Lance the Francophile

[Chuffy]

So does this mean Lance is a witch?????

Does he float like a duck?

 

[mondobongo]

Dunno lets get Paul Kimmage to chuck him in the river and see.

 

[Keith Oates]

Which we take to mean what? Keith, I know you are no fan of ASO but I don't think anyone here is spinning this as UCI v ASO.

That said, I do feel McQuaid would have been better served not to have taken sides on this one. He has only fueled this very very silly story. None of us know what happened, whether LA did or did not "misbehave", whether he was okayed to take that shower (is that going to become the grassy knoll of this story?!). We don't know what "no anomalies" refers to; whether it's only the testing process itself or the entire meeting.

I could imagine LA could get arsey. It's entirely possible he did get up the nose of the tester. The tester might equally have disliked his authority being questioned and being generally dicked around. Everybody knows what people in authority get like when you mess them about; they suddenly become sticklers for rules. You can't win, and that's red reg to a bull to some folk. Maybe LA is one of those folk. The whole thing has gotten well out of hand.

I reckon LA will get a wrist slap, he'll issue a few more 'they hate me' statements & twitters etc, he'll ride the TdF and all will be forgotten (by most people anyway).

I've checked and Armstrong quite clearly states in his account of events that he asked if he could get a shower and also it's reported the tester said no to the any irregularities question. Of course he could be telling lies but I doubt it.

I don't see that McQuaid has taken sides he merely stated that he doesn't know how the leak occured and that it should never have happened with something that was supposed to have been sent to the UCI in confidence, only to be made public IF charges were made.

It seems to me that not everyone remembers these two very important points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[yello]

We don't know what happened Keith. We have LA's side and we have the testers side. The truth is one or the other, or somewhere between the two. We also don't know specifically what 'no irregularities' refers to. I'm neither believing nor disbelieving either version of events, but I don't forget or ignore the fact there are 2 versions.

Personally, I see McQuaid's comments as unhelpful at best, taking sides at worst - so there we'll have to differ!

 

[Keith Oates]

OK!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ufkacbln]

So does this mean Lance is a witch?????

He turned me into a newt!




























































... but I got better!

 

[mondobongo]

 

[kennykool]

Jeez this is a long thread - took me ages to catch up!!!

Ok here goes maybe I missed something but the Tests were NEGATIVE and still there is a big HOO HAA surrounding this?

Lance wanted a shower WHILST the testers credentials were being verified - so I suppose the test hadn't started at that stage so the tester was able to let him out of his sight.

Perhaps LA got a hair/blood/urine transplant in the 5 minutes it took him to get a shower then he took the test and passed. Imagine IF that actually happened??????

 

[John the Monkey]

Ok here goes maybe I missed something but the Tests were NEGATIVE and still there is a big HOO HAA surrounding this?

The regulations state that the athlete has to be within sight of the tester until the samples are taken - that's what's at issue.

This is because there are ways that some tests can be foxed (f'rinstance, dropping a couple of grains of soap powder into your urine sample removes all traces of EPO - not a terrific example, as it removes the body's own EPO as well, which *should* be a red flag to the lab, but you get the idea). There are also cases of concealed appliances for delivering "clean" urine that have been documented.

I'm NOT saying that Armstrong indulged in any trickery during the 20 minutes, but that's why the rule exists, and why flouting could be considered to be a big deal. (Personally, it's also why I'm surprised Bruyneel and Armstrong thought it would be ok for Mr. Armstrong to take his shower before the samples were taken).

 

[John the Monkey]

And with that single sentence, don't you just realise how silly this all is?

Indeed - Lionel Birnie pointed out in his Twitter feed that this is basically just a PR war with both sides spinning frantically - "Bottom Line: It's not about the shower".

 

[John the Monkey]

Looking on the bright side, this week's Toto is going to be pretty interesting (imo).

 

[yello]

I watched LAs video response to this situation (livestrong site) and a few things struck me about it.

1) He does come across as very anxious about the likelihood of being banned from the TdF. Almost scared. I was genuinely surprised by that.

2) It sounds to me like he took that shower whilst the tester waited outside the house. He seems to implicitly accept that he didn't have the testers okay on it but I think he genuinely didn't realise there was a problem doing it.

3) He seemed verging on paranoid that 'the French' want to get him. Maybe they do, maybe they don't but he certainly seems to believe that they do.

My take on it is that, technically speaking, he is in breach of regulations. I don't think however that he intentionally/knowingly breached them. I think AFLD probably have to report that breach to UCI and LA, as part of procedure. They can't bend rules for anyone. I do think it's a non-story and I genuinely don't expect any sanctions to be placed on LA.

What does interest me is who leaked this non-story and why. I'd previously dismissed the LA pre-emptive strike theory but given my points 1 and 3, I wouldn't now rule it out.

 

[Noodley]

I'd previously dismissed the LA pre-emptive strike theory but given my points 1 and 3, I wouldn't now rule it out.

I told you that ages ago! :?: It was leaked by Team Lance trying to spin the story.

 

[Crankarm]

2) It sounds to me like he took that shower whilst the tester waited outside the house. He seems to implicitly accept that he didn't have the testers okay on it but I think he genuinely didn't realise there was a problem doing it.

Perhaps if the shower was so urgent LA should have invited the tester to join him then watch for the tester's response ? Mind you the tester could then have demanded control of the soap.

 

[John the Monkey]

Lawrence Donegan in t'Grauniad;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/apr/16/lance-armstrong-cancer-drug-test