my “rain bike” and see if I can get 40 or 50 miles before my feet are frozen blocks of ice. It’s always my feet, even when I wear those stupid neoprene booties. I hate the fucking booties. This reliable steed was built and distributed by Trek, has Bontrager components, and ironically is branded “Lemond.” We live in strange times. Rubber side down, y’all.
Mikey, just dope up like your hero, it’ll keep you warm.
deflect Mikey. this thread is not about other sports or other dopers. if you want to start another one, link to your blog and let’s have a go. telling me to mind my own marketing money business is awesomely deflective.
and get waterproof socks. they are stupid but they work for some people.
…speaking of other sports, whether mikey gives a good goddamn about them or not, he missed his true calling…
…should a’ been a hockey player…
…guy blocks, smothers or deflects anything directed his way, which, as a goalie is a great trait…
…on the other hand, as someone involved in social discourse, it plays as both disingenuous & exceedingly calculated & i honestly have to wonder to what end in this case…
…the ‘image’ of cycling ???…give me a fucking break…
…time to cleanse & rebuild, not defend rubble…
…“…bye, bye, miss american pie, drove my chevy to the levee but the levee was dry…”…
… http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/trek-breaks-ties-with-lance-armstrong …
…trek is done…
“Mikey, just dope up like your hero, it’ll keep you warm.”
@guest— you obviously have no idea who my heroes are, sir.
Alas, a few are sanctioned dopers— Marco Pantani, Gorgeous George, Tommy Danielson.
The other sports I follow have been surprisingly free of doping sanctions. Gee, I guess no one in any of those sports uses performance-enhancing drugs, eh?
PS— had an awesome fifty miles today, my feet were fine. Having hung up the Trophy Bike for the season, I was out on the Iron Pig, and my mistress, She of the Pain Cave, took my measure and found me badly wanting on the climb up Newport Way, around mile forty-three.
Right now, this six-pack of Winter Hook has a serious problem, and that problem is ME. Enjoy the ride, brothers and sisters.
…i’m gonna lobby nike, now that they’re going to rename their ‘lance armstrong fitness center’, to change it to the ‘drunkcyclist fitness center’…
…& no cold michelob in the fridge…just a variety of handmade american brews…
That’s in the PDX, right? Let me know when you’re in town, we’ll ride.
Honestly Mikey, your rambling have been so emotional, disjoints, wrong and pointless I’m just surprised you didn’t offer a list of your hero’s stating they all doped.
Keep your torch going, maybe LA will be restored to glory in spite of all he has done…good luck with that.
“Honestly Mikey, your rambling have been so emotional, disjoints, wrong and pointless”
@guest— weak sauce dude.
“maybe LA will be restored to glory”
Who cares about Lance? It’s okay, put down the pitchfork, brother.
…ya, i’d still ride with ya, mikey…
…& there are guys who post up here who you literally couldn’t pay me to ride OR drink free good beers with…
…so, there’s that…