Big News out of Austin, TX today. Armstrong just banned from all sanctioned comp....
 

This was just on the local TV news here in Austin. Armstrong has just been banned from all competitions both in cycling and triathlons due to evidence handed over from USADA to the appropriate sports governing bodies. Story referenced by TV media from Washington Post. If someone has a link please provide. Armstrong's new attorney has commented.

There was also talk of USADA nullifying any wins from Armstrong in past years including Tour de France wins. And that the statue of limitations for nullifying past wins do not apply. There is already precedent of nullification of past wins outside of the statute of limitations from US track athlete Eddy Hellenbuyck, who unsuccessfully argued that wins from his alleged doped years should remain in the record books.

Big news. Sounds like not much evidence though, and a lot of theory. Will have to see if they have enough proof to keep him out of competition and take his wins away.

My guess is Lance is going to be pissed as he is coming into good form in triathlon, and throw everything he has at them and likely destroy them. We'll see who has the better lawyers and the most money.

Haven't had a chance to read it myself, but here's a link to what I think is the original article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lance-...PaV_story.html

Just read the article. This is pretty ugly stuff -- not just a rehash of what's been going around before. His lawyers will be working overtime for this. As for myself, let the chips fall where they may.

It's talking about the 2009-2010 time frame. If Lance doped then, well, he's a complete freakin' moron. I don't believe he's that stupid. He had too much to lose. Now Lance 1.0 and 2.0 are a different matter, entirely.

We shall see.

This.

Jaysus.

What a waste.

I can't see how this is going to forward the cause of eliminating doping.

WOW, hate to say I told you so..........but. Remember what I said before: HE did all of this himself, he has no one to blame for anything that happens/comes out/etc from this or anything else, Now, then or in the future, but HIMSELF. I'm sure there'll be alot of "who cares, I dont care" posts to follow this one, my answer to that is simply: Apparently, the govt "cares", or else they wouldnt keep up with this.

I also said, had he just come clean and admitted to whatever it is from the getgo, NONE of this would be going on & we wouldn't be here now, and this would've gone away a long time ago. Again, that falls on him. Look at all the s&^% he's brought on himself by his vague/arrogant/******y attitude towards the whole thing, he's made himself an easy target, and made it so that folks want to nail him, for his pompousness(not sure if thats a word) and extreme arrogance to the whole thing, so it's not surprising this has happened.

It's sad that it's still going on, and that it's come to this, all this does is hurt the sport I enjoy watching, and makes it even more scrutinized now IMO. The whole situation(involving EVERYONE not just Lance) has tainted the sport to an extreme, that it's going to take years for it to recover from, if at all. Just when I thought things were finally starting to look positive for the sport, this rears its ugly head again, thats sad too. I will say, nobody wins in this race.

Personally, I am getting sick of all this crap. In my opinion, until any agency can bring forth a CONFIRMED BIOLOGICAL test that shows Armstrong violated the rules, they should STFU and leave him alone.

This has been going on for 13 years now and no one can produce a single failed drug test.

I dont care if Armstrong doped or not and I dont particularly like him, but anyone who is objective and believes in JUSTICE should see this man is being persecuted and prosecuted.

Maybe someone is trying to make a name for themselves--go after a big fish. Must be lawyers.

Funny how this crap comes out each year just before the TDF.

I'd like to some some evidence of a failed test rather than supposition or coerced testimony from those who got caught.

They are just wasting money on this again. +1 with surfer... I dont like the guy but the story is just too old and if they are talking now about 2010 and 2011 stuff then LA was really dumb to do something then. Until they just find a test to prove everything 1000000% all of this will be a I said/you said fight and those ones for sure lance will win them. Pretty much is what he has been saying all these years... w/o any reasonable probe no way to screw him.

For example back in the day Carl Johnson was said to be positive big time before the Olympic games. If you ask him he wont say anything and obviously all the testing and stuff was trashed back in the day (dunno if anybody saw the movie).

This guys have to just stop spending my money on this, it is too late already.

