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Entries Tagged as 'Tour de France'

It’s Official, Lance Cheated

August 24th, 2012 · No Comments · Cycling, Sports Medicine, Tour de France

It is easy to take Lance Armstrong’s decision to not challenge his charges of doping by the USADA as an admission of guilt. Why would he not continue to fight to clear his name, it has significant ramifications. He has declined to enter arbitration, which was his last option – because he said he was “weary”.

Maybe it is because he is guilty and he realizes he is not able to defend himself against the evidence that has continued to mount. He is going to be known in the history books as a sports cheat. There is no doubt that he cheated death, winning the fight against cancer.

Hopefully, the great work he continues to do in fundraising for cancer research and awareness will not be overshadowed by his cheating on the road.

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Lance Armstrong Returns from the Dead

October 2nd, 2008 · Comments Off on Lance Armstrong Returns from the Dead · Cycling, Sports Medicine, Tour de France

Like Jesus, Lance Armstrong is set to rise again. The champion seven-time winner of the Tour de France, he made a comeback from testicular cancer.

After he retired from cycling, Armstrong tried resurrecting his sporting career as a marathon runner. He completed a few races over the last few years, though not spectacularly.

He has now set his comeback on the bike for the Australian Tour Down Under early next year. At 36 years of age, can we expect him to perform as he has shown he can in the past? This is a time that can catch out an athlete, with the pressure to perform in an aging body, he may be drawn back to the world of drug taking to prime his body for the exertions of professional cycling.

Don’t slip up Lance, as all the accolades from your successful career can be permanently tainted from a positive doping test.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile

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Tour de Farce

July 25th, 2007 · Comments Off on Tour de Farce · Cycling, Tour de France

The Tour de France cycling event is becoming a joke. After last year’s debacle with the initial winner Floyd Landis being rubbed out due to drug taking (which is still ongoing), we thought that the event would be cleaned up.

This year’s event is not over yet, and there have been several doping incidents, the latest with the tour leader Michael Rasmussen being dropped by his team for lying to them and possibly covering up where he was when he missed drug tests last year.

ther recent events include pre-race favorite Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov testing positive for a prohibited blood transfusion, and early on in the tour a German rider tested positive for testosterone resulting in some German TV channels stopping their coverage of the Tour.

Tour officials are trying hard to clean up the race, but the problem in cycling is too deeply rooted. The penalties need to get even tougher. How about banning transgressors for life? And they should not hold another event until the sport is squeaky clean.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Floyd Landis profile

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Lance Struggles in New York Marathon

November 6th, 2006 · Comments Off on Lance Struggles in New York Marathon · Cycling, Tour de France, Track & Field

Lance Armstrong competed in the New York Marathon on the weekend. He finished in a credible time for a non-runner at just under 3 hours.

With his huge aerobic fitness level that he has shown on the bike in winning the Tour de France seven times, you would think it would be a walk in the park for him.

No. He struggled. He said afterward that it was the hardest physical thing he had ever done. This will bring joy to all the distance runners out there to get credit for the hard work that they regularly go through.

Maybe it was so tough for him as he is not with a cycling team anymore, and therefore does not have the team resources to ‘aid’ his performance.

Related Pages: marathons, track and field, Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile

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Lands In Trouble

July 28th, 2006 · No Comments · Cycling, Tour de France

It would not be a Tour de France without some doping scandal. I thought that when a few of the favorites were pulled out by their teams at the start of the event due to a link with a drug laboratory, then that would be it. However, the day after the end of the Tour finished, we discover that this year’s winner Floyd Landis gave a positive test for elevated testosterone, from a sample given after his big comeback win on one of the final stages.

This whole incident may go on for a long time with appeals etc, but already the damage has been done to his reputation and to the reputation of world cycling, if it could get any worse.

I followed the ups and downs of the Tour for two weeks, and even stayed up late and watched a couple of the stages. Now I feel like what I watched was not real, and I feel cheated. I feel the same disappointment whenever there is a drug scandal.

The doping cloud over Lance Armstrong is never going to go away either. In an era when many of the leading cyclists are being done for drug taking, indicating that many performances are drug-assisted, here is a guy who has won seven of the events in a row. It is hard to believe that someone who is clean can dominate for so long in those conditions.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, Lance Armstrong profile, Floyd Landis profile

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Aussie Team on Tour

July 25th, 2006 · No Comments · Cycling, Major Events, Tour de France

Michael Rogers, one of two Australians who finished in the top ten of the Tour de France this week, suggested it was time for Australia to put a team on the tour.

There is a big financial hurdle to overcome, but other than that there is enough interest in Australia and certainly enough talent to put together a team.

This year was Australia’s best performance – we had two riders in the top ten, Stuart McGee and Michael Rogers, and the winner of the sprint title was Robbie McEwen also of Australia.

Getting a major sponsor must be easier knowing that a competitive team could easily be put together, and the public interest will only grow with any success.

Most Australian sports fans will follow any sport, and a winning team will bring on board everyone else. What is in it for the sponsors? They need to find someone with a lot of spare cash to throw around, or someone looking for worldwide publicity, particularly in Europe.

Related Pages: Tour de France, Robbie McEwen profile, cycling

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Unheralded man in Green

July 7th, 2006 · No Comments · Cycling, Tour de France

He is Australian, and he often wears green, but many people in sporting mad Australia don’t know of him.

Robbie McEwen is currently setting the Tour de France on fire, winning his second stage and leading in the Green Jersey running for the best sprinter.

The sport of cycling usually only makes the news at Olympic or Commonwealth Games times, and occasionally during the Tour de France. However, another ‘minor’ Australian sport, soccer, is still capturing news space with the World Cup nearing its finale.

If he can keep on winning, maybe he can get the recognition that he deserves and become a household name for his achievements in his long career at the top of cycling.

Related Pages: Tour de France, Robbie McEwen profile, cycling

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Cyclists are Dopes

July 1st, 2006 · No Comments · Cycling, Tour de France

It is not surprising to hear of another doping scandal in the Tour de France. I don’t think that the teams are just being overly cautious to ban all implicated riders, there must be some pretty damming evidence to take such a drastic action.

At least they are not covering up the problem as they may have done in the past. It can only be good for the sport which has a bad reputation for doping. They are showing that they are going to be tough on those who break the rules, even though they may be high-profile riders.

Related Pages: Tour de France, cycling, doping in sports

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