Lance Armstrong has been accused, yet again, of having used performance enhancing drugs.
“Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Tomorrow?s L?Equipe, a French sports daily, is reporting that my 1999 samples were positive. Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow?s article is nothing short of tabloid journalism…I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs.”
I can not say that I am very surprised that these claims are being made, having touched on the subject when Armstrong retired. Bernard Moon was a bit more pessimistic than myself about the possibility of Armstrong actually being a cheater, but I still maintain that I believe that he is clean. After passing 178 drug tests despite the best efforts of various folks to prove he cheated, I think the guy is entitled to at least the benifit of the doubt.
Please trust that you have mass amounts of support! Thank you for your never ending inspiration! You’ve made such a difference in many lives!
I think that if they still have a bottle of pee-pee from 1999 handy they have bigger problems than whether or not Lance was using performance enhancing drugs.
Nicely put, Michelle. I wonder, though: if they are testing it now for a substance that wasn’t banned in 1999, is it still cheating? Not that I believe yet that they actually found him to be cheating.
Just for some background information:
EPO is a naturally occurring hormone found in the body. It is produced in the renal cortex of the kidneys whenever red blood cells start running low. It can also be triggered by anemia, lack of iron in the blood due to … oh, let’s say chemotheraphy. Yet another trigger that causes it’s production is training hard in high altitude conditions where lower oxygen levels stimulate increased EPO levels. This is something any first year anatomy student learns. Get real jerks!!! The guy’s got talent, unlike some journalistic hacks!!
Thanks, Le Ann, I did not know anything specific about the drug itself. You have to look at the source, though; the French especially have been trying to prove that he has cheated ever since he won his first one. What better way than to come up with a pseudo-scientific claim that leaves no room for him to defend himself?
further to Le Ann’s post, although EPO is an endogenous hormone there are now urine tests that identify recombinant EPO (ie exogenous administration)…
before this test it used to be the case that they would test indirectly by measuring hematocrit (sp?), which a reading outside the normal bounds could have been argued as being naturally stimulated EPO production. this is no longer the case.
All you pompous “professional” racers trash talk our riding style, but which type of people are coming first in those pro races? Chumps that do far worse than alleycat racers would do. Alleycats cheat by hanging onto a car and skitching. When I was a cat 2 in pro-am riders would bang dope and do everything possible to get ahead.