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Greg Lemond interview

Last Post 10/25/2013 12:16 AM by barry fyfe. 25 Replies.

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Keith Richards

Posts:781

10/23/2013 10:00 AM
+1 stronz. I have always said that Lance is like Nixon. The crime was bad. The cover-up and efforts to hide the crimes is what pushes Lance's sins to a whole 'nother level. Might have Greg Lemond have taken an injection or two over the course of his career? Sure. I can see that happening. Was he on a carefully planned and managed doping regiment? I see zero evidence of that. Greg reminds me of Bahamontes. He is another guy who is on record repeatedly saying he never doped and also as with Greg, nobody has ever said otherwise.

----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.

Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

10/23/2013 10:41 AM
Just a quick point re: the "controversy" surrounding his iron injection - IIRC, the Giro was in May that year and EPO was not approved by the FDA until June. So the chances that the shot was EPO are about zero.

Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!

jmdirt

Posts:775

10/23/2013 11:07 AM
I don't agree. Cheating is cheating. I don't care if you use a T patch here and there, or if you are on a full-on program, the intent is the same. As far as the level of what LA did beyond his cheating...I don't even know what to say, that was taken to a level never seen in cycling before and hopefully never seen again. Other events like boxing and horse racing have histories of people being killed for not going with 'the plan' so thankfully LA didn't take it to that level.

vtguy

Posts:298

10/23/2013 11:08 AM
+2 stronz

longslowdistance

Posts:2886

10/23/2013 11:41 AM
My challenge to "all-doping-is -equally-bad" simplifiers is that it's unlikely that just about anyone at or anywhere near the top level for the last 50 years has been snow-white pure, yet their wrath is not broadly directed. Seems hypocritical say "a curse on them all for they are all equally guilty!!!" yet direct hatred, usually extreme hatred at only a few, often based on the rider's personality and behavior, not whether or not they were juiced. BTW, FWIW, mass produced manufactured EPO was around for over 5 years (if I recall correctly) before it was FDA approved. Not saying that Greg ever took EPO, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had some limited help. The point is that chemical doping before EPO hardly helped at all so I don't much care if LeMond (or anyone else) took something technically illegal that made little if any difference in his performance. Same goes for the Merckx era. Indurain however clearly was on EPO or blood transfusions. Where's the hatred for Big Mig? Seems like it's about personalities.

Orange Crush

Posts:4499

10/23/2013 12:53 PM
1992

jmdirt

Posts:775

10/23/2013 02:43 PM
If there are different levels of cheating is it OK to cut 500 meters off of the course on the way to victory but not OK to cut off two K on the way to the top of the box? *Assume the cheater in both cases is a 'nice guy'.

longslowdistance

Posts:2886

10/23/2013 04:10 PM
Bad analogy if you are comparing EPO to amphetamines. More like 2k vs 2 inches.

jmdirt

Posts:775

10/23/2013 05:58 PM
Maybe that's why we disagree, if someone cuts the course by 2" or 2K, I see both as cheating. It doesn't matter 'how much' they cheated, they cheated and it affected the outcome.

longslowdistance

Posts:2886

10/23/2013 06:18 PM
I was agreeing with your post until the last bit "and it affected the outcome". My point is that s actually pretty unlikely. Yes I could be wrong.

ccrider

Posts:6

10/25/2013 12:16 AM
You are either a cheat or your not, there is no middle ground. I know plenty of pro racers that chose not to cheat, all were just as good if not better then the pro tour riders of today or of the recent past. The difference between Lemond and 99% of all cyclist he was truly talented, I know this first hand as do many other cyclist from the 80's and 90's. Lemond was the real deal, a once in a generation type of rider, everyone saw this from the time he was a junior. I don't believe it's necessarily Armstrong's fault, he like most of his peers were brought up in the culture of blood manipulation. I, like Ulrich believe that cheating starts with any blood manipulation by artificial means the use of altitude tents by Ulrich's definition is cheating. USAC has been pushing the use of tents with the juniors and U-23's for years, there is not one rider that has come out of the development program to the Pro tour that hasn't manipulated their blood. I don't think its a far stretch to say if a junior is manipulating his blood at 15-18 he will have no problem taking the next step to blood transfusions or testo when he's in the U23's and beyond. I found it disingenuous to hear Lawson Craddock admit to his team using altitude tents in preparation for Colorado to get used to the altitude, especially when Livestrong/Bontragers stays in Aspen. It was a joke to hear Phinney say he will never use a finish bottle, this is a kid that has been manipulated his blood since he was a junior...now he draws the line on caffeine and pain killers. I call BS. Armstrong is a product of USAC just like all of the other American dopers, USAC has taught our riders its ok to cheat, they enabled Armstrong, Hancapie, CVV, and developed DZ. USAC has hired dopers to train our development riders, they help place Tejay with Robobank who we all know had a systematic doping regimen for all of their riders while he was there. USAC is development partners with Livestrong development, Axel BTW was one of the redacted names and was one of the riders who tested dirty. As long as USAC has the current management and conflicts of interest with the Pro Tour and development teams, dopers will be training our youth and the most talented will not rise to the top, only the best funded riders.