tagged w/ Lance Armstrong
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That headline probably sounds like the dumbest thing anybody ever said, doesn’t it? In truth, though, I mean it as a profound compliment. Let me explain why.
Today is LiveStong Day and it’s also Susan Komen Race for the Cure Day here in Denver. Earlier this morning, roughly 50,000 people participated in the Race for the Cure over at Pepsi Center, and annually there are about 130 such races worldwide.That headline probably sounds like the dumbest thing anybody ever said, doesn’t... more
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Sports Illustrated is reporting new information about embattled, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who is the focus of a federal grand jury inquiry in Los Angeles. The investigation is headed by Jeff Novitzky of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, who previously investigated Barry Bonds and Marion Jones.
Agents have been looking into whether Armstrong was involved in an organized doping operation as a member of the team sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service from 1999 to 2004, and since August the grand jury has been hearing testimony from Armstrong's associates and confidants. In light of those proceedings, SI writers Selena Roberts and David Epstein reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and interviewed dozens of sources in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S. for a story in the Jan. 24 issue of the magazine, which will be available on newsstands Wednesday.
According to the story, "If a court finds that Armstrong won his titles while taking performance-enhancing drugs, his entourage may come to be known as the domestiques of the saddest deception in sports history."
Among SI's revelations:
• In the late 1990s, according to a source with knowledge of the government's investigation of Armstrong, the Texan gained access to a drug, in clinical trial, called HemAssist, developed by Baxter Healthcare Corp. HemAssist was to be used for cases of extreme blood loss. In animal studies, it had been shown to boost the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity, without as many risks as EPO. (Armstrong, through his lawyer, denies ever taking HemAssist.)
• One of the perks of traveling with Armstrong, former USPS rider Floyd Landis recalls, was frequent trips on private airline charters. Private airports often subject travelers to less stringent customs checks. But Landis tells SI about the day in 2003 that he, Armstrong and team members flew into St. Moritz, where customs officials requested that they open their duffel bags for a search. "Lance had a bag of drugs and s---," says Landis. "They wanted to search it, which was out of the ordinary." Sifting through Armstrong's bag, agents found syringes and drugs with labels written in Spanish. As Landis recounts, Armstrong then asked a member of his contingent to convince the agents that the drugs were vitamins and that the syringes were for vitamin injections. The agents "looked at us sideways," says Landis, "but let us through." (Armstrong denies that this incident ever occurred.)
Armstrong won that year's Tour de France by a scant 61 seconds over his archrival, Jan Ullrich of Germany. It was by far the narrowest of his seven Tour victories.
• When Italian police and customs officials raided the home of longtime Armstrong teammate Yarolslav Popovych last November, they discovered documents and PEDs as well as texts and e-mails linking Armstrong's team to controversial Italian physician Michele Ferrari as recently as 2009, though Armstrong had said he cut ties with Ferrari in 2004.
• In a letter reviewed by SI, Armstrong's testosterone-epitestosterone ratio was reported to be higher than normal on three occasions between 1993 and 1996, but in each case the test was dismissed by the UCLA lab of renowned anti-doping expert Don Catlin, whose lab tested the Texan some two dozen times between 1990 and 2000. In addition to detailing those test results, SI reveals what appears to have been a reluctance from USOC officials to sanction athletes using performance-enhancing drugs.
In 1999, USA Cycling sent a formal request to Catlin for past test results -- specifically, testosterone-epitestosterone ratios -- for a cyclist identified only by his drug-testing code numbers. A source with knowledge of the request says that the cyclist was Armstrong. In a letter responding to those requests, Catlin informed USA Cycling that his lab could not recover five of the cyclist's test results. Of the results that could be found, "three stand out," SI reports: "a 9.0-to-1 ratio from a sample collected on June 23, 1993; a 7.6-to-1 from July 7, 1994; and a 6.5-to-1 from June 4, 1996. Most people have a ratio of 1-to-1. Prior to 2005, any ratio above 6.0-to-1 was considered abnormally high and evidence of doping; in 2005 that ratio was lowered to 4.0-to-1."
