Good Riddance.

regardless of your personal feelings about him, McQuaid makes a great point in the article about his importance to and effect on cycling.
His presence these last four years has been more of a distraction and I think his "comeback" was probably something he might not have done in hindsight, but the his impact has lasted.

Say what you want about PEDs, but he's no worse that the rest of the bunch. They're all dopers. Cycling is still a glorious sport.

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Hilly Flats Racing

Assuming Lance is a doper, he would then in fact be much worse than the bunch because he had the influence and power to improve the situation and set an example and instead he chose to make the situation worse. That makes him much worse than a young kid choosing to dope because the team boss gave him no choice. Of course that may be how it started for Lance, but he could have done something to stop it later in his career but instead he chose to chase down guys who spoke out about it and ruin their careers.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

When Contador or any other rider raises $325 million for cancer research and a majority of the money actually goes to research, then I'll treat them the same way I treat Armstrong. He became a mouthpiece for his sport and used it for some good, if his titles get tainted one day then at least he can look back and see that he did something with his fame when he had it. Can Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, and the unfortunate growing lists of others say that?

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So let the mid-packer attacks begin. Everyone hates the guy that can whoop them hard. That's why everyone on ST hates Lance.

you've been drinking Landis Kool-Aid

Were Riis, Ullrich, Contador, and even Merckx young kids that chose to dope because their boss gave them no choice?
These guys were Tour winners who've either admitted to or been caught doping. (Say what you want about Contador's case, but clen and plasticizers = dope in my court whether admissible or not).

Even if Armstrong is the world's biggest asshole, his impact on cycling in this country has been enormous. Just look at the size of Trek before 1999 compared to now. They ain't Schwinn and it's largely due to LA.

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Hilly Flats Racing

You make a good point about Schwinn and TREK.

Without his return from retirement we wouldn't have the SpeedConcept and all of the great threads that go along with it!

Mark my word. NO ONE WILL EVER BRING DOWN Lance Armstrong! The people that hate him just suck. The Slow Twitchers that hate him are "never-has-beens!" A lot of people with cancer have hope because of LIVESTRONG. He will be vindicated in a couple months. It's clear that there will be NO TRIAL. You need a thing called evidence for that. How about our tax dollars go to somethingmore important. For instance, If you collect food stamps and live on a gov. checks and housing, you should not be allowed to buy an Escalade or Flat Screen TV. Every sport on earth has corruption. Lance made out pretty good in the end and people do benefit from it. Time to play the 1999 TDF DVD for the 150th time!!!

+1
Livestrong.
Dope or not, he has raised massive amounts of money for cancer.
Dope or not, he has kept cycling alive in America.

Wow.

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"One Line Robert"

"That's why everyone on ST hates Lance."

that's interesting. according to those posting on other threads, "everybody on ST loves lance."

i guess that means, in the aggregate, "everybody" on ST has it figured out about right.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

"Assuming Lance is a doper"

Why? Isn't that the exact opposite of what I should assume?

So long COTHO, you've inspired the next generation of dopers to give to charity in hopes that the PR will save them from positives. What a legacy.

Let's assume Lance hasn't been clean his entire career. If he had chosen to not participate in the activities that were obviously going on all around him, would we have the Livestrong Foundation? Most likely not. Lance doesn't win as many Tours and therefore isn't the 'Lance' we know today. And before you blast about hipocracy, that foundation has pumped millions into cancer research. So I say, if he cheated, so did everyone else (doesn't make it right). But he chose to use his new found celebrity status to bring to light a major health issue and do something about it. More than I can say about a lot of other sport celebrities that chose to do nothing...

And he pissed off the French along the way. I say win-win.

I guess the Lance haters are just louder...or spend their entire workday on ST. :)

wouldn't it be 3.0?

I hope that LA gets nailed for doping.

We all know that he beat a bunch of guys that were doped to the gills, so you can pretty much guarantee that he was doped too. But that really isn't why I hope he gets pinched. I think that if he goes down, he'll bring the whole sport with him. He's not going to be the fall guy for anyone; and when the Man comes to get him, hopefully he'll roll on everything and everyone that he knows is associated with doping in the sport. The only way to save cycling at this point, I think, is to burn the whole thing to the ground and let it grow again out of the ashes.

Regardless of whether he used his celebrity for a very worthy cause, regardless of what sort of hope he gave to people, he is still culpable for his illegal actions. And while I can think of almost no one that has done better things with their fame (maybe Bono? The Dali Lama? :) ), he needs to be accountable. Love what the LAF does, but it's a shame what LA (allegedly) did to make it happen.

I would imagine - if I was on his legal team and had all the inside dirt - that my advice would be to defer, stall and obfuscate as much as possible until the statue of limitations had run out on as many of the illegal things as possible (perjury, etc.)... Oh, and to get out of the spotlight as fast as f'n possible so that those things can happen on the DL...

Money is not the answer to problems. If Pablo Escobar or Madoff donated some of their money to charities then you would treat them the same way as Lance? All that matters is how much money you have donated?

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Ride Scoozy Electric Bicycles
http://www.RideScoozy.com

Escobar did support soccer programs and incentives to grow community/industry in Columbia. He was also a psychopath and a drug dealer. Armstrong has not been tried, found guilty other than the court of public opinion. He is a philanthropist and retired cyclist until other other evidence is brought to light. Landis and Contador are dopers.

If it comes out that Armstrong doped it is going to suck for him and his foundation, but it will be a Tiger Woods situation where people will be mad and publicly scorn him until he does something big enough that they will forgive him. Unless he spits on a putting green in Europe. People are more apt to forgive charity cases then they are people that apparently cheated for selfish reasons (Woods cheating just involved a different kind of needle).

Again my stance, but I'm not a huge cyclist or cycling fan, I'm an Armstrong fan.

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Lance Juice = Michelob Ultra... great in your water bottle on an early morning ride after a long night out

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__________________________________________________
Hunter Robinson
http://www.twitter.com/el_slice
http://www.elslicerideco.com
Sponsored by: http://www.92fifty.com

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

This guy must be quite the swimmer.

is that horse sleeping?

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Hilly Flats Racing

I just don't get it...why all the hate?

What more do people want? LA has been tested 100s of times and every single test has been negative for PEDs. He is either the world's greatest con man or exactly like all of the evidence shows...that he is and always has been innocent.

In regards to the comparison to Bonds, Landis, and others that have been in the spot light for doping...these comparisons are completely unjustified. These individuals either admitted to taking these illegal items or been proven that they have taken them. This is the opposite situation that Lance is in...he has always denied and proven that he is innocent, so using these people as comparison tools is uncalled for.

Haters just want to hate to say "I TOLD YOU SOOO" and "I knew the whole time"...if it were proven. But until then, keep your personal opinions to yourself until substancial evidence and proof is released.

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