TelBoy

Or a man one step ahead of the drug testers?


Hopefully the former - a fantastic achievement, for somebody that a lot of people won't have even heard of...

tiggers

Who?

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

Oh please!

He's probably the most drug tested person in the world - if he was on something he'd have been caught by now.

Quit being cynical and appreciate the efforts of a man who has beaten an illness that would have finished most of us and then gone on to conquer, arguably, the world's toughest sporting event - not once, but SIX times!

TelBoy

Which bit of "hopefully the former" did you choose to ignore? ALL of it??

Diablo

yes, I'd have to say one of the greatest athletes in the world

Makes you wonder though - He has undergone chemo and (I think) radio therapy for cancer, from which he made a full recovery.

Not trying to take anything away from his achievement - indeed the reverse is true, but it am curious if those treatments have not affected him perhaps on a molecular level, like some psuedu evolutionary process..


D

Dave T-S

Tel
Don't forget that Mutant Matt is faster than Lance Armstrong on a pushbike (in joke folks)

Back to topic, yes, and echo the above comments - he's probably been tested more than anyone else, and it's always come up negative. Which bit of "Lance Armstrong doesn't do drugs" doesn't anyone understand?

He just puts more effort in than anyone else, and is so self assured he can come across as a bit of an arrogant ba$tard, which people also don't like. A lot of similarities with Schumacher, the only difference is that unlike the Ferrari F1 car, all the Tour riders are on essentialy similar bikes, and you can go and buy a pretty close replica of Lance's bike off the shelf - TREK Madone 5.9 - in fact, i'm about to

TelBoy

Is blood doping *fully* detectable these days?

(And NO, i'm NOT saying he does, seeing as we're all treading on eggshells here...)

Regacy

I was in Paris yesterday to watch him cross the line.
Stood in the crowd for a couple of hours to watch him pass 8 times.
Awsome is the only word that does him justice for me.
Great day out, only sorry I couldn't make it to the mountains to see what true athletes are made of.

RichWalk

he's the closest man to a god on this planet..........IMHO

Tiggs

you can be a good athelite and still take drugs. in fact you can be the best and still take them.

and while LA may not be on stuff now anyone who thinks he made it through the cycling world to the top without them is mad!

davyboy

Speaking from experience, this makes no difference to your body or what you can do with it, however those that have suffered a cancer (myself included) usually find that they are more determined. I tend not to come across cancer sufferes who just sit in front of the TV all day.

drumsterphil

iTrader: (1)

That is you initial line therefore indicating that you clearly believe he is not clean.

Had you been wanting to express your appreciation then why bring up the issue of drugs at all?! The whole point of your initial thread was to cast doubt over the validity of this man's achievements, hence my response.

imlach

Of course he's on drugs. Most of the peleton are. As in my other thread, why do you think he had such a personal issue with Simoni on Friday, and disallowed him to join the breakaway. Simoni is one of the few in the peleton who has given evidence against the Dr that Lance is closely associated with.....

David Millar has apparently now also got "too many loyalties" to the cycling world to allow him to discuss anything other than his own case in his current trial also. More fool him.

Anyone that thinks cycling is clean is living in la-la land

Armstrong is just the best of a drugged up bunch. If cycling was clean, he'd probably still be the best. It's all relative though. If one takes drugs, the rest have to too.

SJ_Skyline

What about Thomas Voeckler, Andreas Kloden and Jose Azevedo? all had brilliant tours, ok not on a par with Armstong but then he was just in a league of his own!

If Tyler Hamilton had not dropped out how close would he have been?

TelBoy

You are clearly mistaken. I'm suspicious, yes, but that's not the same as *accusing* the man, which is what you were inferring.

Yes, he's tested more than most athletes. But in my mind, that isn't a *guarantee* that he isn't, or hasn't used any form of performance enhancement. Like i say, i hope he hasn't, much the same as Paula Radcliffe, but in these days of seemingly endless drugs "revelations", it's difficult to be 100% convinced.

TelBoy

Ooops - didn't realise "Sports Forum" already had a LA thread - apologies.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Michael Jordan would be my choice. The man was simply amazing and for his size had strengh, speed, agility.............the lot!

flat4

i've upped my cadence now to emulate the great man

Senior_AP

No point discussing it, but I still think Indurain would have the beating of him when in his prime.

He was the ONLY man to put out 525kw for over an hour on a bike. Armstrong could only peak at that.

Big Mig was THE MAN, though I have to take my hat off to Armstrong. An incredible man.

Did anybody read his books?? Superb.

Walwal

Hopefully his book "It's Not About the Bike" will land on my doormat tomorrow, as promised when I ordered it.

Looking forward to reading it.

I think he's a brilliant athlete.

Andy.

FASTER MIKE!!

for me the greatest athlete was Michael Johnson, the way he broke the 200m world record was unbelivable, and to be so far ahead of the next athlete in a sprint(who also broke the world record) just says it all. to be honest i don'nt think that record will be beaten for a very long time, if ever(bold claim i know )

mike

SPEN555

Dorian Yates is cleaner than Lance! lol!

a very small minority of you on here will know the name.

Wot about Ben Johnson? He still did 9.78 no matter wot anyone says.

McCrash

ARMSTRONG IS CLEAN. That simple. As has been said before he's one of the most tested people on earth. He's just a winner, a difficult thing for losers to understand.

FASTER MIKE!!

ben johnson ran 9.79 not 9.78 Tim Montgomery on the other hand has run 9.78 legaly which is the current world record

mike

TelBoy

LOL, if *that's* true we might as well all just switch the lights off NOW!!

TelBoy

Interestingly (perhaps), The Sun today asks the same question. Their 12 contenders;

1. Lance Armstrong
2. Steve Redgrave
3. Donald Bradman
4. Michael Schumacher (but no Ayrton Senna )
5. Martina Navratilova (LOL, ch'yeah, right!! )
6. Muhammad Ali
7. Phil Taylor (darts?? )
8. Lester Piggott
9. Mark Spitz
10. Michael Johnson
11. Pele
12. Jack Nicklaus

I reckon Michael Jordan should be on there somewhere, also possibly Joe Montana, possibly Fangio, possibly John McEnroe, possibly Ian Thorpe and many others. Very difficult to choose....

Leslie

I personally would not accuse anyone of taking perfomance enhancement drugs unless there is positive proof that he has done so. To do so on pure suspicion is very wrong and unfair.

His actual performance is outstanding and I admire what he has done especially after his previous troubles. He deserves all the praise he gets.

Les

TelBoy

If only everything in life was fair, eh?

Never mind - welcome to the real world.

RichWalk

Does Viagra count Tel??

SPEN555

With going through his cancer he will have more drugs put inside him than most people would ingest in a lifetime.

My dad has bad arthritis (did I spell that right?) and they are giving him steriods. Supposing he trained during that period to take the other advantages it has. After the program he enters a show and wins it. Does a drugs test and is clear as he is no longer on steriods.

Makes you think if the drugs helped him (of course they did, he beat cancer!).

It's all about being tested at the right time.

Eitherway, if the drugs helped him or not, to be able to achieve what he has done is fantastic.

Damian.