"Open, honest and transparent" - Tour of Flanders invites Lance Armstrong as special guest

gstuplin wrote:

I agree that Lance was bad and hurt cycling, it’s only because he was caught. Cycling and drugs go hand in hand. Big Mig was 100% doped to hell but he is remembered fondly. Let’s move on and just forgive a little. His mafia had now been replaced 

Lance was never caught, he was forced to admit doping.

Big Mig is remembered fondly as he was a terrribly nice quiet chap.

If Lance had not been such an overt sociopath and drawn more attention to himself than the historical "heroes" then he wouldn't have had all the associated aggro. That's why I hate him.

Froome-dog is a rather pleasant & polite chap, so he should slip under the radar IMO.

davel wrote:

There is some sort of equivalence in the 'everyone was/is at it'* ahem, line. The reason Lance stands above them all goes beyond doping: it's that his brand of bullying, and lying about the doping, played out in front of us. I'm sure Merckx and the Badger didn't take any prisoners, but Lance's career-ending ruthlessness is by far the best documented. Plus, the entertainment, from the races themselves, to the drama of the inquiries, press conferences and Oprah, is off the scale. It'll be interesting to see how this Froome episode goes. I think the UCI are damned if they do (ban him and it's another nail in cycling's coffin - I'm not sure how much more 'they're all at it' it can take) and damned if they don't (don't ban him and they get accused of a whitewash: the French press will lay an egg). The technicalities involved won't count for much to an extremely skeptical public and media.

Merckx was a notorious bully (despite the BS spouted by some who describe him as a 'nice' mafia type) and lied time and time again about his doping even after being found out. Given the amount of times he was busted in an era of limited testing I've no doubt he was as bad a culprit as Armstrong from all avenues but the difference in how people view him and Armstrong is night and day.

The only thing that bothers me (because really it doesn't effect my life one way or the other in reality) is the hypocrisy and double standards, the 'cheating' or gaining an advantage as much as the rules allow or even over that line if you think you can get away with it in itself goes back a long, long time and in all competitive environments, sport or otherwise.

There are very, very few specimens in the history of sport where endurance and/or strength is one of the major requirements who could compete and be successful unaided by anything other than their natural genetic gift, hard work/training and mental fortitude. If you know that you are not cheating but others are and are getting away with it, and that if they weren't you would be in for a shout of glory and money then I'm not surprised they would either join the ranks or just leave altogether.

peted76 wrote:

Mercx cheated fact, he's a hero.

Lance Cheated fact, he's lord Voldemort, but is invited speak at Flanders (maybe the Belgiums are just more forgiving).

Pantani cheated, died and is now a tragic/flawed hero.

Simpson cheated, died and is now a tragic hero, "one of the most successful British cyclists of all time".

Ullrich cheated but hasn't yet died so he's just sort of sidelined, forgotten, ignored. Thankfully he had the good grace to participate at the same time as Voldemort so he's actually sort of an angel by comparison, the heartwarming underdog. Maybe more drugs and less cake in the off-season and he'd have done better.

The hypocrisy and double standards is annoying. I actually quite like Lance, his podcasts can be quite funny and he was always a good rider to watch. There's no denying that most of those Tours were entertaining.

ErnieC wrote:

Is he the guy that used to date Cheryl Crow?

nah, he's the guy that used to be Cheryl Crow.

Jackson wrote:

I hope we get a pearl-clutching piece like this when you find out what Eddy Merckx, popped 3 more times than Lance was, gets up to every July for the past 20 or so years. 

+1 EM the biggest dope cheat in living memory (for most of us), the hypocrisy and double standards shown by cycling fans, administrators and everywhere else makes me want to puke.
I called out Armstrong years ago, not long after coming back from the cancer, to be able to come back like he did and then move to the top of the pile I knew would take a lot of coconut juice. But ffs everyone had been on it,, just some did it better than others, some were more talented to begin with.
If people look back at the likes of 'big mig' and think that someone not far short of the size of Kittel was not just coping in the mountains but actually able to come back from a big deficit on a climb against outright climbers without any assistance they must be on crack or purely in denial. Moser admitted to doping massively only after being exposed, the list of big name cheats is endless yet only Armstrong is castigated and totles stripped.

And now we have stupid bandwagon nobbers on here still piling in, fuck off silly cunts!

handlebarcam wrote:

Once the most doubted leader of the most suspiciously-dominant team, now that's Chris Froome and Sky. 

Ah, come on now. Chris has years of lying to do to catch Lance.