Lance Armstrong, still an amazing athlete.

Seven Times TDF winner Lance Armstrong
- image from  http://www.telegraph.co.uk 

So, it would appear to be over, or at least the long drawn out campaign to prove that Lance Armstrong is guilty of "doping" is entering the last stage which will almost inevitably lead to him being found guilty.
This morning Lance issued a statement on his website (see http://lancearmstrong.com/news-events/lance-armstrongs-statement-of-august-23-2012) in which he outlines why he thinks he is innocent and why is not continuing to fight USADA against their claims that he used artificial means to win the Tour De France a record seven times.
Lance Armstrong is an amazing man. From an early age, he showed exceptional cycling ability and his genetics and determination made him an outstanding athlete. He won events in running, swimming and cycling (and ironman style events with all three) from an early age and became a very successful athlete. Even when he discovered that he had testicular cancer, he never once gave up and not only fought but beat cancer, he re-trained and brought himself back to a level of fitness that even the world's best athletes find hard to understand. I have read many books from various Tour De France cyclists and they all give a similar image of Lance. His appearance in a room, or on the road was like a steam train, his legendary anger against the other cyclists were the driving force that made him perform to an exceptional level.
Away from cycling, Lance turned his energies to providing a massive support network for cancer victims and against a condition that we are gradually finding ways of beating. To date the Livestrong Foundation has raised $500 million which in an age where large numbers are commonplace still makes most people draw in breath and say "Wow"
"Doping" in cycling used to be incredibly common. Even cyclists who would profess themselves to be clean and to stick to the rules would still inject concoctions of "recovery" drugs and sleep in an oxygen tent between stages of a race - all perfectly legally. It was common for athletes, especially cyclists to use blood transfusions (sometimes for their own stored blood), which allowed them to carry more oxygen in their blood and therefore perform at an even higher level that they would do otherwise. When the hormone erythropoietin (EPO) was found to help boost the bloods hematocrit level for six to twenty four hours after injection. When this is combined with a very hard training regime, athletes recovery times are much quicker and performance is greatly enhanced. Steroids were often used as well, which reduce weight and also enhance recovery. After several weeks it is difficult to detect that athletes had used these methods (the Americans allegedly set up a college training programme where the time that these drugs took to be undetectable where studied - Ben Johnson's spectacular fall from grace where he was exposed as a "drugs cheat" has led to much speculation that this was widespread among all athletes at the time.). It was also found that EPO can be masked by using plasma infusions and that an elevated hematocrit level can be reduced in just thirty minutes.

Male fake phallus urination device image.
Source: The Original Whizzinator website
(accessed online Dec. 3, 2008)

When the Festina team car was stopped and searched at the 1988 Tour and found to be brimming with illegal drugs, (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festina_affair), all hell broke loose and the cycling fraternity had to be seen to do something. They acted slowly and often turned a blind eye to dodgy practices. When David Millar was caught with two empty EPO syringes hidden in his apartment (he claims he had already decided to be "clean" but was keeping the syringes as souvenirs), he became an outspoken campaigner against the use of drugs in cycling. He tirelessly fights against doping, and has offered advice at every level to the industry. Gradually cycling is cleaning up its act. You will see that a stage winner is escorted straight to the toilet where they have to give a urine sample. The cyclist has to strip and an observer watches the urine leave the body. It goes into two containers which are then sealed (the A and the B sample). The A sample is tested and the B sample is stored so that it can be re tested in later years. Incredibly cyclists have tried to use devices like the false phallus shown above in the Tour.
The question of whether Lance has used performance enhancing substances or methods to train is difficult to give a straight answer to. He did use performance enhancing drugs to fight cancer, which is of course a very normal thing to happen and we are all glad that he did so. I have no doubt that he was not an out and out doper. He possesses exceptional ability and determination and he deserves the reputation that he has for being one of the best cyclists that there has ever been. I am also pretty sure that he will have used methods that would not be allowed today, but then again it was once common for Tour De France riders to have a flask of brandy with them, and that would definitely not be allowed today.
At the time that Lance won his incredible seven Tours, I would say that he won fairly and did not have an advantage over his fellow cyclists other than his amazing talents abilities and mental attitude.
Should he be stripped of his seven titles? No, I dont think so, but I do think its about time that everyone took a more honest and less hypocritical view on what used to happen in cycling. Let's move on...