I agree. If consenting, informed adults want to accept health risks in return for improved athletic performance, so be it. And if non-dopers can’t compete, well - every profession has barriers to entry. I don’t see why anyone gives a damn about this.
So in short he answers the question “Have you ever cheated?” with “I’ve never been caught cheating.”
Actually, he answers “No, and despite decades of testing there have been no positive results to support the allegations.”
No it’s worse than that. He answers the question with “Here is a piece of misleading noise that you think sounds like evidence but which I know means nothing. Lap it up, ignorant suckers!”
And I should add that LA’s strategy works. Every time we have one of these discussions people come out with comments like Airman’s above that LA is “demonstrably clean”. People either don’t know or just refuse to acknowledge or cannot get their heads around the fact that there were no relevant tests at the relevant time.
It’s the NCIS effect: people just assume that People in White Coats are all knowing and have a test for everything and that if LA has Been Tested[sup]TM[/sup] then that’s a complete answer.
Anyone who follows cycling closely knows that is complete bullshit.
The EPO test came into use in 2001, if I understand correctly? And Armstrong won the Tour each year through 2005. Was he not tested in the overlapping years? Did they only test a random sample of riders each year? I don’t know what the procedures were.
Once the EPO test came into use, blatant EPO use stopped except amongst dummies (who were then usually caught). After that the peloton largely moved to blood transfusions. For which there was no test and still isn’t, as such.
Sorry I should have said “autologous” blood transfusions.
Well, maybe this is what you meant by “blatant EPO use stopped” but really they just changed methods and also used new varieties of EPO. EPO is out of the system relatively quickly so they could still get away with it in training as long as random testing didn’t get them, and they also changed to microdosing so it would be clear out of their system overnight. Isn’t autologous blood transfusion usually used in combination with EPO or other drugs? (They wait until the EPO is cleared then get the blood for later transfusion).
In Armstrong’s case there is a lot of evidence that he was warned prior to any “random” tests. I’m not sure when, but I believe at some point in those years the out of season testing wasn’t actually random, either, but scheduled. I’d have to check on the latter.
Cyclists were also getting away with using different versions of EPO, as seen when the Mayo got busted in 2007 and there were also several positives in 2009 for a variety that hadn’t been caught previously.
Through this whole period, there were still plenty of ways to beat the EPO tests. Most often the positives were from riders that screwed up the doping protocols designed to beat the tests.
Wasn’t there also a new test in the past few years? Was that the one that resulted in the burst of positives in 2009?
CERA was a variation of EPO that caught out a series of guys in the 2008 Tour, Stefan Schumacher, Riccardo Riccò, Leonardo Piepoli, Bernhard Kohl. I’m guessing that’s probably what theR is remembering. Also remember a team getting busted in customs for having some doping drugs in the possession of a team soigneur. Was thinking this was the Saunier Duval team in 2008, but apparently I’m confusing this incident with something else. CERA was supposed to be not processed by the kidneys thus users could escape the piss test.
Also of note, 2008 was the race that Armstrong watched from his couch and decided he could still beat those schlubs…
Thanks for clearing that up. I actually pictured a tight-packed mass of bicyclists racing up the Champs-Élysées, all connected to IVs with blood packs on poles attached to their seats. 
Your update makes it make more sense.
Amen. Very well said.
I give a damn because I think the playing field should be a level test of skill,
and the winner should be the product of ability and effort.
How could anyone have a problem with that?
Well, the cyclists seem to have a problem with that, so I don’t know what to tell you.
No, only the complete assholes, including some but hopefully not all cyclists, are the ones who have a problem.
And if you don’t know what to tell me then how about if next time you don’t tell me anything.
I happen to think that individual athletic events should be a showcase for the absolute capabilities of human beings, and since there clearly is room for humans to advance their performance I’m all for it. The ability and the effort is still there, even with steroids. I could juice all day every day and nothing that I do will ever put me within 50% of their performance.
The only caveat I have is that they are totally, completely, 100% informed of the consequences so they can’t turn around and say that they didn’t know. Once that’s done I say have at it.
As **fiddlesticks **said you are probably thinking of CERA. Several got caught because they thought that CERA - being a new variant of EPO - was undetectable. Unbeknown to them, the drug company in question developed a test for the new drug but deliberately didn’t publicise the fact. Oops.
And yes, I agree that there are various methods - such as microdosing and avoiding testing at inconvenient times - that the peloton, including LA, could and probably were using to continue using EPO (or variants) even after a test for EPO was developed.
However, I’m trying to keep it simple to permit people to understand. Even if a rider wasn’t using these more risky and complex methods, the simplest point is that prior to about 2001 one could use EPO and before and since then use autologous blood tranfusions without any chance of failing a test.
Can’t wait until he’s finally discredited for good
HUH?? So those who choose to not dope should be at a grievous disadvantage because they choose to go at it the legal/rule way?
Steelers fan aren’t you? Doesn’t the fact that your entire offensive line from the 70’s is pretty much dead bother you much? Individuals have a right to make their own decision.. but this is a sport.. their are rules. LA can’t attach a jet pack to his bike.
I think that Airman is proposing a different competition in which doping is legal. At least I hope that’s what he’s saying. I don’t think he’s saying people should be able to dope in a competition where doping is illegal.