1. Primis on September 8, 2005 06:40 PM writes...

The answer is simply that Pound's personal mission in life is an anti-US one.

It became his personal vendetta to bring the US down after Ross Rebliagtti and Ben Johnson both got busted for drug use at the Olympics and crucified in American press for it.

2. John on September 10, 2005 05:57 AM writes...

Pound never accused lance of anything, all he said was that there was a high likely hood of doping at the 99 tour given the tests he had seen-this is correct!

Maybe before questioning pound, you should ask lance why he worked with a convicted dope doctor, why he holds a vested interest in US cyclings anti doping program (Steve Johnson who controls it is employed by thom weisel who is la's partner), why he is paying for the ucis anti doping program (Are the uci going to find against a rider who funds them)?

it is easy to turn this into an anti american blurb but it just goes to show the self pity and racism many americans suffer from.

The last point is la says there is nothing wrong with the test, its the lab he doesn't trust!!!!
maybe if lance tried to geuinely explain why SIX tested positive rather than spouting racist comments we might listen.

3. Marty on September 10, 2005 06:02 AM writes...

i have to agree with john.

the burden of proof DOES lie morally at least with the athlete. People just don't belive them anymore.
If lance was so clean why did he hound bassons and simeoni out of the peleton for speaking out against drugs.

maybe if he hadn't been doctored by a convicted dope doctor, he would have a leg to stand on.
as of now he doesn't
the epo test failed on one case in its entire history (Beke) and this was cos beke proved he was a special case producing proteins similar to epo
even so this is a newer and better test that is as close to 100% accurate that can be humanly possible

4. Primis on September 10, 2005 06:57 PM writes...

Marty and John -

First, I'd recommend you familiarize yourself with the facts.

The alleged "sample" was:

a) Anonymous. They couldn't tie it to any one person if they wanted to.
b) Likely tainted because it's supposedly been 6 years, wherever it came from.
c) Anonymous to the point that they're not even sure if the sample actually came from Tour de France tests period, or elsewhere. They have no idea.

So go ahead, let's hear how the burden of proof is on Lance, when he's been tested every single day of the Tour, every year, and never tested positive... and then some French clowns magically produce an anonymous sample out of think air and claim that it's Lance's.

It's just a basic smear campaign by some xenophobic French, furious that a foreigner (let alone an American) could come in and dominate "their" tour.

I hope whoever wins next year is a Turk. It's the only thing that could infuriate the French even more.

5. John on September 11, 2005 07:59 AM writes...

primis, maybe you should look at the facts instead of going off on a xenphobic and racist rant which just shows you for what you are-an american redneck racist

a) Anonymous. They couldn't tie it to any one person if they wanted to.- they could as the uci gave the journalist the docs connecting the samples to the rider

b) Likely tainted because it's supposedly been 6 years, wherever it came from.-wrong again, it is scientifically impossible for the doctor to tamper with the sample so as to give a positive outside the body, it can only happen within the body.
plus if the sample had degraded after 6 yrs it would have given a negative. epo can't just appear out of nowhere.

c) Anonymous to the point that they're not even sure if the sample actually came from Tour de France tests period, or elsewhere. They have no idea.-Wrong strikeout you're out- the uci had docs linking sample to rider and leaked them, the uci is now blaming wada for the incident when they are the ones who leaked the docs and in turn the riders identity

6. Alex on September 11, 2005 08:03 AM writes...

Yeah , i would have to agree with john and marty
lances arguments stink of racism.
he is appealing to the lowest denomenator
plus L'equipe is not a french tabloid but a fully respected broadsheet paper here in europe

most people in europe at this point know lance has cheated and see this as the proof
most people don't even acknowledge his tour wins now

7. jon on September 11, 2005 10:30 PM writes...

The fact of the matter is that the french sports media has conducted a sustained attack on Armstrong, consistently rehashing old, unproven allegations without any evidence to substantiate the charges. This present volley seems no different. Anyone familiar with professional cycling and the European press would not deny this.

In any event, I think Dick Pound should indeed step down for a number of reasons.

8. ijsbrand on September 14, 2005 06:01 PM writes...

Professor Harm Kuipers, a former member of WADA committees, point out in an op/ed piece in the Dutch daily De Volkskrant the anti-doping agency can be blamed for something worse.
http://www.volkskrant.nl/sport/1126504444464.html

That French doping lab only tests anonymous samples, and can never know who provided them. The only people organizations who can link the codes on the urine samples are the cyclist who provided them, international cycling union UCI, and WADA.

Armstrong clearly didn't provide that link, nor did the UCI, considering its furious reaction.

So, only WADA could have informed L'Équipe.

There have been severe privacy breeches before, from that French doping lab, that also point to WADA. Like the way the name of American athlete Kelli White was leaked to, again, L'Équipe after a positive doping test, before she was informed about that herself.

9. whatever on September 19, 2005 06:06 PM writes...

Give me a break. I do not concede that Lance used performance enhancing drugs. However, if he did, all that means is that he was better at it than the rest of the peloton. Are we really to believe that LA used while the rest of peloton was clean. You would have to be mentally retarded to actually believe such a scenario. So, get over it Eurotrash. By the by, I'm not xenophobic, I just hate a$$holes from Europe and Canada and etc., who want to take their (appropriate) hate of BUSH out on LA. GET OVER IT. LA won seven in a row and you will never change that. Was he the best rider ever? NO. Obviously that award is for Eddy. Nonetheless, LA is the winningest TdF rider ever. GET OVER IT.

10. mb on September 20, 2005 02:34 AM writes...

The fact of the matter is, guilty or not, riders (Lance included) should be given due process. Testing is not perfect! And, even where test acuracy is near perfect, people are not. People often see what they want to. L'equipe and Pound have both engaged in very public fueds with Armstrong and would love to be vindicated by the proof of his doping. As far as the French go, they're understandably tired of and, perhaps, even embarassed by the Lance show. The french haven't had a real Tour hope in a long time and Richard, the 7 time king of the mountains champ and French hero, he is a confirmed cheat. So, the motivation by these folks to see Lance fall from grace is also quite high. And Pound, he can't keep his mouth shut. The guy needs to be more responsible with his comments to the press. He gives me the impression that he's conducting his own personal war on drugs and his publicly contentious history with Lance doesn't look good. The Guy should be censured from the investigation (and forced to wear a muzzle). In a perfect world, this information should never have made it to the public before the riders were given a chance to defend themselves. And in the abscence of real proof this information shold have been kept confidential, especially given that the orginal purpose of these tests was aledgedly to verfify ceratin aspects of the test itself. Unfortuantely, it is not a perfct world and we all come at this with a unique bias. Finally, you can't take those Tours away from Lance. He won them and, if he had the ability to beat the dopping controls, you know everyone else did too!