Landis goes Postal

[taricha]

Next issue of Sports Illustrated with article on Armstrong with title "Big trouble":

Lance Armstrong denied doping allegations by Floyd Landis - SI.com - Magazine

U.S. press not that blind after all?

It just takes a former American champion accusing another American champion and teammate to get the U.S. press to pay attention.
Even if they didn't dismiss earlier allegations by europeans, they (rightly) deduced that their readers would chalk it up to jealousy/anti-americanism, yawn, and wonder why the U.S. press was airing unproven allegations from people with such an axe to grind against a legitimate hero.

 

[hod65]

I think that it is a positive result, when a man admits his guilt.

Ideally he should have confessed in 2006 (in fact, he should never have gone down the doping route in the first place).

I do think that he still owes Greg LeMond an apology for the accusations that were made in court though.

i think the moral aspect of it isnt even considered its if the team doctors can come up with a system that is allmost impossible to detect by the testers...thatseems to be the green light for doping .the thing with armstrong is its hard to image he would put stuff in to him after the great effert and dicipline he must have had in his recovery from cancer ..you,d have to be mad in my opinion then againn who knows....

 

[adamastor]

Now this is weird, really weird.

I can read new developments coming from the U.S. media, but also from European papers like German "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" stating today, that Armstrong might be trapped because of his comments while under oath in the SCA affair, and that SCA chief Hamman would be more than interested in collaborating with Novitzki, if he's asked

Lance Armstrong - Verstrickt in die eigenen Aussagen - Sport - sueddeutsche.de

But for at least 5 days I haven't seen anything, nothing whatsoever from French l'Equipe. All this around Landis is not really known by the French cycling fans. For years l'Equipe, and particularly Damien Ressiot have come up with articles, news, etc around Armstrong, but now...nothing.

Looks like "new ASO" is really taking over now, and they don't want to mess up their Tour de France 2010.

But, do you remember the Puerto affair? It started very slowly, and just 2 weeks before the Tour de France, it exploded. Well, I guess same will happen here.

And let me have this wild guess: Lance Armstrong is not going to take part at this year's TdF...nope. He will find a good enough reason for staying at home. The exposure will be too tough.

He's not going to Tour de Suisse, nor Dauphine. He's comin here to my home country Luxembourg. Why?

It's the best hiding in Europe for a cyclist. No Kimmage, no French reporter to ask stupid questions. Luxembourg reporters won't ask any embarrassing questions, because they don't have the balls, and it would damage the only sports where they're good at. In the persons of Benoit Joachim (at US Postal between 1999 ? until 2007 - to move to Astana) and Frank Schleck (proven to have transferred 7,000 eur to Fuentes 1 month before Puerto affair, the year where dozens of riders were banned from Tour de France for a "hint" of being involved - well, he wasn't and even won stage on Alpe d'Huez !) they have 2 "lame ducks" they need to protect, hence no funny questions to Luxembourg cyclists, nonono.

 

[swampy1970]

You gotta wonder what's gonna happen next...

... One wonders how long cannondale or Ouch would like to be associated with him and the team he rides for. It'd be a shame for bahati if they pulled the pulled the plug because of this...

Sadly, as predicted, OUCH have fecked off and dropped their sponsorship of the Bahati Foundation. Bahati have also parted ways with Landis...

Ouch: Landis Parts Ways With Bahati | Cyclingnews.com

Way to go Floyd. I might not agree with Bahati's sh1t-fit tendancies during races but what he and his Foundation are doing for the kids is great.

Let's all give Floyd a one handed clap for this one...

 

[Yojimbo_]

Sadly, as predicted, OUCH have fecked off and dropped their sponsorship of the Bahati Foundation. Bahati have also parted ways with Landis...

Ouch: Landis Parts Ways With Bahati | Cyclingnews.com

Way to go Floyd. I might not agree with Bahati's sh1t-fit tendancies during races but what he and his Foundation are doing for the kids is great.

Let's all give Floyd a one handed clap for this one...

I'm leaning towards believing much of what Floyd says, although additional corroboration is indeed required. I guess you would have liked him to keep his mouth shut.

I think it's OUCH that should be getting the one handed clap - and Bahati.

 

[gtm]

and the real interesting part of this article is, "Landis offered no documentation, though he says he kept journals that back up his claims."

kind of reminds me of ***** voets' story and the ghosts of festinas past.

Another interesting part of the article is what Kristin Armstrong said (or didn't say)


As for Landis's claim that he received EPO in her presence, Kristin wrote, "I don't remember that."

This is quite illuminating & suggests to me KA may have taken legal advice. She didn't say 'That never happened & Landis is lying'. The implication is at some point in the future her memory may be 'refreshed'.

 

[Andrija]

Something has fallen on my mind regarding all this mess and potential witnesses... During the years Armstrong made lots of people (in his environment) dissatisfied. I think, if this ends in court and they start to feel endangered, they won't have dilemma what to do. But, I'm not sure the words will be enough.
After all, maybe Armstrong finds the way to keep them silent.

 

[t-town]

If things pan out for Landis, Michael Barry may have to pen a sequel... "Inside the Magical Mystery Postal Bus"...

 

[sopas]

Another interesting part of the article is what Kristin Armstrong said (or didn't say)


As for Landis's claim that he received EPO in her presence, Kristin wrote, "I don't remember that."

This is quite illuminating & suggests to me KA may have taken legal advice. She didn't say 'That never happened & Landis is lying'. The implication is at some point in the future her memory may be 'refreshed'.

I wonder if Kristin has any idea how EPO looks like and/or how it is administered. Of course she doesn't remember.

 

[sopas]

I really hope Roberto Heras comes clean. Surely he knows a lot.

 

[oldbobcat]

Landis came clean, so to speak, because everything else had failed. His cycling career is essentially a wash. If he still had a way to preserve the remains of his career, through honesty or deceit, he would have tried that.

Heras is presumably comfortably retired from the sport by now. Unless there is stronger evidence, it would do him no good to explicitly impugn his reputation as well as stir up relations with Armstrong. He's getting a free ride on the presumption of Armstrong's innocence, so I don't blame him if he stays silent, at least until more facts come out.

 

[leerobbs]

Trolling is so easy isn't it? You just say something completely outrageous in a way that makes it sound like you believe it and everyone falls over their own incredulity because they just don't quite know how to respond.

On another note I'm wondering if Floyd can be put in jail for lying in court? He spent 2 years saying in court he didn't dope but now he's admitted it, what happens legally? Any lawyers here?

Lying in a judicial proceeding and go to jail? That would be something of an unusual occurance don't you think? I think it would be imparitive for them to finally define the word "is". Lying in todays world is just part of the deal. People do what they do and roll with it until it all falls down and then deny, delay and write a book. Right and wrong is a gray line that is really hard to define in our progressive world. Who can point a finger? Have you not made a mistake in your life before? Everybody is doing it so get off! Floyd will not be prosecuted unless he kills a dolphin or utters a word that is politcally incorrect. In the big picture he has not done anything earth shattering. The truth is doping in professional athletics is as common place as dweebs on this site. Even Tiger Woods is doping in golf for crying out loud. In a perfect world everyone would be competing w/o any performance enhancing methods, drugs, vitamins, weights etc. I wish they would just let them all compete as individuals, no teams no help, no pre event training, no massages, no chefs, no team cars. You carry all your equipment and food on your back. That would be the most fair way to see who is really the best rider (naturally). Every thing else is a result of who has the best new drug or training technique/equipment and does not provide fairness.

 

[tonyzackery]

^^Just because everybody is doing something does not make it, whatever it may be, the right thing to do. Never has, never will. Maybe in your world, being a lemming is acceptable and condoned, but do yourself a favor speak in the first person...

