bassogap

I was very dismayed to hear Armstrong mentioned during the commentary od the California tour. I wonder if someone put Ligett up to it.
Armstrong just needs to go away....His opinion oh Powless doesn't matter to anyone...

patrickgm60

Agreed.
BTW, what was his opinion?

68venable

Yes. Some of us really want to hear his opinion. I agree though. It really doesn't matter.

dcsix

I was shocked. All of a sudden he says THE NAME after seemingly forgetting the guy existed. It gave THE GUY some instant cred that he does not deserve-it would be like me tweeting something and getting mentioned. The last person I wanted to hear from...

Ken Brown

Who's Lance Armstrong?

corrado33

Who cares? Regardless of whether YOU like it or not, Armstrong was a big part of cycling and his impact is STILL huge. His name will never go away. "Hey Dad, why are there years when there wasn't a winner of the TdF?"

Barry bonds, mark mcgwire, sammy sosa. All found to be cheating in various forms, yet all their names are still known. They all affected the game. They are, like Armstrong, a part of the sport's history. Deal with it.

McBTC

Everyone cheated so unless you are against the TdF it does not make sense to be anti-Lance Armstrong just because he beat the cheaters at their own game.

cthenn

I know everyone is soooooo obsessed with Lance Armstrong (still), but I'd be more concerned that Powless' director, Axel Merckx, has been linked pretty much conclusively to doping back in the late 90's. Moreso than continuing to beat the Lance Armstrong dead horse, we should be more concerned that alleged/confirmed dopers are still allowed in the sport, in positions of power with regards to young riders. But no, I get it, Armstrong was a meanie, so he should continue to the be the focus of everyone's attention, not that the sport has been, and continues to be dirty dirty dirty.

McBTC

True, true, there's only one reason LA would be banned for life from even participating in a triathlete event and that's a bunch of vengeful, holier-than-thou Romneyian-parasites who smell blood in the water and the moronic losers who seek to justify their worthless existences by taking their children to a hanging. None of these losers care anything about cycling. These people are not the judge of "Il Pirata," but, Lance gave him a stage out of respect for what he'd accomplished, knowing no one else in the TdF was man enough to wash his balls.

FrenchFit 

He's a gangster and perjurer. He should be in prison. If he didn't have certain politicians running interference for him he would be.

Crewchief911

I certainly don't condone what he did and I don't have any sympathy for him, but come on, doping in cycling was RAMPANT for years. He was hardly the only one who did, including some of the riders who were condemning him for it. It wasn't just because of him they started intensive testing. You can't deny, however, that the Tour de France, as well as other races, have benefitted immensely from him. How many of these races, like Tour de California, Paris-Roubaix, and Giro di Italia would have as much TV coverage here in the US if it hadn't been because of Armstrong? Not many people would know the name Alberto Contador or Peter Sagan, but I'll bet you have no problem finding anyone who doesn't know Lance Armstrong. These riders who are making lots of money would probably not be making as much, either. Mentioning his name during the race doesn't bother me NEARLY as much as seeing Barry Bonds as batting coach for Tampa Bay, being interviewed during games, and being shown ad nauseum on the bench during broadcasts. At least Armstrong isn't on camera, and interviewed by the broadcasters as if he were a star...

MixedRider

I was more shocked when they interviewed Powless about the tweet as well and put him on the spot. Common!

Hermes1

It is true he did and if one is going to be critical of Lance Armstrong, many others have to share in the criticism. But my problem with Lance Armstrong and why I tend to agree with others here who have said who cares what he says, is how extensively and the lengths to which he denied it all, even after he was essentially busted. I would have had more respect for him, if when the pressure was on, he admitted it and perhaps made a statement to the effect he felt he needed to dope to be competitive with all the others. Instead he maintained a holier than thou attitude

