Lance Armstrong gives up the fight

[TightEnd]

By refusing to mount defence in doping case, Armstrong all but concedes he won his seven Tour de France titles by doping

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/aug/24/how-lance-armstrong-strongarmed-cycling?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2


A pretty sad day really. His fight against cancer was inspirational

and now he has to give up his TdeF titles. Albeit he gives them up to riders who probably aren't clean themselves

[Doobs]

Interesting use of the present tense in the last paragraph.  Given the origin of the current crop of world beaters, was it careless or deliberate?

[TightEnd]

my last paragraph?

I was suggesting that Armstrong gives up his titles to people he beat, who themselves might not be clean either

[Doobs]

my last paragraph?

I was suggesting that Armstrong gives up his titles to people he beat, who themselves might not be clean either

Apologies,  meant the last paragraph in the article you linked to. 

[TheChipPrince]

Still a remarkable man, how much £££ has he raised for cancer & the awareness it has brought to fighting it.

Hope people remember that first and foremost in years to come, sadly, they probably won't.

[AndrewT]

It was the whole 'cancer survivor' narrative that meant this day took far longer in coming than it should have - by essentially admitting he doped (admittedly at a time when everyone did, and everyone knew everyone else did) people will feel more betrayed, as they had an emotional involvement in him and his story that other random cyclists wouldn't have, so he had more support from people who wanted to believe that he was clean, regardless.

Interesting allegation in the article that I hadn't heard before - that he did fail tests and then people were paid off to not report them.

[Sark79]

Taken from the BBC sport site

Armstrong has disputed that USADA has the power to take away his titles. "USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges," his statement said.

The cycling governing body the International Cycling Union (UCI) - which had backed Armstrong's attempt to challenge USADA's authority - has so far made no public comments on the latest developments


I hope he is correct, as an Armstrong fan I would hate to see him stripped of his titles

[Skippy]

As has been said elsewhere:

a) The times Armstrong was doing up the mountains and his "Power output" was far in excess of what they were managing in this year's tour.
b) Every time he won the tour, the guy who finished second has already been found out.

So, he's either far and away the greatest athlete of all time, capable of superhuman performances so far in excess of his peers that no one has come close to emulating them without the use of performance enhancing drugs, or...


----

I'm of the opinion that Wiggins is the first "clean" winner of the TdF ever.

Is it really cheating if everyone is doing it?

[Sark79]

I am obviously a supporter of Armstrong, lol.  However I find it strange that he would give up his fight so easily. It is not in his nature to give up, so why would he do it now.  He beat cancer and won 7 tours, both I would imagine are a far tougher opponent than his latest court proceedings. He has mentioned the effect the case is having on his family. Perhaps he is being truthful when he said he is just tired of fighting to clear his name. 

It is a sad day for sport, his legacy is tainted now with the words "drug cheat". 

[AndrewT]

I am obviously a supporter of Armstrong, lol.  However I find it strange that he would give up his fight so easily. It is not in his nature to give up, so why would he do it now.  He beat cancer and won 7 tours, both I would imagine are a far tougher opponent than his latest court proceedings. He has mentioned the effect the case is having on his family. Perhaps he is being truthful when he said he is just tired of fighting to clear his name. 

It is a sad day for sport, his legacy is tainted now with the words "drug cheat". 

Because he needed drugs to beat cancer and win the Tours, and you can't take drugs to win a court case?

[TightEnd]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/index-of-lance-armstrong-doping-allegations-over-the-years

[Tonji]

I am obviously a supporter of Armstrong, lol.  However I find it strange that he would give up his fight so easily. It is not in his nature to give up, so why would he do it now.  He beat cancer and won 7 tours, both I would imagine are a far tougher opponent than his latest court proceedings. He has mentioned the effect the case is having on his family. Perhaps he is being truthful when he said he is just tired of fighting to clear his name. 

It is a sad day for sport, his legacy is tainted now with the words "drug cheat". 

Was also a fan. But overwhelming evidence & former team members willing to give evidence against him. Game over.

[Ironside]

I am obviously a supporter of Armstrong, lol.  However I find it strange that he would give up his fight so easily. It is not in his nature to give up, so why would he do it now.  He beat cancer and won 7 tours, both I would imagine are a far tougher opponent than his latest court proceedings. He has mentioned the effect the case is having on his family. Perhaps he is being truthful when he said he is just tired of fighting to clear his name. 

It is a sad day for sport, his legacy is tainted now with the words "drug cheat". 

if it gets to court the evidence against him will be made public and he doesnt want that coming out

[Sark79]

I want to believe in the fairytale a while longer before I am ready to admit he is a drug cheat. The fact he isn't fighting to clear his name is cause for concern, there is clearly something he doesn't want getting out in the public domain. That may be the fact he is a drug cheat or it could be something else.

[TightEnd]

I want to believe in the fairytale a while longer before I am ready to admit he is a drug cheat. The fact he isn't fighting to clear his name is cause for concern, there is clearly something he doesn't want getting out in the public domain. That may be the fact he is a drug cheat or it could be something else.

lol!

Sadly, the doping world doesn't belong in fairytales