Furthermore, I don't live in the 'shades of grey' world where right and wrong are concerned. It's called having a moral compass - everyone has one. Unfortunately for some, theirs does not point due north.

Floyd Landis, absent hard evidence, should have come out and spoken only of his sordid drug use. What he has done thus far is simply created more chaos and confusion - a giant, McCarthyian-like witchhunt...

 

[dhk2]

Floyd Landis has proven himself to be a scum-bag of the highest order. To appeal to his friends and loyal supporters to give money for his legal defense when he knew he was guilty is about as low as anyone can get. I can only imagine the hurt that people like Dr. Arnie Baker feel now after donating much time and effort to helping defend this total loser. If Floyd is an example of what a strict Amish upbringing does for character, believe I'll pass.

 

[tonyzackery]

Floyd Landis has proven himself to be a scum-bag of the highest order. To appeal to his friends and loyal supporters to give money for his legal defense when he knew he was guilty is about as low as anyone can get. I can only imagine the hurt that people like Dr. Arnie Baker feel now after donating much time and effort to helping defend this total loser. If Floyd is an example of what a strict Amish upbringing does for character, believe I'll pass.

I fully agree on the scumminess of his hittin' folks up for money on his defense. But come on, now. Painting with an unfairly broad brush, aren't we? Floyd Landis doesn't even come close to epitomizing all Amish people - and I don't even know a single Amish person. I could use all kinds of examples illustrating the problem with that kind of statement, but I really don't feel it's necessary as you should be able to understand the point I'm making...

 

[slovakguy]

first things first, the landis family are mennonites, not amish. although closely related on the religious spectrum, those sects are not interchangeable.

second, whatever your opinion of his character and his allegations, i have greater respect for his courage in admitting his own wrongdoing and in offering detailed information in order to combat doping in the sport. should he have kept quiet about those around him who also doped or who aided in his cheating? not if doping in the sport is to be forced to a statistically negligible level. landis is effectively and truly out of the sport. the major players in facilitating doping are still there.

and to characterise his speaking out as mccarthyism is to water down what mccarthyism is at core. his allegations are not inciting "witch hunts". as far as investigations being handled by uci, wada and usada (and the federal gov't), this one seems to have very few informational leaks.

 

[pennstater]

If Floyd is an example of what a strict Amish upbringing does for character, believe I'll pass.

Floyd Landis being Amish is news to me. for some reason I thought he was a Mennonite. Shows you how much I know...

Your statement is pretty absurd. I really doubt that he grew up in a family/community that would support his doping in anyway. I live in south-central PA and there are quite a few Mennonite families/stores and schools in my area. The majority are "salt of the earth" people, which is more than I can say for most people.

 

[jhuskey]

I would also note that if he were Methodist, Baptist, Catholic etc. I doubt the subject of religion would be noted.
He is however human and I have no option other than to deal with them.

 

[tonyzackery]

...and to characterise his speaking out as mccarthyism is to water down what mccarthyism is at core. his allegations are not inciting "witch hunts". as far as investigations being handled by uci, wada and usada (and the federal gov't), this one seems to have very few informational leaks.

You're obviously entitled to your own opinion of the world, but don't take things said in netdom so literally...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
McCarthyism is the political action of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence.

Sounds about right to me. Landis' claims are just a bunch of hearsay as it stands now...

 

[swampy1970]

It would seem that ol' drug boy Joe Papp is upto something. He's the guy that testified for the USADA in the Landis trail about how good testosterone was. It was seem that it's really good (well, he was busted for drug use in 2006) as he's been nailed for distribution and sale of steroids and EPO but quizically his sentence has been "sealed" - something that normally only happens when they're working with prosecutors on something else.

As a side note to an earlier prediction, the Bahati Foundation no longer has a tab on the News section of the Cannondale website. Either they've just not done anything in the last couple of weeks or they've silently distanced themselves... which would be a shame.