While he didn't address the 6.5-to-1 result, Catlin wrote that he had attempted confirmation (a required step) on the 9.0-to-1 and 7.6-to-1 samples, and "in both cases the confirmation was unsuccessful and the samples were reported negative." (Armstrong says he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs and has never been informed that he tested positive.)
• Stephen Swart, a New Zealander who rode with Armstrong on the Motorola squad in 1995, describes the Texan as the driving force behind some of the team members deciding to use the banned blood booster EPO. "He was the instigator," Swart tells SI. "It was his words that pushed us toward doing it."
Swart, who admits to using EPO himself, also describes a hotel-room ritual in which riders pricked their fingers, put the blood in a vial, then ran it through a toaster-sized machine that provided their hematocrit levels.
Before 2001, when cycling began using a test for EPO, riders with a hematocrit level higher than 50 were subject to a 15-day ban. Swart recalls a rest-day during the '95 Tour when the Motorola riders tested their hematocrit levels. Swart was at 48. "Lance was 54 or 56," Swart recalls.
The next day, their teammate Fabio Casartelli was killed as the result of a crash while descending Col de Portet d'Aspet, in the Pyrenees. Three days later, Armstrong attacked a group of breakaway riders, soloing to victory in Stage 18, pointing to the heavens as he crossed the line, in honor of his fallen teammate. "I rode with the strength of two men today," he proclaimed. (Armstrong denies ever using performance-enhancing drugs.)
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/more/01/18/lance.armstrong/index.html#ixzz1BSTlN15sSports Illustrated is reporting new information about embattled, seven-time Tour de... more
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c7girl
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added this
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1 year ago
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ance Armstrong's RadioShack team is facing disciplinary proceedings because its riders wore unapproved jerseys to the Tour de France's final stage, causing a 20-minute delay at the start.
The cyclists tried to wear black jerseys Sunday with "28" on the back. The number honors the 28 million people fighting cancer, a theme of Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation.
Cycling's governing body said Monday that RadioShack will be investigated for "breaching the regulations governing riders' clothing."
The International Cycling Union adds that it "regrets that an initiative for a cause as worthy as the fight against cancer" was not coordinated beforehand with officials.
I find this extremely silly.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtiteI711vH13oL4DIdvzMb8FMAQD9H6V6NG0ance Armstrong's RadioShack team is facing disciplinary proceedings because its... more
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Did Versus poke the wrong bear when it dumped out of the Tour of California in favor of the NHL?Did Versus poke the wrong bear when it dumped out of the Tour of California in favor... more
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The New York Times published this Op-Chart, Picturing the Past 10 years. It's so funny to look at this, and remember everything that happened in the last ten years.
This chart will be so useful for the writers of VH1's I Love The 2000's.
Remember all those "remember past decades" shows in the 2000s?
Remember those rolling blackouts of 2000?
Remember when we ate Freedom Fries in 2002?
Remember when you had a camera phone in 2004?
Remember those Lance Armstrong bracelets in 2005?
Remember Crocs in 2007?
Remember the Auto-Tune in 2009?
I think my favorite part of the 2000's will be all those hours I spent trying to crack a Rubik's cube, back in 05. They were tough, but it was worth it, I know now I can't do everything.The New York Times published this Op-Chart, Picturing the Past 10 years. It's so... more
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Our friends at Dangerbird Records created the Pablove Foundation in memory of co-founder Jeff Castelaz's son Pablo, who died earlier this year. The foundation supports work for pediatric cancer and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and they're wrapping up an auction on eBay that has some amazing stuff for a great cause.
There are three rare Silversun Pickups items: a signed poster from the benefit concert they headlined, a rare and signed vinyl copy of Carnavas and one of Swoon. Plus a set visit with Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, a bike ride with Lance Armstrong in Texas, and my personal favorite for sheer awesomeness -- Butch Vig will produce your band's song, just like he has for Green Day, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage.
