Lance dope?

[Tigermike 3,853]

Tour director: Ball is now in Lance's 'camp'

Associated Press

Posted: 47 minutes ago

PARIS (AP) - The director of the Tour de France said it was a "proven scientific fact" that Lance Armstrong had a performance-boosting drug in his body during his 1999 Tour win, and that the seven-time champion owed fans an explanation.

In a story Wednesday, Jean-Marie Leblanc praised L'Equipe for an investigation that reported that six urine samples provided by Armstrong during the 1999 Tour tested positive for the red blood cell-booster EPO. The French sports daily on Tuesday accused Armstrong of using EPO during his first Tour win in 1999.

"For the first time — and these are no longer rumors or insinuations, these are proven scientific facts — someone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body," Leblanc told the paper.

"The ball is now in his camp. Why, how, by whom? He owes explanations to us and to everyone who follows the tour," Leblanc said. "What L'Equipe revealed shows me that I was fooled. We were all fooled."

Armstrong, a frequent target of L'Equipe, vehemently denied the allegations on Tuesday, calling the article "tabloid journalism."

"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs," he said on his Web site.

L'Equipe reported that six urine samples provided by the cancer-surviving American during the 1999 Tour tested positive for the red blood cell-booster EPO. The drug, formally known as erythropoietin, was on the list of banned substances at the time, but there was no effective test to detect it.

The allegations surfaced six years later because EPO tests on the 1999 samples were carried out only last year - when scientists at a lab outside Paris used them for research to perfect EPO testing. The national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry said it promised to hand its finding to the World Anti-Doping Agency, provided it was never used to penalize riders.

Five-time cycling champion Miguel Indurain said he couldn't understand why scientists would use samples from the 1999 Tour for their tests.

"That seems bizarre, and I don't know who would have the authorization to do it," he told L'Equipe. "I don't even know if it's legal to keep these samples."

L'Equipe's investigation was based on the second set of two samples used in doping tests. The first set were used in 1999 for analysis at the time. Without those samples, any disciplinary action against Armstrong would be impossible, French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour said.

Lamour said he was forced to have doubts about L'Equipe's report because he had not seen the originals of some of the documents that appeared in the paper.

"I do not confirm it," he told RTL radio. But he added: "If what L'Equipe says is true, I can tell you that it's a serious blow for cycling."

The International Cycling Union did not begin using a urine test for EPO until 2001, though it was banned in 1990. For years, it had been impossible to detect the drug, which builds endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells.

Jacques de Ceaurriz, the head of France's anti-doping laboratory, which developed the EPO urine test, told Europe-1 radio that at least 15 urine samples from the 1999 Tour had tested positive for EPO.

Separately, the lab said it could not confirm that the positive results were Armstrong's. It noted that the samples were anonymous, bearing only a six-digit number to identify the rider, and could not be matched with the name of any one cyclist.

However, L'Equipe said it was able to make the match.

On one side of a page Tuesday, it showed what it claimed were the results of EPO tests from anonymous riders used for lab research. On the other, it showed Armstrong's medical certificates, signed by doctors and riders after doping tests - and bearing the same identifying number printed on the results.

L'Equipe is owned by the Amaury Group whose subsidiary, Amaury Sport Organization, organizes the Tour de France and other sporting events. The paper often questioned Armstrong's clean record and frequently took jabs at him - portraying him as too arrogant, too corporate and too good to be real.

"Never to such an extent, probably, has the departure of a champion been welcomed with such widespread relief," the paper griped the day after Armstrong won his seventh straight Tour win and retired from cycling. Are the Frenchies jealous?

Leblanc suggested that in the future, urine samples could be stashed away for future testing as detection methods improve - another possible weapon in the fight against doping.

"We're so tired of doping that all means are good as long as they are morally acceptable," he told L'Equipe.

http://msn.foxsports.com/cycling/story/4801648?GT1=6773

[AURaptor 1,137]

the lab said it could not confirm that the positive results were Armstrong's.  

So, for all their bluster and hype, the Frenchies have no evidence what so ever. Sounds like a case of sour grapes and cheese, to me.

[Ranger12 53]

Let it be known that I am not a big Lance Armstrong fan like I used to be. After he left his wife and kids like he did, he dropped low in my "likable guys" category. That did not take away from what he did with overcoming cancer and being the great athlete he is, but I just don't think he is that great of a person who chose his sport over his family.

Now with that said, this report comes from the same newspaper that has been after him since he won his first TDF. They don't like Americans winning their events, so this particular paper has been after him for along time, which makes their credibility really low in my book. Seeing how, according to the lab, they are not able to trace the samples back to any particular rider, but this paper is able to do it because of some signed records sounds fishy to me. Using samples that are 6 years old makes it sound even more fishy. If this drug was hard to detect and if Lance was using it, then I would bet I large majority of the other contenders were using it too. That means Lance still beat them on the same level. I have a hard time believing this one drug gave him what he needed to win 7 straight TDFs, but again this guy did choose his sport and fame over his family, so that tells me that his integrity is not all that it is hyped to be sometimes.

[BustemBigBlue 222]

I didn't want to believe it but after watching a special on ESPN today it appears Lance did use some sort of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Even his former teamates testified he was doping and encouraging them to as well. Of course, it could all be a big conspiracy.

[JxnTider 0]

u know, there may just be a really simple explanantion to all this that everyone is overlooking. If, in fact, the drug was actually found in his blood, and the tests were true, it still shouldn't matter. WHY? because i think that EPO is one of the drugs they give chemo and radiation patients to boost their immune systems. They have to give them something to boost their Red Blood Cell production, and consequently, their White Blood Cells (immune system) to fight off the effects of the chemo and radiation. That stuff kills the bad cells and good cells, so they have to give the patients all kinds of drugs to boost their immune response. And, since Lance was a cancer patient, it wouldn't be doping, it would be treatment. So they still have no case really. Just my opinion.

I think i'm right about the drug. First year nursing student, and i believe that is one of the drugs we talked about in cancer treatment. If anyone is better informed, and i'm mistaken, please correct me.

[SouthLink02 8]

It is time to find out if this sample is or is NOT his.

The ESPN special did in fact change my opinion as well.....not that he did dope but now I am really not sure.

[Ranger12 53]

u know, there may just be a really simple explanantion to all this that everyone is overlooking.  If, in fact, the drug was actually found in his blood, and the tests were true, it still shouldn't matter.  WHY?  because i think that EPO is one of the drugs they give chemo and radiation patients to boost their immune systems.  They have to give them something to boost their Red Blood Cell production, and consequently, their White Blood Cells (immune system) to fight off the effects of the chemo and radiation.  That stuff kills the bad cells and good cells, so they have to give the patients all kinds of drugs to boost their immune response.  And, since Lance was a cancer patient, it wouldn't be doping, it would be treatment.  So they still have no case really.  Just my opinion.

I think i'm right about the drug.  First year nursing student, and i believe that is one of the drugs we talked about in cancer treatment.  If anyone is better informed, and i'm mistaken, please correct me.

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That thought crossed my mind, but then I thought, why has not he or his doctors came out and already stated that fact right out of the gate?! Their omission of that is what makes me wonder.

[rexbo 104]

I saw where he already 'admitted' a long time ago that he was given this drug during his chemo. But, of course, he was long done with that before he entered and rode in the Tour in 1999...