Armstrong Cleared

Well, it looks like I wasn’t quite right in my analysis that no one would back down.

So IMHO these are the possibilities:

1. Both sides had something to hide (e.g. both sides fudged the facts a bit).

2. Lance has them by the balls, but he’s keeping this one in his pocket in case he needs it in the future.

3. AFLD had him cold, but race finances and politics dictate that Lance must race (I consider this by far the least likely).

tom

Velo News article

“AFLD released a three-paragraph statement on its Web page Friday, citing a letter Armstrong wrote to the president of the AFLD on April 16.

The statement also said hair samples collected were not analyzed. “

Interesing stuff…I admit I didn’t expect this outcome. I believe if they (AFLD) truly had a case they wouldn’t have dropped it. OR Lance had something that they would rather not talk about in public. Lance claimed the sheet he signed had ‘none’ in the area for any notes/observations/etc. But he also said he couldn’t find his sheet (how would that happen? I would think you’d keep something like that in a fireproof safe!) So lets say he was right…that the collector didn’t not note any issues. Even to CAS, their case wouldn’t hold any water. It’s a ‘he said, he said’ issue except one side didn’t not note any of this on the official form. Hard to back up that story, and very embarrasing too I’d think.

And not to be dismissed is the fact that wherever Sir Lance goes, fans, media and money follow. To disallow his participation in the biggest race in the world seems a bit odd. I’d have thought the ASO would have been applying some pressure to ge them to back off (and who knows..maybe they did). As Susie said a while back…they should be down on the ground kissing the dirt that he walks on that he has come back and is showing up at their races (or something to that effect…sorry if I messed it up too bad Susie..I’m too lazy to go back and look for your exact quote). Cycling needs it’s Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods type super-cyclist back in the fold for as long as he will race. I for one really am looking forward to seeing what Team Astana can/will do in the grand tours this year. I for one am looking forward to seeing Lance setting tempo on some HUGE climbs, with Alberto hot on his wheel. Won’t that be something!

And a NOTE to Rant: the “Click to Edit” feature isn’t working like it used to. Hence my subsequent correction rather than a simple edit. It could just be where I’m posting from (corporate servers stopping it somehow).

Hey Matt,

Where did he say he couldn’t find his copy?

tom

So let’s assume that, for whatever reason, LA has indeed lost his copy. Let’s also assume, for the sake of argument, that he was right and the form only stated “none” in the box in question. Could AFLD have altered or forged the document in order to cobble up a case against LA?

I can think of 2 ways to go here:

1. Alter the original document. You could get the original collector and the pen he used, so handwriting and ink would match. You’d then have to think up an incriminating statement that incorporated the “none” that was already there. Problems are, if LA kept his original safe, he could easily show up the duplicity. It also might be difficult to come up with a statement that incorporated what was originally written in a believable manner and/or the spacing might not work: a big “none” scrawled so it fills up most of the box, etc.

2. You could forge a new document. Again, if LA retains his copy, that gets shot down.

Remember, when they came up with the idea that Armstrong did commit some violation, they had no idea that he might have lost his copy. So I’m thinking they did not attempt to alter or forge the document. Perhaps they had an idea the collector could come up with a story of why he wrote “none” but the LA did actually do something.

Thanks for the mention Matt & you re-stated my previous sentiments pretty dang fine! 🙂

I have to tell ya, I never, NEVER thought for one single second that Lance would be barred from this year’s Tour de France. Partly because I think the tester guy probably broke some kind of protocol (how he presented himself, alone, & that until the legitmacy of his being there was established, Lance had the right to take the shower, to which Tester Guy seems to have given his assent). But, the MAIN reason is purely ECONOMIC.

The world is staggering around under a GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE. People are losing their jobs, their retirements, their lives. Companies are going under every day. Those that are still alive are doing EVERYthing they can to KEEP going. Do you really think for one moment that the ASO let alone FRANCE would keep the ONE GUY out of that race who can single handily generate MILLIONS for all of them? Get real.

I happen to love watching Lance Armstrong race his bike & admire him enormously for his past & current accomplishments & the inspiration he gives, both on & off the bike. But, whether you admire him or not, think he doped in the past or has been hounded egregiously & unjustly, the bottom line is that HE is almost single handedly saving THIS sport THIS year. I am of the belief that more sponsors would have ALREADY pulled their money from teams &/or races this year, if not for Lance’s anticipated participation in the Giro & most especially, the Tour. Just look at the races where he’s been this year. HUGE crowds – some as much as TWICE what they were previously. In other races where Lance was not? NOT so much…. Compare the ToC with Paris-Nice. There were HORDES of people along the California roads even in dreadful weather. Do you think they were there for the CURRENT Tour champion? In contrast, I was able to watch the last half of the PN stage where CVV rode to victory, & I was shocked, SHOCKED that there was NO ONE along the streets in the last 2K, until about the final 50 meters. And isn’t Paris-Nice one of THE big stage races of the year outside the Grand Tours?

And look at team Astana itself. THEY are having financial difficulties & without Lance on the team, it’s distinctly possible they would have already pulled their funding. Hell, they weren’t able to pay the guys for a MONTH! Why is that not a bigger story?!!! I didn’t even find it mentioned on Velonews – what’s up with that?!

Anyway, yes, the Classics are prestigious & the crowds (at least in Belgium & for P-R) looked as big as ever this year & Lance did not & would not have participated even if not injured. So, doesn’t that prove cycling is just hunky-dory without him? No. Those are 1-day races in a compressed “mini-season”. Outside of cycling fans (& all of Belgium ;), the rest of the world is not even conscious of them. Consequently, the sport can not live off the profit (if any) generated by those races.

Like it or not, at least for now & in the forseeable future, the TOUR is this sport’s Super Bowl, its World Cup, its Daytona 500. It is THE yearly shining moment for the sport. It is where once a year, the WORLDWIDE media (cycling AND mainstream) turns its focus in July. For three brief, chaotic, glorious weeks every year, France is the STAR. The last 3 years’ shenanigans at the Tour had put that in jeopardy. The sport, as represented by it’s poster-boy, the Tour, became a laughingstock. Media around the world blared that the Tour was “DEAD”. And out of the blue, comes the sport’s WORLDwide biggest star, ever, to say he’s comin’ back. Do they say “no thanks”? As Morgan would say – ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 🙂

LeTour is indeed part of French culture. It is indeed big, but anything that threatens to detract from ASO owning and controlling it will be summarily rejected. Sure, LA’s return has Big Bucks associated with it, but if the end result would be to threaten ASO’s control, they would cut their noses off to be sure their face wasn’t too attractive.

To be sure, LeTour is about the only race any lay sports person in the US has heard of. If polled, I think you’d find most people in the US would identify the TdF as a bike race, but maybe not be able to identify road cycling as an olympic sport. I think there’d be a different result in Europe in such a poll.

Liggett junkie,

You might be interested to know Phil Liggett spoke at our club last night. I, along with a few other club leaders, had breakfast with him this morning and I was privileged to have led a ride featuring Phil this morning, before Dennis (his host from our club) took Phil to catch his train to CT for VERSUS related business. The ride was packed.

Phil took quite a few questions last night. He also gave some round viewership figures wrt the TdF while LA was riding his 7 straight and when LA was in retirement. He noted a steep decline during LA’s retirement. However, the question/answer were not in the context of the most recent AFLD fiasco related to LA.

There may be something to following the money? LA should have stayed in sight of the AFLD pooper scooper. He was wrong for leaving his sight, but we don’t have an accurate picture of the errors the scooper may have, or did, commit himself, and I think AFLD will make sure we never will.