Lance Armstrong Allegedly Bribed USADA

60 Minutes is going to air a segment on Lance Armstrong on Wednesday, January 9th, at 10 pm Eastern. The CBS News website states that they will report that someone representing Lance offered USADA a $250,000 "donation" in 2004. Travis Tygart, USADA CEO, is quoted as saying "We had no hesitation in rejecting that offer."

I suppose the truth about Lance will trickle out for years to come...It definitely makes a good case study for anyone out there teaching about fraud, corruption and organized crime. It makes me wonder if Lance's real name ends in Gambino or Bonanno...Maybe Armstrongo...

Lance May Admit He Doped

If this report is accurate, I will have to eat my words. I never thought Lance Armstrong would be able to do a complete 180 and admit to doping.  I even predicted he would go to his grave denying. However, according to the NY Times, he is considering confessing. Why would he do this now you ask? Here is what a Sports Illustrated blog has to say...

Heroes in the Lance Armstrong Investigation

Emma O'Reilly

There are a few heroes that paid a substantial price in the fight for truth in the Lance Armstrong investigation. For example, Emma O'Reilly, Lance's former soigneur, was one of the first to tell others that she knew Lance was doping. Emma spoke up nearly a decade ago and told her story. She paid a price for her honesty as Lance sued her for libel and persecuted her ruthlessly. In her words:  Lance tried to make her life hell. Emma paid a big price for telling her story. Yes, she was paid by a book author to tell it but without her story, it's possible many other stories would not have come out.

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Death Threats for Tygart?!

The French newspaper, L'Equipe, published an interview with USADA CEO, Travis Tygart. I just read an english translation of the interview that describes Tygart's challenges in the investigation including several death threats that are now being investigated by the FBI. The translator says that neither French or English are his native language so there may be mistakes but he also says that he had others check his translation. With that caveat, here are a few of the more interesting tidbits:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Favorite Quotes from the Press

There is a ton being written about Lance's decision to not fight the allegations that he was a fraudster during his cycling career. I've decided to collect my favorite quotes here with links to the articles...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: More Misleading Information

Photo taken from the internet

All the news outlets are saying that Lance Armstrong has decided to quit fighting USADA but I don't believe it. Here's why...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Judge Sparks' Ruled for USADA

Photo from CyclingNews

It was announced today that Judge Sparks has ruled that USADA has the authority to bring its case against Lance. In cycling lingo, this is one more attack that Lance needs to cover in this last stage of his race to hold on to his yellow jerseys. The stage isn't over yet but Lance needs to respond by Thursday. Here are a few more details from the news outlets...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: USADA Strikes Back in Court

Photo from FoxSports.com AU

Late Thursday night, news outlets are reporting that USADA has filed a 19-page motion asking U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Lance Armstrong about ten days ago.

Here are some details of the news reports as taken from Thursday's Wall Street Journal:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: John McCain Supports USADA

Senator John McCain

This news is about a day old now but I just got time to put it up for those of you following the Lance Armstrong investigation.

After Rep. Sensenbrenner (Rep. Wisconsin--Trek Bicycles district) put pressure on USADA on Thursday (see this link), I was pleasantly surprised to see John McCain come out in support of USADA. Here are a few more details from an article on VeloNation along with my usual commentary.



McCain issued the following statement that you can find online on McCain's website and in various news articles:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: USADA Under Political Pressure

Congressman Sensenbrenner

Well, you have to hand it to Lance. Just when it looks like he will receive some consequences for the massive doping that his teammates have allegedly accused him of, cases are closed and politicians come to his rescue. First the DOJ drops his case earlier this year with virtually no explanation and now a Congressman from Wisconsin is putting pressure on USADA to back off. Amazing!

Here is some more information from an article on VeloNews: 

The congressman, James Sensenbrenner, wrote a letter to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) which oversees USADA and stated: 

“The U.S. Congress has no role in determining whether an individual athlete doped, but we do have a great interest in how taxpayer money is spent,” Sensenbrenner wrote in his letter to Kerlikowske.

He continued:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Lifetime Bans and Real Heroes

While Lance Armstrong is fighting USADA to try to stop them from taking away his seven Tour de France titles, three of those who have been accused with Lance as being part of a doping conspiracy have, apparently, quietly conceded to receive lifetime bans from any involvement in cycling. According to VeloNation, the three include two doctors: Michele Ferrari and Luis Garcia del Moral and the team trainer, Pepe Marti. The article continued by saying: