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Armstrong Cleared; Is this big news in Europe?
Topic Started: May 31 2006, 07:42 AM (280 Views)
abradf2519
Member
Quote:
 
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Independent Dutch investigators cleared Lance Armstrong of doping in the 1999 Tour de France on Wednesday, and blamed anti-doping authorities for misconduct in dealing with the American cyclist.

A 132-page report recommended convening a tribunal to discuss possible legal and ethical violations by the World Anti-Doping Agency and to consider "appropriate sanctions to remedy the violations."

The French sports daily L'Equipe reported in August that six of Armstrong's urine samples from 1999, when he won the first of his record seven-straight Tour titles, came back positive for the endurance-boosting hormone EPO when they were retested in 2004.

Armstrong has repeatedly denied using banned substances.

The International Cycling Union appointed Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman last October to investigate the handling of urine tests from the 1999 Tour by the French national anti-doping laboratory, known by its French acronym LNDD.

Vrijman said Wednesday his report "exonerates Lance Armstrong completely with respect to alleged use of doping in the 1999 Tour de France."

The report also said the UCI had not damaged Armstrong by releasing doping control forms to the French newspaper.

The report said WADA and the LNDD may have "behaved in ways that are completely inconsistent with the rules and regulations of international anti-doping control testing," and may also have been against the law.

Vrijman, who headed the Dutch anti-doping agency for 10 years and later defended athletes accused of doping, worked on the report with Adriaan van der Veen, a scientist with the Dutch Metrology Laboratory.

EPO, or erythropoietin, is a synthetic hormone that boosts the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood.

Testing for EPO only began in 2001.


Source

I wonder if this is big news in Europe? It seems he was maligned unfairly...I wonder if European journalists will be big and admit it!

Alan
Milan, New York, USA
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Cornelius
Member
Alan, I think you are confusing European and French acquisitions. Wasn’t it the some French report about the use of doping?
For almost all Europeans, Armstrong is a great, if not the greatest cyclist the Tour de France has ever seen. Never mind the sour grapes of some.
All I ever seen in newspapers and sport magazines here in Europe is praise for him.
The fact that he was cleared by a Dutch anti doping agency wasn’t even reported here in the Netherlands, probably because it’s a non issue.

Until proven otherwise, he’s without doubt one of the greatest. (and I don’t even like the Tour. :clap: )
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abradf2519
Member
Cornelius
May 31 2006, 09:17 AM
Alan, I think you are confusing European and French acquisitions. Wasn’t it the some French report about the use of doping?
For almost all Europeans, Armstrong is a great, if not the greatest cyclist the Tour de France has ever seen. Never mind the sour grapes of some.
All I ever seen in newspapers and sport magazines here in Europe is praise for him.
The fact that he was cleared by a Dutch anti doping agency wasn’t even reported here in the Netherlands, probably because it’s a non issue.

Until proven otherwise, he’s without doubt one of the greatest. (and I don’t even like the Tour. :clap: )

The Tour is my favorite thing about France.

I love bicycling, and used to do time trials when I was younger. I have a Cannondale racing bike that I still ride (with a bigger seat, because my seat is bigger!).

When I look at Yahoo news in European countries like France, Germany, England and the Netherlands, I noticed the same news stories in all the different sites. Natually I assumed that the Armstrong doping story was big news everywhere, not just in France. It was a big story here....

I remember thinking that the French press was unfair to Armstrong, being an American, and having won the Tour more than any other man.

I hope the French press is big enough to admit it. I'll have to check the French yahoo news site...

I am not sure why a Dutch org. was the one to clear Armstrong, and not a French one...
Alan
Milan, New York, USA
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bikemanb
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Liberal Conservative
abrad,

Don't expect the French to be very forth coming, it gauls them that a Yank won so many in a row.
Bill, Rita and Chloe the Terror Cat

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

Benjamin Franklin
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Cornelius
Member
bikemanb
May 31 2006, 10:22 PM
abrad,

Don't expect the French to be very forth coming, it gauls them that a Yank won so many in a row.

:floorrollin: gauls them.