Not sure, hate to sound like a broken record, but I said weeks ago, when whoever it was "closed their investigation", that there would be more investigations forthcoming, and not to be surprised by it. Many here said there wouldn't be and guess what, there is. Also keep in mind, that Lance said weeks ago that "he was done talking about it"....so I guess that means he's not "done talking about it" at all?

If he's "banned from all sanctioned competition" like the OP says, I'm pretty sure there's more to the story evidence wise, than some reporter trying to make a name for himself. The USADA wouldnt just do that unless they had something, I could be wrong(and might be), I just dont think so this time. Looks like they have him on something. I must admit, I'm curious to see how he explains this.

Is this agency under financial scrutiny? Justification of existence?

How does a private non-governmental organization like USADA have any power to withdraw results from races like the TDF? Isn't their charter to oversee "Olympic, Pan American and Paralympic sport in the United States." What pull do they have on international cycle racing?

I don't know whether Lance doped or not, but I think it is time to accept the testing that was in place at the time of the events as the arbitrator of whether someone doped or not. What we have now is extremely comprehensive and invasive testing that only works to prove someone is doping, but is apparently insufficient to show that someone is not doping. And with that situation, we have fertile ground for hundreds of individuals to use hearsay, innuendo, slander, and outright lies to further their own financial and political agendas. This system is not working. Every result is questioned and fought over for years and years.

- Mark

Official statement. I'd say there's a fair amount of evidence: http://www.usada.org/media/statement6132012

I can't wait to see Bruneal and Pharmstrong in orange jerseys.

Story has just been picked up by ESPN. It is all over the TV news now.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/...charged-doping

This was just on ESPN2. The commentators reported that up to 10 and possibly more pro cyclists are corroborating the story and formal charges will be made soon. Each athlete faces sanctions. Armstrong's attorney did not comment on the names of the other cyclists.

Report from ESPN -
Warning (Do not attempt to play this video unless you have a high-speed internet connection)

Wonder if big george was smelling something and that's why he retired. Doubt we will see JB in the US any day soon.

Letter from USADA says UCI tests "consistent with doping" in 2009 and 2010 (Page 11), if true he's the biggest idiot on the planet. If they did a sting operation on him, then why wait two years? Ban him then and be done with it.

Everything else is he said, she said rehash:

http://online.wsj.com/public/resourc...arging0613.pdf

I bet the triathlete guys are super happy to have their sport associated with all this business now as well!

Maybe we can finally get rid of Celaya, Moral, Armande etc from cycling for good.

What I dont understand is that the US Justice Department, the biggest and most heavily funded government justice agency in the world just spent 3 years, millions upon millions of dollars and hundreds of the best agents in the world investigating Armstrong and they couldnt (or wouldnt) indict him.

Everyone knows the Justice Dept is "indict happy" and the old saying "you can indict a ham sandwich" came from the agencies reputation and heavy handed bully tactics of screwing anyone that dared challenge them.

Ever single federal prosecutor and investigator at the Justice Department is an aspiring politician and/or beaurocrat whose carereer would be aced by indicting and convicting Armstrong.

Yet, with all that, and the mountains of supposed evidence against Armstrong and the supposed numerous failed drug tests, they decided not to even indict him.

How then does a private, non government agency with no subpeona power and no authority to compel someone under oath, level "undesputable" charges against Armstrong and ban him from racing ?

If he doped in 2009 and 2010 just wow. Wow. Can't wait to see this play out.

Thats what the letter claims, but if its true how come they didnt come forward at the time and how come the feds didnt use it ?

Sometimes, dopers/criminals et al just can't help themselves. They have been wayward for so long, been very successful at it and never got caught. It is natural for them to continue to tempt fate. I am not saying this is what is happening with LA, as I don't have any idea if he doped, but so many of the evidence seems to point that way.

I was thinking about this during my ride today. Didn't they 'accidentally' release a list of the 2010 TdF riders and then a 1-10 number that corresponded with their suspicion level on doping? PoPo was a 9 or 10. Lance was a 1, 2 or 3 if memory serves.

It's really a bit ridiculous at this point. What's next, start taking away Eddie's wins, too? We know damned well he was doped.

Somehow I doubt it.