The whole situation is just weird.
I'm completely on the fence about wether he did or didn't. But I do think tour #6 was maybe fixed. Breaking one of the sports biggest records and nobody seemed to really want to beat him? It just seemed wrong.
You'd think with the scrutiny the racers are under he would have been caught. 500+ passed tests in an era when they test to absurd levels for damn near everything is amazing. I mean, if eating a poppy seed bagel can cause a positive test for opiates and get a rider a 2 year suspension OR a rider can merely go to a different training site than he put on his "where will you be during the offseason" forms and have that counted as a positive result how did he avoid getting caught? (Both actually happened, the first overturned on appeal to WADA but would have stood without a reciept, the second got a guy fired and removed from the tour while leading)
Of course, he had the budget and backing that he could have been a couple steps ahead of the testers.
Part of the problem is that all his accusers are problematic. From all I've heard he's only a great guy to ride with/for if you follow his plan. The guys who did were treated very well, those who maybe asked for a large role or more recognition for themselves were shunned and fired. The better ones moved on to other teams but got no cooperation of any kind, the marginal guys essentially got blacklisted. And that's usually the group that's making the accusations.
Following the money makes me think the recent stuff is being put out there by Lemond. He's been very critical of Lance publicly, and has made accusations that don't appear to have much substance. That caused Trek to cancel his product line and sue him for the money lost or something. He countered claiming the never marketed his stuff as well as the contract called for. So big money+axe being ground= Maybe he had enough clout to get charges filed? I hope that's not the case as it can only get messier from there.
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The UCI released a list of riders ranked by level of suspicion. Things like knowing Dr Ferrari -one of the peoplenamed in USADAs accusations and a guy who's been caught in the past - put someone in the suspect category.
Some of the names rated as not at all suspect astounded me. Like Cancellara. He routinely beats everyone in Time trials by a wide margin. Including guys who are very suspect.
The european attitude is very different from ours, at least in cycling. The riders who are caught, take their 2 year suspension and seem contrite are welcomed back. The ones that make lame excuses and fight too hard to not be suspended are pretty much done. They'd be ok with Canseco, but definetly not Bonds.
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