A former domestique of Lance Armstrong and the dark side of doping and blood transfusions: "Everything was hidden and extremely dangerous"
CyclingThursday, 24 October 2024 at 11:06
Lance Armstrong dominated cycling in the late 1990s and the first half of the 2000s. However, after the biggest doping case in the history of cycling exploded, the American was stripped of everything he achieved from 1998 onwards. Among them were the 7 Tour de France victories in a row, which marked an unequalled and unmatched milestone which is no longer taken into account in the books.
Of the total number of victories he achieved, only 24 remain, the most important being the 1993 World Championships, two stages of the Tour, a Clasica San Sebastian and another Flèche Wallonne. In 1998, he signed for the US Postal and began to hog all the spotlight. There he met Tyler Hamilton, a top-level compatriot of his, who also took narcotics and was suspended from 2004 to 2006.
Winner of 2 Tour de Romandie, 1 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 1 Critérium du Dauphiné, a stage in the Tour and another in the 2002 Giro d'Italia, where he finished second overall. He had an interesting career, but far from that of his teammate. In a podcast called "The Roadman," Hamilton recently talked about the whole scandal and what it was like to share it with Armstrong:
"I hated transfusions, whether the blood was coming in or going out. At first they said it was to take care of my body, that it was for my health. I was sitting there and thinking, 'What am I doing? This is crazy. I feel dirty'. From 1998 onwards everything was hidden and extremely dangerous. You roll up your sleeves, you strain and you push it to the back of your mind."
"I thought it was what I needed to compete, everyone did. I took what everyone else took: EPO, testosterone, blood transfusions... I don't hold a grudge. Life is so much better when you forgive. He went through a lot of things I didn't know about, including being bullied by his stepfather. When I understood him, I empathized and understood what he was doing."
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James2631812-05-2025 - Its a pretty easy comparison, Jonas is the best. Look at his opponent the Best rider of his generation and 3rd best of all time Pogi who he has beaten twice in TDF. Pedersen cant even beat MVDP in monumentsabstractengineer12-05-2025
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"Armstrong won his 7 wins. Fair and square. Doping was rampant during his time. He did was just to level the playing field" comment from KHWong.
He cheated, he enticed/forced teammates to cheat, he affected other's families and tainted other's reputations, he sued those who factually accused him of cheating in their attempt to prove breach of contract, he got paid to admit to his lies. Nice guy; right? Anyone who has not been prosecuted for cheating per THEIR OWN SPORT'S RULES THAT THEY AGREE TO ABIDE BY and continues to deny in public or to themselves, and rationalizes the reasons for doing so is weak of mind and body, has no integrity or ethics and ahould find another job or form their own cycling federation where anything goes. The fans will not care if you screw up your bodies for their entertainment. Just take look at boxing and American football.
Even worse when fans of the sport themselves make those rationalizations for the cheaters. There has been cheating of all types throughout the history of many sports; nearly 150 years in cycling itself since competitions started, and the gambling and revenue that came along with them. Cheat if you want, but lack any personal integrity. If that is what you to be, or want to emulate fine; but no one should expect or receive pity for a premeditated decision to cheat in any manner. You are deceiving yourself if competing, and also deceiving the fans. Cycling will soon be like "professional wrestling": choreographed and with the winner being known in advance. Oh wait; that is what already has happened this year. It has been found that many of cycling's "greats" (i.e. Coppi, Merckx, et al.) were cheating and possibly caused (did cause) one or more premature deaths in cycling. Go ahead and enjoy a sport that you cannot trust; I will not.
the “dark side of doping” ?
as opposed to… what? the FUN side of doping? the GOOFY side of doping?
?
sad, eh ? but, the forgotten are best left forgotten - no names, no glory- just something, something, dark side.....