Most can be good sports. Look at the tv pictures from the motorbikes and helicopters. All those cheering people.
In the old days they trew nails and pins on the road in front of foreigeners so their favourites could win.

Alan, I'll take it back what I said, it was on the news here tonight about Lance.
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bikemanb
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Liberal Conservative
Quote:
 
:floorrollin:  gauls them.


and they are divided into three parts........
Bill, Rita and Chloe the Terror Cat

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

Benjamin Franklin
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tomdrobin
Member
No doubt politics plays a part in this scenario. At one time he had cancer and I believe received chemotherapy. A form of EPO is often given to chemotherapy patients to increase their red blood cell count (hemocrit level?). The last I knew there was no direct test for EPO, it was just assumed if the hemocrit level was much higher than the normal range. But, perhaps the tests have become more sophisticated. Individuals hemocrit level does vary, he could naturally be on the high side, and his altitude chamber training etc. probably enhance it too.

Brad
I'm an old cyclist also, with a Cannondale, which is my beater. And, a carbon fiber Kestrel. I hope to get a few thousand miles in this summer if the weather cooperates, and my old aching bod does too.
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abradf2519
Member
I did find the story about Armstrong on the front page of the cycling section of the French Yahoo news.

Quote:
 
PARIS (AFP) - Le rapport commandité par l'Union cycliste internationale (UCI) disculpe l'Américain Lance Armstrong de l'accusation de dopage à l'EPO dans le Tour de France 1999 et accable l'Agence mondiale antidopage (AMA), selon le quotidien néerlandais De Volkskrant.
Suivant ce rapport commandé à l'avocat néerlandais Emile Vrijman, ancien directeur de l'Agence néerlandaise antidopage (NeCeDo), il n'existerait aucune preuve que le septuple vainqueur ...
Source

While not exactly buried, I did have to go though 3 pages of other news first. I guess I will give credit to the French journalists anyway.

F.Y.I. I learned French in grade school and remember almost nothing, but it seems like the same story...
Alan
Milan, New York, USA
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abradf2519
Member
tomdrobin
May 31 2006, 08:38 PM
Brad
I'm an old cyclist also, with a Cannondale, which is my beater.  And, a carbon fiber Kestrel.  I hope to get a few thousand miles in this summer if the weather cooperates, and my old aching bod does too.

I broke my leg twice (once in Feb and once in June) in 2005. I hope to be able to get back on the bike this summer, my leg is almost back to normal. I've got a lot of fat to burn off!

I moved to the "country" reciently and now have lots of traffic free beautiful roads to ride on!

I like the Cannondale because of the big aluminum tubes. The bike does not flex at all when I go up hill. Does the Kestrel flex much?
Alan
Milan, New York, USA
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tomdrobin
Member
abradf2519
Jun 1 2006, 03:07 AM
I broke my leg twice (once in Feb and once in June) in 2005. I hope to be able to get back on the bike this summer, my leg is almost back to normal. I've got a lot of fat to burn off!

I moved to the "country" reciently and now have lots of traffic free beautiful roads to ride on!

I like the Cannondale because of the big aluminum tubes. The bike does not flex at all when I go up hill. Does the Kestrel flex much?

Brad
Did you break your leg cycling? I've been very fortunate and have had only a couple minor spills with some "road rash" in the 16 years I've been riding seriously. I attribute that to skills learned as a kid riding my bike almost constantly up to the age of 17.

Yes, the Cannondale is a stiff bike. I've got the CAD 4 frame (if I remember correctly). The Kestrel is a 200 EMS, which is about as stiff as the Cannondale with slightly better road vibration dampening qualities. I bought the frames and built both bikes up myself with many of the components purchased on e-bay. I'm from Michigan, and will be riding my 11th or 12th? DALMAC (Lansing to Mackinaw) ride this year. I live out in the country, and have lots of good surface low traffic roads to ride on. Since retiring I've been doing most of my training solo mornings, rather than wait and ride with a group after work when it's hot. But, a buddy called today getting a group together for a long weekend ride. I'm up to 35 miles, but hope to bump it to a 60 miler on the next couple of weeks.
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