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Dear UCI,now that you're about to lose an assload of money....

stiksandstones

Turbo Monkey
May 21, 2002
5,078
25
Orange, Ca
lance and his connections..... http://velorooms.com/files/ArmstrongBusinessConnections.pdf
this is why this is way bigger than just him doping. It was a vast conspiracy that made a lot of people a lot of money. The only thing he's sorry about is getting caught, and he's obviously still very much pissed off at those that let the cat out of the bag.
I never knew John Burke from trek was an owner of Tailwind sports too?

Did we ask yet if Trek will bring back the Greg Lemond brand?
 
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FlipFantasia

Turbo Monkey
Oct 4, 2001
1,656
492
Sea to Sky BC
I never knew John Burke from trek was an owner of Tailwind sports too?

Did we ask yet if Trek will bring back the Greg Lemond brand?
the whole thing is rather incestuous, ain't it?! I love the connections to AMGEN too, world's largest EPO manufacturer, sponsor of the tour of California, etc.....rather brazen.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,379
24,026
media blackout
Neither of us know the exact details.....but i agree with you, he was not being totally truthful. I don't think he wants to go to jail or lose every penny he has.

There are some area he knows to be careful in what he is saying....
very true. i don't think he was necessarily lying per se - moreso that he wasn't giving 100% of the story.

and he refused to answer about the 1996 hospital incident w/ betsy andreu. can't lie if you don't answer.

also, i think there's more to the UCI / WADA story, and his coercion of getting teammates to dope.

I thought i heard on the news the Whistlerblower case was set to expire in the next week or two.......which i thought was made the timing of this odd. Lance got a team of lawyers, i guess they knew the ropes...
They don't call him Lance Lawyerstrong for nothing.*


*nickname credit kidwoo
 

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,149
354
Roanoke, VA
USPS team had a training budget an order of magnitude above everyone else.
No, they did.
Have you read any of the documents presented by USADA or the federal government?

Not only did they have the most money(in that the had the unlimited resources of a megalomanical billionaire) they had (and still have)unimaginable political connections that are going to blow yer frigging mind in a week or two when the financial media catches up.
 

Cant Climb

Turbo Monkey
May 9, 2004
2,683
10
the whole thing is rather incestuous, ain't it?! I love the connections to AMGEN too, world's largest EPO manufacturer, sponsor of the tour of California, etc.....rather brazen.
That was in the news the second AMGEN was annouced as the title sponsor. Nothing came of it then....
 
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bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
Just to put things in perspective- There's a chance Lance could go to jail and/or lose all the money he has because he cheated at bicycle racing.

Meanwhile CEO at big banks get to misuse taxpayer bailout money and nothing happens.

just sayin.
 

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,149
354
Roanoke, VA
Anyone know about what a team at the tour costs for one go? And also how much does a years worth of doping/epo/etc cost relative to the whole enchilada? Lance supposedly paid Ferrari $1mil for all 7 years, no?
Those are the documented payments to Ferrari.

There was also revolving payment system across the peleton that involved "rider image contracts" manged by Italian ex-pro Francesco Casagrande that was used as a slush fund for multiple teams(because most of the doping schemes are run from the top down in teams) that was run through a series of Swiss banks. It was "voluntary" to pay into those slush funds.
Primarily it was used to get bulk discounts on doping products but it also allowed the "doctors" to maximize their profits as the medical resources went primarily to team leaders who had separate(documented) payment accounts with the main doping doctors while the grunts got pretty much f3cked. Working with the Casagrande network was safer than working on your own but the resources were not allocated equally. For most riders in Europe(and almost all of them in the US) cycling is a form of slavery, and team directors tend to treat the majority of their riders like disposable cattle(because they are).

All of that information is in the Ferrari dosier that the Italian government has.
The Spanish courts also have an extensive list of payments from dozens of riders to Eufemiano Fuentes and other creepy Spanish vampires too. That case, Puerto, implicated 8 teams and ended a few careers, including Ulrich.

Both Fuentes and Ferrari are implicated in blood doping scandals outside of cycling as well.

Armstrong worked with both Fuentes(who handled his day to day infusions and testosterone dosage) and Ferrari(who managed the overall doping schedule).

It's estimated that Ferrari made(and laundered) more than 11 million dollars over the last 15 years.

Armstrong/USAC were only the vanguards in all of this stuff. Corruption that they funded helped trickled down and Armstrong's extraordinary budget(yeah, some of it provided by his cancer charity, like his private jet) allowed him to have the best access to the most exclusive doctors.
In the 2003-2005 seasons Armstrong had near-exclusive access to Ferrari. The level of service he provide to people like Hamilton, Basso, etc. was more limited, often only a few times a year whereas Ferrari would show up far more often to work with Armstrong, including during the middle of the tour.

Because the UCI is as corrupt as an institution can possibly be(the guy that owned Tailwind sports was also the UCI president's stock broker for christ's sake!) all of these huge finding and criminal raids went nowhere and did nothing to change the sport.