McBTC

I get that but, everyone denied it until they were actually caught cheating. LA was never caught doping. The French did all they possibly could do to catch LA in the act because they hate any American who thrashes their dopers to win the TdF. The only real evidence against LA was testimony of the other caught riders. LA waited to essentially admit things because he essentially was being asked to testify against himself. He probably never fully realized that he was going to be nailed to the cross to pay for the sins of everyone else. If LA had never won that last Tdf he probably could have crept away if both Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton – former Armstrong teammates – had not subsequently been so publically caught in the act of doping...

texaspandj

I liken it to getting caught with another woman, even with a gun to their head few people would admit to cheating on their wife, especially admitting it in front of their wife.

bowser29

LA said Powless is the real deal

bassogap

I just don't understand why the producers of the tv show would go out of their way to mention lance...it makes me wonder if he's being slowly "groomed" to come back in the public spotlight a la pee wee herman(except him I like).

otherwise why mention what lance thinks? he's not any kind of expert on the current pro peleton....

McBTC

There's probably more drug-taking among entertainers than in a peloton. LA was essentially a health food fanatic compared to the outraged masses.

Walter

The fact that Armstrong still Spurs the creation of active debate answers the question as to why he gets mentioned.

Legit point about the race coverage, at least here in the US. Bonds is the hitting coach for the Miami Marlins btw. If he can get Stanton to stop striking out so much I'll put up with that too.

Miele Man

Yes, Armstrong should go away; to prison that is. He's guilty of character assassination, defamation of character, fraud, libel, perjury, slander, as well as ruining people financially because they tried to expose that he was doping. The guy is scum pure and simple.

Cheers

mapeiboy

I really don't understand why there is so much hate on Lance . Did he kill lot of people in his cycling career that he is the enemy number 1 even after all those years . As far as I concern they all cheat even to these days except they know how to hide it well . UCI took away his 7 tour wins but have they found a worthy winner ( drug free) for each of those 7 years . That is right , non so far because they knew not one ride was clean .

McBTC

You can bet that, unlike LA, some of his biggest detractors smoke grass, drink alcohol, eat like pigs; and, probably put out a tenth of the effort toward their career compared to LA. If drugs are over and done with, all well and good but still, that may mean that no one ever again will even come close to accomplishing what LA managed to pull off. I'm sure there are a lot of folks who must be jealous of that.

brianmcg123

I love all the butt hurt from just the mere mention of his name in a broadcast. You would have thought Ligget mentioned a tweet by Hitler himself.

Lance won a lot of races doped against a lot of other dopers, who were doped before Lance was even born. Doping has been going on since the 2nd TDF. People act like he invented it.

Gallo

I think his biggest failure was how he protected his lie. There was some pretty over the top behaviour. However if he was not as good as he was would anybody even care? There are plenty of verified dopers on the list of TDF winners as well as Giro Vuelta....

Where Lance blew it was being a jerk about it imho

I still think he was a great athlete and the 2000 TDF Mount Ventoux battle vs Pantani was the best duel I have ever seen in cycling. Two champions going toe to toe, watching it live was truly amazing Yes they were both doped to the gills as was most of the peloton whom were dropped like an anchor in the ocean and simply could not hold their wheel nor could they even see it in the distance

If you bag on him for being a jerk I get it

As far as doping there is a much bigger list than Lance to beat up on.

Like it or not the man was the best of that era and an amazing athlete and has a great knowledge of bicycle racing

dcsix

I mean, that's cute with the Hitler stuff and all, but unfortunately it STILL (like many others in this thread) misses the point by a country mile. If all he did was dope it would be a non event, but he didn't just dope (as is well described in other posts). He ruined lives over his need for secrecy and his uncontrolled desire to win at all costs, he went hard after people who got in his way and did not let up, he is a hugely manipulative personality who caused a lot of grief for a lot of people. This is not Alberto Contador or Andy Schleck or Marco Pantani. What he did was so comprehensively messed up-I'm being kind now-that there is really not a good comparison out there. To say aw shucks everybody was doing it , leave him alone is to give him a pass on all of that, and it insults all the "regular" doping riders and clean riders alike by suggesting that they are all just like him-I try not to actually type his name...