Despite a firm stance to start and the fact that the rules on doping say that a rider must undergo 6 months of doping controls prior to racing professionally, the UCI has decided that this doesn't apply to Lance Armstrong.
The reasoning given by the UCI is that drug testing standards have improved in recent times and that these are strict enough that Lance (and I assume any rider from here on out) will be well tested prior to racing in just 4 months.
Read story posted at ESPN
If you look at the picture here, who hasn't been already caught for doping? The pictures are of:
- Bjarne Riis (admitted to doping),
- Jan Ullrich (retired from cycling in the aftermath of the Operacion Puerto),
- Marco Pantani (committed suicide before we knew the answer, but linked to rEPO usage),
- Lance Armstrong (suspicion swirls, but no findings?),
- Floyd Landis (mysteriously rode away from the peloton on the single hardest stage of the Tour after getting slaughtered by the peloton the day before)
So, of the last five people to win the tour, only Lance hasn't doped? Of course Carlos Sastre still hasn't tested positive for doping, but still very early in his reign.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Big Surprise - Armstrong Cleared to Race in January
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2 comments:
So stinking cynical. He only missed the official testing window by about 5 days. So what? The IRS doesn't even really care about 5 days.
Yes, very cynical. Mikael Rasmussen was taken out of the Tour while leading for not publishing his whereabouts and missing a single doping control. I don't think the UCI is in a position to hold the rule book high on one person and show leniency on another person, no matter who they are.
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