The fact that downhillers(most of whom pay dues to their national governing body) are so in the dark about all of this corruption, which has been common knowledge in the endurance world forever shows just how good these people were at manipulating the media and public opinion.

The average budget of a pro road team is about~$11,000,000. It takes a lot more to win the Tour de France. That doesn't include shadow payments to puppet governing bodies, race promoters and "doctors".

World Cup mtb racing, on the other hand is way, way, way cheaper. At the peak of the MTB racing boom in the late 90's(when a lot more mtb racers were making 6 figures) it took about $5mil to run a 14 rider world cup xc/dh program.

Perspective eh?
 
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dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,183
4,401
That is what I was thinking the other day.
Trek bring back Lemond? Trek burned that bridge a long time ago. Would be great to see Lemond resurface under another umbrella. I had a Poprad back in the day... good bike.
 

Goose76

Chimp
Jan 3, 2013
22
0
Austraya
I'm on a Trek boycot now was going to buy a Remedy next. My Armstrong book and Carmichael training guide will go in the bin today. I just wish my Livestrong Jawbones weren't so expensive otherwise they'd be gone to.

Armstrong was so evasive last night and how are we expected to suddenly believe he's telling the truth after 20 years of lying. The damage done to the sport from that era is immense and that's after the 1998 Festina affair.

Besty Andreu was livid last night you could see the raw emotion in her, she is one strong woman. Then on the other had you have the greatest individual sporting cheat in world history finally admitting to PED's and skirting around the main questions.

The right thing would be for him to cooperate with USADA and give all the information he has. The lifetime ban should still stand IMO.

But as discussed above this is just the start of a far greater story still to come with Tom Weasel and Phat McQauid and Heinous Verbruggen. Hopefully there's a massive cleanout at UCI HQ and we see people jailed.
 
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canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,116
19,043
Canaderp
The lifetime ban should still stand IMO.
Agreed. That should go for everyone, too.

It'd be like me cheating on a final exam at college and then getting caught. At my school they won't even question you if they have the proof. You are immediately booted out the front door and asked to never return.

Sure, you can cheat and then feel sorry and/or bad about it after. But you still cheated. Nothing will change that and you should have to live with that.
 

SuspectDevice

Turbo Monkey
Aug 23, 2002
4,149
354
Roanoke, VA
I've been hearing rumors of a few organised protests against USAC/UCI at cyclo-cross worlds in Louisville Kentucky next weekend.
If I hear any more about that stuff I'll be sure to share it.
Louisville has a pretty killer skatepark...
 

Goose76

Chimp
Jan 3, 2013
22
0
Austraya
Agreed. That should go for everyone, too.

It'd be like me cheating on a final exam at college and then getting caught. At my school they won't even question you if they have the proof. You are immediately booted out the front door and asked to never return.

Sure, you can cheat and then feel sorry and/or bad about it after. But you still cheated. Nothing will change that and you should have to live with that.
I've wondered for some time whether the penalty for doping should be an automatic lifetime ban. I know it sounds harsh but it may make people think twice before cheating. Once the first couple of people are banned for life it might make the rest wake up.
 

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
The right thing would be for him to cooperate with USADA and give all the information he has. The lifetime ban should still stand IMO.
What exactly is his motivation to come clean if the ban is still going to stand? That's right up there with a previous boss asking us to triple our productivity with no raises or bonuses in the past 3 years. Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that...
 

Goose76

Chimp
Jan 3, 2013
22
0
Austraya
What exactly is his motivation to come clean if the ban is still going to stand? That's right up there with a previous boss asking us to triple our productivity with no raises or bonuses in the past 3 years. Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that...
That's why I stated 'the right thing to do', ie if he had a conscience which he doesn't so he won't. He had a deal on the table and turned it down which would have only been a two year ban. He stated in part 2 he thinks he deserves to complete again, how delusional can someone be. The lifetime ban is the penalty that will hurt him the most and the most just given what has been done.
 

sbabuser

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2004
1,114
55
Golden, CO
That's why I stated 'the right thing to do', ie if he had a conscience which he doesn't so he won't. He had a deal on the table and turned it down which would have only been a two year ban. He stated in part 2 he thinks he deserves to complete again, how delusional can someone be. The lifetime ban is the penalty that will hurt him the most and the most just given what has been done.
I'm still not sure why the better cheater = worse person. They all cheated, and there aren't rules to govern different levels of cheating, so not sure why there should be different punishments.
 

Goose76

Chimp
Jan 3, 2013
22
0
Austraya
I'm still not sure why the better cheater = worse person. They all cheated, and there aren't rules to govern different levels of cheating, so not sure why there should be different punishments.
From what I understand the other riders were given a two year ban and it was be reduced to 25% ie six months given discretion/co-operation, this appears to have been met. LA had a two year deal with no reduction however that was turned down. I can only assume USADA wouldn't discount given the level of evidence given by 11 former team mates and 15 other witnesses which placed him as the ring leader. It was placed in the worst of the worse category. Based on this I'm fine with differing penalties.