Go check out the auction now, and bid fast.
Our friends at Dangerbird Records created the Pablove Foundation in memory of... more
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shana
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added this
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2 years ago
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Tour de France champion Alberto Contador insists the thought of having seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as his main rival in this year's race is not keeping him awake at night. The Spaniard, Tour champion in 2007 and 2009 and Tour of Italy and Spain winner in 2008, believes he will have more than the American to deal with.
Contador overcame tensions within Astana, the team Armstrong joined last year to make his comeback to the sport, to win the 2009 edition thanks to crushing performances in the mountains and final time trial. Armstrong battled to finish third, and then promptly announced the creation of a new team, RadioShack, that he hopes to lead to victory in 2010.
Although an outright Contador v Armstrong clash is mouth-watering, the Spaniard said he believes it may not be the only one on the horizon. At Astana's team presentation here Saturday, Contador said he believed there could be up to 10 real challengers for the race's prestigious yellow jersey.
"Of course Lance will be one of my rivals this year but I'm more relaxed," said the 27-year-old, who finished last year's race over four minutes ahead of Luxembourg's Andy Schleck. "I'm not the only big favorite. There's a group of around eight to 10 riders who could throw their hat in for a victory at the Tour."
Armstrong, third at 5:24 last July, boosted his chances of an eighth Tour win by taking the bulk of last year's Astana team with him to RadioShack, including American Levi Leipheimer and German Andreas Kloden.
Although an almost unrivalled climber and a strong time trialist, the big question supporters of Contador will want to ask is whether his team, which now includes disgraced Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov, are up to the job.
Vinokourov returned to cycling last year following a two-year ban for doping. He and the entire Astana team, when it was under different management, were thrown off the 2007 Tour de France. Vinokourov said there was only one objective on the team's mind: "The aim is to win the Tour de France for Astana and show that, with Alberto Contador, we are the best team in the world," he said. "I think that with his talent and my experience, I can count on him to succeed.
"Former Tour winner Oscar Pereiro, who was on the brink of retirement before he joined Astana with five other Spaniards, said there is no doubt who they will be racing for. “When Alberto is in this team, all riders work for Alberto, this team is Alberto... and others," Pereiro, the 2006 Tour de France winner, joked to journalists.
"He's the best rider of the world and for the other riders, it's a motivation." From a total of 27 riders Astana counts 13 Kazakhs, seven Spaniards, three Italians, two Australians, as well as one Ukrainian and a Slovenian.
Contador has one year left on his contract with the team, which he unsuccessfully tried to leave after his second Tour triumph. For now, he is giving nothing away about possible future destinations. "It's only January. There's a big possibility that I will stay longer with Astana. But there are other possibilities," he said.Tour de France champion Alberto Contador insists the thought of having seven-time... more
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After the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, the Stillerstrong project is now changing its efforts to the Haitian School Initiative, in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity,
For ways you can help, go to
Architecture For Humanity
http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/
You can donate toward needed supplies at
http://store.causecast.orgAfter the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, the Stillerstrong project is now... more
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Here are two interesting little pictures I found online at BBC News that somehow seem related. I don't think this is what they intended. If you want to read the full story, go to :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8448660.stmHere are two interesting little pictures I found online at BBC News that somehow seem... more
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We may sometimes scoff when celebrities start promoting causes, or trying to raise awareness of certain situations or diseases, but the truth of the matter is that in some cases we may not even be made aware that something exists without a little celebrity intervention.We may sometimes scoff when celebrities start promoting causes, or trying to raise... more
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Here are the odds according to bikeworldnews.com:
* Yaroslav Popovych – 1:1
* Gregory Rast – 1:1
* Andreas Kloden – 1:1
* Janez Brajkovic – 1:1
* Levi Leipheimer – 2:1
* Chris Horner – 3:1
* Brice Feillu – 2:1
* Romain Feillu – 3:1
* Ivan Basso – 5:1
* Floyd Landis – 8:1
* Michael Rasmussen – 10:1
* Stijn Devolder – 10:1
And my favorite part: "I think it’s safe to say that Fillipo Simeoni and Alberto Contador will not be seen riding with Lance next year."
