Quote:
Originally posted by RACooper
This may come as a shock I'm sure... but guess what ALL OF THE CYCLISTS give samples, and are tested for samples. The Tour de France does this because a) performance enhancing substances take away from the fairness the sport, and more importantly the accomplishments of the athletes. b) when you've had some cyclists die because of drugs designed to enhance performance during or immediately after the race, you have to enforce the zero-tolerance for safety reasons, and the image of the sport.
As for the tests testing negative back in 1999... well duh - they didn't have the technology back then to test for it effectively - hence the re-testing now with methods that can detect it (you really ought to read up a little more - and not the tabloids).
So as it stands there has been a positive result for 6 of the 17 tested samples from 1999 - results that have to be confirmed by others sources... if only to stop this they said he said crap on the sports coverage now.
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The other testing is a good step; and hopefully they'll find an answer to the doping problems in the sport. I think the Pantani death was really a wake-up call for cycling as a whole.
Hopefully, the mitigating factors that KSigRC mentioned will also be taken into account when they assess his samples. If he's guilty, fine, but it should by no means be on a technicality.
The perception at least is that Armstrong has been targeted by the European media; first the reports in the London papers, the book that alleged doping, and now the newspaper reports out of France. Cycling on a whole has been under a microscope, and the perception at least seems that Armstrong is under even more of one. Winning the Tour de France as often as he has (and yes, I realize there are many more cycling events around the world), especially after being sick, has caused more questions with every title.
Hopefully the answer comes out, whatever it may be.
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