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18:53
29-04-2026 18:36
+1
29-04-2026 18:29
29-04-2026 18:23
+2
29-04-2026 18:10
+4
26-04-2026 01:56
26-04-2026 01:47
26-04-2026 01:21
+3
16-04-2026 16:08
15-04-2026 16:47
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megasmacky
I assumed the issue was the same as someone not wiping down a bench or machine at a gym. If he'd been beaten earlier, would he have wiped down the seat when that happened? Like most people, I'm not wild about sitting in a chair drenched with someone else's sweat. I just don't know if the UCI should be concerned with micro-managing an issue this small.18:53
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megasmacky
Never said I did. Oh I see, you're one of these d**kheads who think only racers can possibly understand racing. Whatever little Cat 5 nothing races you've won have ZERO to do with pro cycling. They're two different sports. Let me guess, you're the guy on group rides who scares away newbies because their socks are the wrong length. There's really no law that says you have to be an a**hole all the time.29-04-2026 18:36
+1
megasmacky
Like MehrBums said, there's no reason to believe you've chatted with any of them. And I believe Lemond rode clean, his health problems probably had to do with the shooting and a bad car accident he had.29-04-2026 18:29
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megasmacky
Yeah, I was in a s***e mood when I wrote that. I do think Armstrong's strength in the Tour was mostly down to drugs, and he really did have no GC background, but saying you were being unfair to Fignon was out of order.29-04-2026 18:23
+2
megasmacky
I laughed at the slagging he took from one of the commentators at Flanders, when he briefly set the pace, looking to hurt Pogacar and Van der Poel. Something like "Stop beating your chest, Remco!" I've never heard a commentator say something like that!29-04-2026 18:10
+4
megasmacky
Yes, and we don't even know how far the other stuff went. There were whispers that he went tattling to the UCI when Tyler Hamilton and Iban Mayo started looking like real rivals. Not saying he did or didn't, but we may not know or ever know the whole story.26-04-2026 01:56
+4
megasmacky
I've never dared to say I wouldn't have doped if I'd become a pro rider. If I was a promising neo pro at my first pre-season training camp, and the DS sat me down and gave me the truth about what's required to win a big race, I suspect I'd have been all in. "Hey, I heard the dope works better if you inject it with a giant needle into the scrotum, here you go! Oh, in the eyeball, sure no problem!" They say that two wrongs don't make a right, but sometimes, 200 wrongs make things seem, well, a little less wrong. If that DS had said that everybody's doing it, that would have been all I needed to go all in on the gear and sleep like a baby, conscience clear. If you weren't a pro rider, all you can say is you hope you'd do the right thing and stay clean. Otherwise, you don't know. Was it fair that Armstrong was singled out for punishment? Not totally, but that the deal when you're the big dog. You're going to get all the attention, positive or not. As much as I don't like the guy, I'll admit that Armstrong's commitment to continuing a rabid obsession with fitness is pretty impressive. I'm confident I've never seen a near 60 yr old at his level of fitness. If it makes him happy or fulfilled, more power to him. There've been riders in the past(cough, Wilfried Peeters, cough) who probably bought a pack of smokes and a dozen Big Macs on the way to their retirement presser, couldn't wait to get off the damn treadmill and grow their waistline. To each his own.26-04-2026 01:47
+4
megasmacky
Wow, you really don't think much of your fellow readers do you? Trying to pass off this nonsense. First of all, nobody said he came from nowhere. He was obviously wildly talented, and that was clear, as you say, long before he was a pro. What is undeniably true is he came from nowhere as a GC candidate in GTs. He had virtually no GC resume before he finished 4th in the 98 Vuelta. He'd never come even close to a good GC finish before that. He was absolutely stomped in the TT's by Indurain in his first two Tours. He'd never won or come close to winning a mtn stage. He said himself many times, in his early career, in a commendable display of honesty, that he was not that sort of rider. There's never been a GT champion in modern history with anything like his lack of GC credentials. GC riders look like GC riders from their first years racing. They win junior staqe races, they win the Baby Giro or the Tour de L'Avenir, whatever. Saying that he would have won the Tour if all were clean is absurd, backed by zero evidence. He wouldn't have even come close. If another rider said he would, and I doubt they did, you certainly do nothing to back up this claim, they said it because riders knew that angering Armstrong was a bad idea. They were humouring him. Also, guys like Lemond and Indurain look worse than him because they decided that Armstrong's almost freakish obsession with remaining hyper fit wasn't for them. Indurain likes tinkering with old tractors, and doesn't seem to give a toss about the sport at all. Lemond has had health issues and accidents that didn't have any clear connection with his cycling career. Oh, and Fignon died of cancer, you d*ck.26-04-2026 01:21
+3
megasmacky
I completely agree. Unlike some other commenters, I understand there's no way to know if he could have dropped Pogacar and Van Aert, but I do think he was the strongest of the three. If he hadn't dropped them, then it's impossible to say. A velodrome sprint is completely unpredictable. Strongest doesn't always mean the win. It's a truly beautiful sport, no?16-04-2026 16:08
+2
megasmacky
There is zero chance you have the slightest idea what would have happened if MvdP hadn't flatted.15-04-2026 16:47