What do you think of those guesses? And where's George Hincapie?Here are the odds according to bikeworldnews.com:
* Yaroslav Popovych –... more
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Apparently, there's no love lost between the two (though it would've been almost impossible not to notice during the course of the Tour):
"My relationship with Lance is non-existent. Even if he is a great champion, I have never had admiration for him and I never will," the 26-year-old Spaniard told reporters.
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That's funny, because in interviews from 2007 and before, he's often quoted as saying how much he admired and looked up to Lance, especially after he had spent time recovering from his brain aneurysm reading Lance's book for inspiration.
He may be the best climber right now, and he may peaking in his time trials, but without the uber-team of Popo, Haimar, Kloden, Rast, Leipheimer and Armstrong, I doubt that Alberto wil be repeating next year -- especially if he has to contend with Vinokourov and his return to the team. Add to Armstrong train George Hincapie and there'll be little hope, if any, for Alberto no matter who he's got as domestiques. What do you think?Apparently, there's no love lost between the two (though it would've been... more
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Mojave took a look at some of the major bike brands of the Tour de France to see how they played out in Social Media. We audited the current Social Media presence of Trek, Cervelo, Specialized and Cannondale and then looked at how each where mentioned in relation to the Tour de France.Mojave took a look at some of the major bike brands of the Tour de France to see how... more
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Mojave
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2 years ago
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Highlights
#A woman dies after being hit by a police motorcycle during the 14th stage
# Police say two other people were injured and taken to hospital on SaturdayHighlights
#A woman dies after being hit by a police motorcycle during the 14th stage... more
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The hottest twins in history, how tequila can make you rich, and Conor kisses a corpse - all in this week's magazine roundup.
We've Got You Covered is a recurring segment on Current TV's weekly television show, infoMania. In each episode of We've Got You Covered, Conor Knighton catches you up on everything you need to know about what's in this week's magazines. For more We've Got You Covered visit: http://current.com/topics/88829107_weve-got-you-covered/ and Current TV.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.The hottest twins in history, how tequila can make you rich, and Conor kisses a corpse... more
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On this week's infoMania the ghost of Michael Jackson makes an appearance on Larry King, Ben gives his thoughts on why Sarah Palin is too big for Alaska, Bryan explains why Bruno is leading the new gay revolution, Conor makes some new friends (conservative and of the corpse variety) and Sergio gets all hot and sweaty to the All American Rejects.
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at http://current.com/infomania/ or on Current TV. And make sure to check out our facebook profile for special features at http://infomaniafacebook.com.On this week's infoMania the ghost of Michael Jackson makes an appearance on... more
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Which is more inspiring? Overcoming cancer to win the Tour de France, or overcoming prolonged exposure to Matthew McConaughey to accomplish the same feat? The obvious answer shows just how hard a task incurable overachiever Lance Armstrong has set for himself. Even if he’s somehow wearing the leader’s yellow jersey when the world’s toughest bicycle race concludes in Paris on July 26, it will only be the second-greatest comeback he ever engineered.
More: http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2009/jul/09/comeback-lance-armstrong/Which is more inspiring? Overcoming cancer to win the Tour de France, or overcoming... more
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"Ignoring the cynics who claim There's Something About Lance, Stiller is pushing the seven-times Tour champ to come out of movie retirement after four years on the sidelines.
With Dodgeball II now tipped to be infused with cycling influences, George Hincapie is touted to take on Vince Vaughn's role as the good guy, while Chuck Norris, who played himself in the original, is set to be snubbed for a man much harder, Armstrong's friend Jens Voigt.""Ignoring the cynics who claim There's Something About Lance, Stiller is... more
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