Armstrong: My fall from grace cleaned up cycling - but it wasn't worth it

It's somewhat vain for oneself to consider themselves graceful from the outset. So why consider himself "Fallen"? I believe the "Fall from Grace" is a term actually invented and coined by the popular media.

No -- History is History and like it or not it will always be a part of us. It's ridiculous removing Titles and shunning someone thereafter. That era still exists in records and peoples' memories. It's unreasonable to wipe the slate, for lack of a better term, clean. Most people, and particularly those big-mouth cyclists who've probably had much to say in the matter, don't and won't understand this.

Human memory and perception is such a feable thing. As one era draws to a close there are bound to be many others, in different forms, yielding scandalous and disreputable behaviour because it is Human Nature.

Let's face it Cycling isn't a B&W sport and Cyclists (Humans) aren't the brightest people around. (And the same is true for most sports.)

Sorry but I'm with "Cyclist" ^^ on this one.

LA has been made a scapegoat for an entire generation of dopers. Yes it's a bed he made himself but actually pointing all the fingers at Lance and saying "yep, all his fault" ignores the wider issues.

Watch the film Pantani - Accidental Death of a Cyclist. In there they touch on the doping issue and the telling comment is this:
"It wasn't just a couple of rotten apples - the entire apple cart was rotten."
It was a systematic abuse and it came from sponsors, managers, doctors, riders and even the media all working together. I don't think Lance ever had the UCI in his pocket, frankly I think at that time the UCI was simply a mixture of naïve and woefully incompetent - charged on the one hand with growing and promoting the sport while on the other hand attempting to keep it clean and failing miserably. They even unwittingly sanctioned the use of EPO by creating that 50% haemocrit test - basically a green light to dope up to 50% and hey, you're all alright (this was before the test for EPO). Amazing how during that time you'd find that every cyclist in the peloton had a haemocrit of 49.8%...

Lance was the gateway to a whole continent where previously (in spite of Lemond) very few people were "into" cycling in that way, certainly nowhere close to the love affair that Europe has always had with the sport. Lance changed all that so why was anyone going to attempt to bring him down? More exposure to a new audience = more sponsorship = more money all round. Everyone was in on it, Lance just happened to be a big (and very media friendly) fish in a small pond.

i actually admire his honesty. oh the irony

The "level playing field" argument is not a good one. Sure, the top riders like Lance had access to the drugs and, key thing, medical support. Many young riders (who had access to the drugs but not the doctors) died in that era - heart stops in the night with blood like raspberry jam.

Sure, Lance wasn't the only one, but he hung on long after the others, denying until he was finally forced to admit the truth.

Someone pointed out that Pierre Rolland's stage-winning time up Alpe d'Huez in 2011 would've netted him 40th place on the same stage in the 2001 tour - despite the 2011 stage being much shorter. Times have changed.

This is news?

At least he's being honest about it, he could have said "Oh yeah, it's great that the sport is now cleaned up at my considerable expense" and we'd all go "well that's a load of shit!". Could have saved himself all this grief if he'd been a bit more honest earlier on.

The ordeal of being found out for doping was ‘not worth it’ despite the effect it has had on cleaning up the sport

well DUH, wasn't that very obvious? what a twat ..

Lance sucks balls

Lance sucks balls

Say what you like about Armstrong but in the end it's the classic deal with the devil at the crossroads and fascinating for that. It would make a fantastic film. Oh hang on...

It's a sad story that will always be in the minds of fans. He has to live with what he's done, nothing can ever change the feeling of betrayal we feel.

I think him getting caught was probably worth it. Perhaps I'm outdated in my way of thinking, but I like to imagine truth is worth a little more than an aggressive construction of lies, deception and intimidating cover-ups.

It's generally a bit more straight-foward, at any rate.

Quote:

The ordeal of being found out for doping was ‘not worth it’ despite the effect it has had on cleaning up the sport, Lance Armstrong has said.

Poor little Lanceypoos.

This will be unpopular... However I am not bothered.

Armstrong has done a lot of good, does it make his actions towards others right? Of course not, a bully is a bully. But I have less respect for the bottless idiots like landis etc. I loved watching the tour in his era, battling with Pantani, it was ridiculous yes, but compulsive viewing. As for calling the guy a cunt, that is pathetic as he is not responsible for doping, I am not condoning his actions but let's be objective about it. He is not Stalin, Hitler or any other type of mass murderer, so let's get real it's sport.
As for the people who were bullied and ridden over well that's between them and LA. From what I know of LA the man I respect him, don't particularly like him but I definitely respect him.
On the other hand I find Walsh to be a sanctimonious t##t

I am still a LA bike rider fan. And I still see him as 7 times TdF winner.

He regrets being caught, not what he did. Just like every other human that's been caught for anything, including you, think about that before you start with your warrior. I am already LOLing at the replies to come.

Wow, I thought he was trying to portray himself as rehabilitated so that they would let him race in triathlons again?

How arrogant is he?!

twat

Playing the victim card now. Seriously Lance just F off now

Not worth it for him perhaps (what a surprise!) but the rest of us can decide for ourselves if it was worth it. I know I'll never be a fan of a bike racer, but I can still enjoy the sport, more so with that arrogant prick removed.

as my late father would have said,what a prize cunt

Painting himself as the victim is just a further insult to the cycling community and cycling fans. I hope he lives a sad and lonely life full of regret until he just admits full responsibility for his own actions.

how I feel about it!

It has cleaned up the History books, not necessarily the tour.

It has cleaned up the History books, not necessarily the tour.

I first thought he was going to say that the cheating wasn't worth it in the end, but no, it was the sport that was in the wrong for catching him?