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Cycling Cheat – How Lance Armstrong Fooled The World /

Cycling Cheat – How Lance Armstrong Fooled The World

On face value, it appears to be almost incredible that a sports person of such high stature could of been taking performance-enhancing drugs for so many years, and yet still fly under the radar. If you consider that Lance Armstrong won a total of 7 Tour de France's, then you have to ask yourself, where were the governing bodies who are supposed to police the sport? A lot comes down to sheer force of personality. Armstrong was able to bully and threaten those he feared might expose him.

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Lance Amstrong in 2009 – Image source: Anita Ritenour from Santa Maria, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Drugs in Cycling

It’s incredible to think that the cycling Champion of the Tour de France was taking performance-enhancing drugs over so many years. Not only that, but he also managed to coerce others to take part in his fraud. And because so much was at stake, both in terms of reputation and financially, his sponsors still stood beside him. Mind you. if you had been betting on him over his career, then you certainly would have made some bank. More especially if you’d of been using 1xBET Sportsbook. They have a masive number of cycling betting markets for you to try your hand at.

We have to admit that Lance Armstrong was a sensational athlete. He was also an incredible performer. Just think how he was able to orchestrate a massive lie and keep it going for more than a decade. Attending all the live press conferences, book signings, TV appearances and even court appearances. The shock is how he managed it all whilst maintaining a straight face. In some ways, he was not just a champion cyclist, but a fabulous actor. But more than anything else, he was a liar.

And The Winner Is Lance Armstrong

Of course, when you are in that deep, then you have no other possibility but you lie in order to keep the deception in place. Because historically cycling has been so dirty when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, then the only way to win 7 Tour de France victories is to continue the facade and keep denying your use of these drugs. The whole deception has now been documented over hundreds of pages in a report from the United States Anti-Doping Agency. They interviewed dozens of related people including ex-teammates. The report is clear in its accusation that Armstrong and also his handlers who were “engaged in a massive and long-running scheme to use drugs, cover their tracks, intimidate witnesses, tarnish reputations, lie to hearing panels and the press and do whatever was necessary to conceal the truth”.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this whole case was not just Armstrong taking drugs. It was that he was a bully and enforcer for a small mafia outfit that operated ruthlessly within professional cycling. Back then, anyone who mentions drug-taking or threatens to expose him would be relentlessly hounded and bullied. And that’s not just any other professional cyclist. Armstrong bullied and threatened teammates, fellow cycling professionals, officials and even journalists. It was all part and parcel of his bent jackpot winning strategies.

An Example of Extreme Bullying

An example was a masseuse on the US Postal team, called Emma O’Reilly. She had a front-row seat and so knew exactly how the team operated. She knew all their underhand jackpot winning tips and tricks. Emma was also complicit in that she would use makeup to cover up the syringe bruises on Armstrong’s arms. She even helped to transport the drug packages delivered in-person to Armstrong’s trailer. In fact, at one point Armstrong turned to her and said “Now, Emma, you know enough to bring me down.”

Well, some years later she decided to write an expose about her experiences whilst working in Armstrong’s team. The instant her writing was public then Armstrong’s legal team hit the accelerator. She was taken to court and Armstrong publicly called her “an alcoholic and a prostitute.” They dug up every tiny negative detail in her personal life both present and historic. And then used these against her in order to silence her. Emma went on to say that “Lance tried to make my life a living hell. There was intimidation, bullying and stress.”

A Horrible Human Being

This report delves into “ the most shocking and sophisticated doping programme the sport has ever seen.” But it tells us more about the character of Lance Armstrong. From it, we can see that he is a mendacious, vicious and vindictive character. He was at the heart of this fraud. Such was the veracity of his attacks on any would-be threats that he appears to be more of a psychopath than a cyclist. The will to win such a competitive sport needs to be strong. But to not only cheat but continuously threaten to destroy those he perceived were against him, is both a shocking and interesting insight into his warped personality.

In the same way, that playground bully is nothing more than a coward, so it proved to be the same with Lance Armstrong. After the Usada report came out, he did not contest any of the evidence. This means that if the US Attorney’s Office needs to speak to him, he will not have any option to question the contents of the report.

Running A Cycling Mini-Mafia

We can clearly see that Lance Armstrong did not operate as a single entity. Though he bullied many around him, there are also other organisations that appeared to turn a blind eye. For example, under the watch of cycling’s governing body, the UCI, Armstrong was able to defile the sport of cycling, the very sport the UCI were meant to oversee. The problem was that the UCI was useless. When you consider that a champion was able to win so many Tour de Frances whilst up to his ears in illegal doping, then the UCI oversight is nothing more than an appalling failure.

Consider how in 2005, the French newspaper L’equipe leaked details of a 1999 positive doping test from Armstrong. The UCI then conducted its own “investigation.” To absolutely no one’s surprise, Armstrong was cleared. At the time, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound, claimed that the UCI report was “so lacking in professionalism and objectivity that it borders on farcical.”

Money Makes The World Go Around

This begs the question as to why the UCI was so so incompetent. One cycling journalist has said that the governing body “consistently, either through naivety, incompetence or complicity, concealed the worst excesses of a decade of doping”. What’s almost hilarious, if it wasn’t so sad, was that the same governing body accepted $125,000 from Lance Armstrong in order to help with their anti-doping research. We’re sure that Armstrong must have laughed his head off when he gave them the money. And maybe that’s the real story here. One of greed! Mind you, if you want to make some money, then you could do a lot worse then heading over to 1xBET Sportsbook. They have a juicy welcome bonus for all new players of 100% up to €100!

The UCI just didn’t care. They were more concerned about the financial boat being rocked than about cheating within the sport. If you consider that the Sunday Times journalist David Walsh and Paul Kimmage pursued Armstrong for over 13 years. And yet the UCI never contacted them once.

Cycling Sponsors Don’t Care

Then there are the sponsors who may have been complicit. The world’s largest sportswear brand, Nike, have said they will continue their commercial deals struck with Armstrong. This is simply a marketing decision because they sell almost 100 items of Armstrong branded apparel and accessories. So you have to ask yourself why would one of the world’s leading sportswear brands continue being in contact with a man who is so dirty. Once again it all comes down to money. After all, he represents one of their best sports betting jackpots.

Back in 2001, Lance Armstrong did an advertisement for Nike. In it he said the following; “This is my body and I can do whatever I want to it… Everybody wants to know what I am on. What am I on? I’m on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?”