People who have cancer and don't beat it are no less determined. Their version of cancer, their reaction to the treatments or their immune system is different from those who survive.
My god, we’ve gone down that route on equivalence have we as a means to somehow discredit an opinion *rolleyes* *yawn*
I think what it is with Lance Armstrong, is the scale of the cheat, the deception & the ruined careers of everyone in his long wake. Not everyone was doing what he did, many were for sure but mostly not to his level. His achievements mean absolutely nothing because if it been the next guy in the team, they’d have all those titles. He was a bully, a liar & he wrecked his sport, who was only ever “that good” because he was super juiced up & those TDF years are just a footnote in history now. In our terms it’s like finding out Rossi had a Nox button on his bike all that time & there are no actual GP winners in the record books for a decade. I hate what he’s done & the fact that he’s the most obnoxious man on the planet as well doesn’t help his cause as others have said. Elite, he most certainly isn’t!
He was “that good”, drugs don’t make you great, they make you better. He was a phenomenal amateur and 1 day racer before the drugs got him on par with the rest of the peloton to last the distance in a stage race
“…before the drugs got him on par with the rest of the peloton to last the distance in a stage race” So by your own explanation, to compete on the big stage he needed to cheat. That’s not being elite that’s being a cheat!!! I can’t keep making this point, if you don’t get it, you don’t get it. Nothing that Lance Armstrong did as a professional cyclist is of any value at all. He has nothing to his name now and he is a disgrace to the sport.
Simon I think you need to let it go Clearly an odious man. But elite athlete amongst his peers and wider world in terms of level performance. He was better on drugs than the others on drugs. You seem to be confusing likeablility and inspirational with simple performance above 99% of everyone. Moving Armstrong aside, imagine someone like Sheena in todays world of social media exposure?! Or shag-em-all Hunt….
I was trying to Paul! I can’t understand how some people cannot separate what he did from how he did it. It’s simply not true to say that he was operating on a level playing field, not everyone was doing what he was doing. Sport has to be fair and a level playing field or it’s not sport that you’re watching or applauding. Anyway before we all fall out; love and peace and stay off the drugs kids!
Second place riders: 98, Ullrich - convicted doper 99, Zulle - admitted doping 00, Ullrich again 01, Ullrich again 02, Beloki - named in operation Puerto 03, Ullrich again 04, Klöden - multiple allegations, investigators settled paid off, named by doctors as a doper 05, Basso - convicted doper these people rode for the dodgiest teams out there, Festina, Astana, Mapei etc. anyone could get “treatment” from Dr Ferrari if you had the money and most of the peloton did. If you think Lance had some special sauce gear that no one else could access you’re sorely mistaken. Hate the guy for his bullying, the careers he ruined behind the scenes, the dogshit personality, but on the bike he’s one of the greatest ever
We won’t fall out mate Now if you said that a supermono was the best looking bike ever we may have a problem!
I wonder sometimes sometimes you really miss the point entirely or are simply obtuse. When you had a heart attack, do you think you personally made a difference in surviving it, or do you realise that your physiology saved you? Keep your "roll eyes" for someone who appreciates them.
Let’s see, his DS at emirates is Saronni, previously of famous drug enthusiast team Lampre - he stood down from there amid a doping scandal. He came out a Slovenian system that’s seen half the pro’s they’ve produced see doping bands, and he’s far and away the best of them. He’s too big and too good for the UCI to see found guilty, can’t have another Lance sized scandal. I’ve come to accept that that’s just part of pro cycling, I don’t really watch it any more, not because of the drugs that are rife though. It’s in all sports, just more effective in the endurance based ones like this
Interesting. Ive been wfh for the last 5 years and whenever the road racing is on europsort ill always have it on in the background, mainly because i thought it was clean now (esp as Froome has gone ) but ill be gutted if its true (not that im doubting you). Van der poel smashed him in the TOF the other day, do you think hes on the peds too?
Classics are a different kettle of fish to grand tours and he’s a different type of rider to Pog, there’s no way I’d know but I suspect. His big rival van Aert raised my eyebrows quite highly last year in the Tour, in the mix for sprints one day then dropping pure climbers up Ventoux the next. That just doesn’t happen without some assistance
Firstly, I didn’t have a heart attack. And secondly, if I did I wouldn’t then be going back to exercising to the point of exhaustion and pushing the psychical limits of what is possible by any human. That’s the comparison here.
