# Is Lance Armstrong about to admit he cheated? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159 "2013-01-05T15:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/102 "2013-01-16T11:08:41Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > What’s your source for this? It seems implausible at least as far as cycling is concerned: almost everyone with any association with LA from LA’s era has been busted or has confessed. > > Now perhaps he could offer to give evidence against team management or cycling’s organisers. That might be something. Several articles, including the WSJ I think. And yes, I meant team mgmt and organizers, not the cyclists themselves ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/103 "2013-01-16T11:25:12Z")
Seems very odd that Johan Bruyneel is not getting more mention in the media. With Armstrong’s confession (and high likelihood that he’ll offer up evidence on the team managers etc), there isn’t one iota of plausible deniability for Bruneel. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/104 "2013-01-16T12:40:51Z")
Bruyneel is a dead man walking amongst cycling aficionados. However outside of the cycling media, there is only Lance Armstrong and, uh, some other guys I guess… Media attention is applied accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/105 "2013-01-16T13:18:17Z")
Yeah, the Bruyneel case isn’t even interesting at this point. What is interesting is if Armstrong knows things that can touch people like Verbruggen (former head of UCI). ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/106 "2013-01-16T16:01:55Z")
How could anyone think steroids are [common](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02294/greipel-and-forste_2294083b.jpg) in bike racers? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/107 "2013-01-16T20:35:36Z")
What, you don’t think cycling a couple of hundred kilometers a day would give you huge leg muscles? Steroid use is not the issue here NurseCarmen, the issue is blood doping. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/108 "2013-01-16T22:14:14Z")
The guys in the picture are sprinters, though. On the left is Greipel, who’s a sprint specialist on a grand tour team. So he does ride a couple hundred km per day. On the right is a German track sprinter - 500m in the velodrome. He’s not riding long distances that much. Possible they’re using steroids, though hardly necessarily the case. The picture was circulated because it makes Greipel, who’s a huge over-muscled hulk of a man compared to the GC contenders in the grand tours, look like he’s puny. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/109 "2013-01-17T00:05:28Z")
Is using steroids viable? I know that there are a lot of doping methods that are hard to detect but my impression was that using steroids to bulk up wasn’t so easy to get away with. Don’t know much about it though so I could be entirely wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/110 "2013-01-17T00:26:26Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Yeah, the Bruyneel case isn’t even interesting at this point. What is interesting is if Armstrong knows things that can touch people like Verbruggen (former head of UCI). My guess is he can. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/111 "2013-01-17T00:28:23Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Is using steroids viable? I know that there are a lot of doping methods that are hard to detect but my impression was that using steroids to bulk up wasn’t so easy to get away with. Don’t know much about it though so I could be entirely wrong. TdF or any Tour riders typically do _not_ want bulk. Steroids are not a problem in road racing. They might be in track sprinting, but not in road racing. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/112 "2013-01-17T00:41:51Z")
In road cycling power-to-weight ratio is king. One of the enduring alarm bells which never EVER stopped ringing with regards to Armstrong was the extraordinary body shape change he went through before and after his cancer problems. To this day there are still defenders crying “It was the cancer! The cancer changed him into a Grand Tour winner! The cancer did it!” But not people in the know. People in the and around the sport, the journalists, the mechanics, the promoters, the fans - they all knew there was something unbelievable about the transformation. There are shots of Armstrong in the ITT at the Atlanta Olympics and he was built, quite frankly, like a rugby player. He was a full on roids man. He was never in with a shot of winning a Grand Tour. Not even Top 40. Then, post cancer, he turned into a scrawny chook who could maintain 500+ watts on every climb at 110 cadence. All of a sudden he was now an EPO man. Yes, it’s true that steroids and testosterone will help your muscles and ligaments repair themselves after maximum exertion and slight tears. However, EPO and a high hematocrit will help your overnight recovery far more, with regards to daily endurance. That’s what Armstrong discovered during his cancer scare. He was being given EPO as part of his chemo. By his own admission, he lost heaps of weight during the chemo (because he was no longer on the gear) and then he discovered an ability to climb and recover overnight, due to the EPO, that he had never known before. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/113 "2013-01-17T02:45:05Z")
I have not read every preceding post, so excuse me if the following point has already been made. How many times has Armstrong lied under oath?- Dozens? He is a serial perjurer. Google reveals that the maximum federal penalty for perjury is five years, and in Texas the max for “aggravated” perjury is 10 years, so if he is convicted for every crime by every jurisdiction where he faces exposure he could be looking at over 100 years. It would serve the cheating, lying bastard right. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/114 "2013-01-17T02:50:21Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Is using steroids viable? I know that there are a lot of doping methods that are hard to detect but my impression was that using steroids to bulk up wasn’t so easy to get away with. Don’t know much about it though so I could be entirely wrong. I think the advantage is retained for two or more weeks after dosing is discontinued- long enough for for the system to eliminate all detectable trace. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/115 "2013-01-17T03:10:31Z")
He’s only been under oath once, iirc, in the SCA case. He most definitely perjured himself, but what’s the statute of limitations? ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/116 "2013-01-17T04:04:41Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > He’s only been under oath once, iirc, in the SCA case. He most definitely perjured himself, but what’s the statute of limitations? According to the following _USA Today_ (10-30-12) cite SCR’s lawyer seems to agree with you, but at the same time says SA may face some other form of liability. [Dallas firm wants Lance Armstrong punished for perjury](http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/cycling/2012/10/30/lance-armstrong-perjury-doping/1668765/) (from link, emphasis added): > [@](#): > > (1) …“No matter what his lawyers say, we intend to seek sanctions against Mr. Armstrong for lying in our proceedings,” said Jeff Tillotson, an attorney for SCA. “ **He lied to the judges, and they retain the right to sanction him**.”… > > (2)…Because Armstrong’s sworn testimony in the case happened seven years ago, **Tillotson said the statue of limitations probably protects Armstrong from criminal perjury charges** for those statements. I had assumed he at least gave depositions relating to other pending court cases and investigations. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/117 "2013-01-18T00:24:37Z")
So, the interview was today, right? Enough with the speculations, leaks, and rumors: What did he actually say? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/118 "2013-01-18T01:20:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So, the interview was today, right? Enough with the speculations, leaks, and rumors: What did he actually say? It was taped Monday, but airs tonight at 9 PM. On that OWN channel, or I think at Oprah’s website. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/119 "2013-01-18T01:53:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > It was taped Monday, but airs tonight at 9 PM. On that OWN channel, or I think at Oprah’s website. Yup, link [here](http://ownspecial.oprah.com/lancearmstrong.html) for the live stream. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/120 "2013-01-18T02:01:23Z")
It’s on now, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159/121 "2013-01-18T02:04:30Z")
She asked why he admits it now. His answer is that, “It’s too late now. I view this situation as one big lie, that I repeated many times.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lance-armstrong-about-to-admit-he-cheated/646159.md?page=7)