So he thinks it's all a huge joke then? Typically­ arrogant response from the self-appointed god of­ cycling. Sooner or later they will catch you smart­ alec, or one of your former team mates will spill the­ beans.

Americans so readily jump to the defence of Armstrong.­ Their nationalistic pride blinkers them to the facts.­ Armstrong has close ties to the doping doctor Michele­ Ferrari, most of his US postal team mates have tested­ positive or admitted to taking drugs while riding with­ Armstrong, the absence of a positive test does not­ prove he doesn't dope (read up on David Miller as­ an example, who incidentally is a friend of Armstrong­ and has had his support).

If Armstrong doesn't­ dope, then why is he such a strong believer in the­ omerta? Why does he not come out in support of stronger­ anti-doping measures?

There is a torrent of evidence­ against Armstrong. Just because no one has found the­ "smoking gun" yet shouldn't remove him­ from suspicion.

And even if he doesn’t dope, look at­ his attitude towards whistle blowers like Simeoni and­ Bassons. He is clearly a @#$%.

If you want to get­ excited about an American cycling hero look no further­ than Greg LeMond.

Armstrong is not even close to being the most tested­ athelete.. He's not even the most test cyclist I­ read an analysis and at the time vino was being tested­ WAY more than Armstrong.. Armstrong was not even close­ to the top of the list since he rode for such a small­ portion of the year.. Track & field atheletes are­ tested WAY more than cyclists

The degree of ignorance of doping on this thread is­ hilarious. All of the following have never failed a­ drug test for PEDs: Vernque, Pantani, Basso, Jorg­ Jatske, Ullrich, David Millar, Museeuw, Marion Jones­ (multi-gold medals track & field)... You could­ literally name 100s of atheletes.. and yet all have­ mostly by chance, police investigation asmitted guilt­ etc have been sanctioned.. passing dope controls is­ easy only the sloppy or stupid get caught.

Verenque was hated by the French until he actually­ admitted his guilt... like Armstrong he never actually­ failed a dope control

perhaps the french want to look closely at of their own­ hero's. richard virenque who won king of the­ mountains 7 times is a convicted drug taker but is­ still feted as one of france's all time greats.­ surprising how little details like this are forgotten­ by people who wish to destroy a legend. lance has never­ tested positive throughout his career and this is­ perhaps what is most upsetting to everyone.lets see­ what happens next year shall we?

our hopes to Astana! there're mixes of nations but­ we ALL - ONE TEAM - one world!
whatever than you­ say....

I am currently helping a dear friend in their battle­ against Cancer believe me when I say EPO is nothing you­ want to mess around with if you do not have an urgent­ need for it. EPO is dangerous to your body if used to­ often. The Oncologist would only prescribe twice in a­ four month period to combat the loss of red blood­ cell's. When someone get's chemotherapy it­ temporarly destroy's and depletes your body's­ natural ability to produce red blood cell's­ "Anemia". The only other alternative is blood­ transfusion which also has serious risk to benefit. Not­ all cancer patients need EPO or transfusion as long as­ their hemogloban stay's above 8.0. My point to all­ this is that Lance Armstrong knowing the benifit to­ risk involved in blood doping from having Cancer and­ with consultation from doctor's would probably be­ the last person to mess with this just to win a race­ knowing what he know's about the long term­ cosequences and risk's associated with these­ product's. For all of the cyclist's out there­ who are contemplating taking EPO or transfusion you­ might want to do some research into the serious risk­ involved in taking part in such activity and not just­ blindly take advise and dangerous infusion's from­ back door doctor's. To all a safe and happy­ holiday.

Some have raised the issue of ex-Posties not performing­ as well after leaving the USPS/Bruneel wing and even­ being caught drug-taking.
'
I think you­ underestimate the extra drive that a decent­ 'grimpeur' or 'rouleur' gets when they­ are expected to carry LA to another TdF win... when­ they have the USPS team training standard raised far­ above that of rival teams... when they receive the best­ nutritional and training advice around... when they­ have one of the savviest managers preserving their­ energies for the few key days in a year when the­ teammate is expected to perform.
'
And you­ underestimate the pressure on the ex-Postie to then­ perform even better as a stand alone rider in an­ inferior team but with a higher salary... and you­ underestimate the over-confidence some of these­ ex-Posties have- "if I can help LA win... that­ means I can win too"- sorry Heras, Landis,­ Hamilton... ego went to your head- you're star team­ riders, not winners.

