Can’t we all just acknowledge that, of course, Lance Armstrong used banned drugs or procedures. That is, he cheated like all the rest. And then he lied about it like all the rest. Does anyone think he didn’t?
I hate witch hunts more than I hate witches.
It’s my guess that what really angers everyone in the cycyling community about Lance Armstrong isn’t that he doped, it’s that he was never caught.
Many of them have been caught, and he never was. They aren’t mad that he cheated, they are mad that he was smarter about it than they were.
Every top cyclist dopes in some way, particularly those in contention in one of the Grand Tours. It’s an arms race that’s fought out not just between riders but by strategies put in place by team managers (mostly ex-riders) and doctors.
Regardless, Armstrong was the best rider of his generation.