oh dear i'm sorry PHILGNOME... did i not use­ capitalisation or was it that i touched a nerve with­ someone who probably doesn't own a bike or maybe­ you're a secret frenchie? fyi (that means 'for­ your information') i fully advocate out of season­ drug testing and believe that all drug testing should­ be based on blood testing. as someone who has competed­ in triathlon for over 20 years i understand the need­ for controls, i couldn't care less about upsetting­ our french chums and for your information mr small­ person (thats a play on your name gnome, as you­ don't seem to have the wit to understand) i'm­ british/irish and proud. oh and well done for reading a­ literay master piece, did you manage to join all the­ dots together. merry christmas or should that be joyeux­ noel :-)

get great cycling on gran canaria and feel the pain­ that lance is experiencing in the canaries. go to­ cyclegrancanaria dot coom sorry it's not a girlie­ site lads!!

I suspect that's probably '...based on the fact­ that you're probably French and bitter.'.

Oh dear rhealey4422 - a 'subnormal' use of­ English: '...based on the fact your probably french­ and bitter.' should be '...based on the fact­ you're probably French and bitter.' How do you­ expect our French brothers to understand your ramblings­ when you can't even use your mother tongue­ correctly? I like Lance and I want him to succeed. If­ he wants the rumours to go away then he has to accept­ that he is going to get tested a lot of times and just­ put up with it. I always thought he was whiter than­ white until I read 'The Death of Marco­ Pantani'. If he tested positive now, I­ wouldn't be that surprised - I'm a true cynic. ­ I hope the coming season sees Lance at the level he­ left the sport and with clean credentials. It would­ shut all the doubters up (including me). I want to­ believe in a hero.

maildarc, what drugs are YOU on? How stupid are you;­ "you are only a cheat if you win by doing­ something that no one else is doing or willing to­ do!!!". No, no, no. You are a cheat if you break­ the rules. You can justify your arguments for not­ liking Lance to yourself however you like but stick to­ facts if you want to persuade rational thinking people.

oh dear sunknobhead wants to make a name for himself or­ maybe get people talking about him? well knobbienonuts­ your bile is obviously based on the fact your probably­ french and bitter. fact is sunshine, LA is without­ doubt the most tested ATHLETE ever, and FACT he has­ never been tested positive regardless of the french­ comic leshite or is that lecreep, anyhow no matter its­ a comic for subnormal individuals. as for his former­ team mates LA nor JB have ANY control over them once­ they leave to become team leaders? does that not­ highlight to you why they were Lieu's, Dom's,­ Roul's, etc???? have you ever thought! maybe they­ were just not good enough to lead in the first place­ you moronic @#$%, understand the sport before you make­ your subnormal comments you TWIT with an A?

sunwukong1978 is just an idiot. The rest of you,­ don't waste your time with him. He obviously is not­ aware of factual information. He's just making up­ his own

Lance - don`t be sarcastic about the UCI flying someone­ over from Germany to test you. It may seem a crazy­ expense but you need to stand back & let them test­ you as often as possible to silence all the doubters. I­ live in France (I`m British) - and all the French think­ you cheated just because of the article in L`Equipe­ after the 8 year old samples were retested outside the­ rules laids down by the UCI - and you won their race 7­ times!
How many professional athletes would agree to­ having old samples tested many years after with no­ assurance that they had been stored correctly?

Let the­ drug testers do their work & then you can prove­ with your legs that you are a special athlete. Can`t­ wait for the Giro!

Most tested athlete in history...hands down. Never a­ positive test. If you can't wrap your tiny mind­ around that, then nobody really cares what you think.

When Ricardo Rico and his Saunier Duval crew rode away­ from everybody in super human manner this year it­ remeinded me of a certain LA and the way he rode away­ from his closest rivals! Hardly breathing never­ appearing to struggle (with the one exception on the­ Col du Joux Plane when he forgot to eat), he just eased­ away from those who have either confessed all or have­ sinced been caught...
And what about his faithful­ disciples who also become normal riders the minute they­ leave the team - I am looking forward to the watching­ Yaraslav Popovych form return once safely under­ Johan/Lance's cloak...and what of the small­ slightly built mountain goat George Hincapie - he has­ never seemed to have quite the same form in the­ mountains he once had in his USP/Discovery days...there­ are a lot of very naive comments on here...

sunwukong1978 - what science or fact are you basing­ your answer or opinion on?
just because someone­ origialally sais"he's taling drugs" dosnt­ make it true.
there is no evidence. pediod
and how can­ you blame him winning, he trains from november to july­ purly for the TDF, others have a full season to train­ for, alot have already doe a giro by te time.
gd luck­ lance!