They are coming out of the wood work for Lance.

Honestly, we could have 25 stories just like this one, and many of Lance's defenders still wouldn't waver.  

My usual answer to the Lance fan base goes along the lines.. when they say people are just out to get him (ex employee's and friends)

why does Lance pick such horrible people to be friends with. over and over and over.   You would think he would learn his lesson after a while right?? or does he turn these nice people into Aholes

what's sad is these stories have been out there for years.. it's only now that media is willing to go ahead and print the

but the lance fan base will never acknowledge their hero is a fraud

OR you could read the article....

I never really heard this stuff before, but ya it is not new. People knew about it.... there were a bunch of suits filed.

As with any of these stories, it is really he said he said. I wasn't there and don't know. Both sides have their story.... all I can say about this one is it seems believable. Not that it is gospel, or taking sides or any of that... just that it passes the smell test.

Like Landis and Hamilton... they could be telling the truth, but it does not add up. It does not pass the smell test... even though it could be true.

Yet time and time again you have all these people talking about how vindictive he is. Again, great for cancer patients, but not someone you would want to be on the bad side of. Landis was quoted when he left the team as saying... "if you are not afraid of Lance, you have not been paying attention". Like Jeckle and Hyde.

I don't know if he doped or not. But having read his autobiography, I would think the kind of people who would stick around as "friends" are the kinds of people who liked being near him when he was up, and would not hesitate to tear him up when he is down. He came across as a very difficult person to be friends with, as his outlook appears to have been cycling and Lance as his top 10 concerns. I am sure it made him a very focused competitor, but it also made him a jerk for a friend. And therefore, "nice people" would not likely stay his friend over time. But I would venture that MOST top competitors in cycling (and maybe a number of other sports that require that kind of commitment to suffering over the long haul) are kind of jerks as friends. 

And frankly, whether he doped or not, he was not alone. I read somewhere that if you gave one of his TdF wins to the next racer who was believed to be "clean", you end up going down into the 27 place or thereabouts. So overall, while it makes the sport overall dirty, he was (if he doped) winning in what was, in a bizarre way, a level playing field.

Just taking this individual article on its face I thought it was a little strange.  The whole "facts" that he uses to sell his opinion is based on:

That year she and Frankie both gave depositions saying that in 1996 they heard Armstrong tell doctors in an Indianapolis hospital room that he’d used EPO, human growth hormone, cortisone, steroids, and testosterone.

Maybe it's just me, but that seems a little strange.

I recall something about that, but do not recall all the details

What about the part of him seeing androstenedione?  (which btw was the stuff Mark McGwire finally admitted to using when he finally fessed up)

And as with anything... ya, he is trying to sell his story, that Lance is not a very nice person even though many think he is a Saint. I liked the quote about him being at a cancer fund raiser and he said, "I hate these f' things". Well so... Does not mean he hates cancer or helping those with it, maybe he hate public speaking and begging for money. So ya, you can take things with a grain of salt.

I think it is a fair argument and an interesting one. There were other sport legends that were not very good people. Yet LA fights cancer... and I am really torn on that. Not many people are 100% good or evil. Sure he helps people, but he also destroys them too. I mean even mobsters help people. And honestly, I really do not know what to think about that.... if a mobster killed some people would it make it better if they ran a charity? I mean how far do you excuse bad things, as long as someone does some good thing?

actually these are people that Lance approached.  Not that people were looking to be friends with him.. Like this article and others have stated. people enjoyed that lifestyle of private jets and now knowing the right people, but they didn't go out of their way to contact him and initiate the friendship

The next cleanest competitor was 11th or 12th, in two of the years.  I think eventually all titles will default to Jens Vought. 

Just because all dope doesn't make it an even field,

I work in the oncology field, I refer people to the Livestrong resources since many of them do an outstanding job. so I"m not the usually lance hater.   Just FYI since it seems many (not saying you) don't separate the two since they are pretty entwined.  Heck even Maldof had some great charity things going that helped many people

What seems strange about that.. He is telling the doctor that is treating him what he has been or is currently using. Pretty standard stuff there. 

What I think is strange is that while this cancer was destroying his body, that he was getting better as a cyclist.  and nothing unusual was showing up on his blood test.  How??  unless his doping doc's (possible without his knowledge, since Chris Carmichael was sued twice by junior riders for being given drugs which they had no knowledge of )   were maintaining his blood work so it would always give a normal result.

I can't remember the mens VB player at the olympics this year that tested positive and they basically told him he really needed to follow up with his doc, since one of his lab values was so far out that he was either doing a particular drug or that he had testicular ca.    So how could Lance's ca start, spread while he was improving as a cyclist and it never showed on his test's??  

Fixed that

When I read the article I wondered how the women have stayed out of all of this. What about his ex?

It's like an episode of Real Housewives. I know I should just look away but I can't help myself. The article sure paints an ugly picture.

Thats what I wondered too. When LA left Kristen, it took a lot of people by suprise. An author that wrote a book that came out before #7, Coyle?, had an interesting take. She said that is how it is with Lance, when you are out you are out. She wondered if he had Daddy issues.

I figure though that if it is Lance's SOP to intimidate and sic his lawyers on you, then it would just figure that Kristen probably signed a nondisclosure statement in return for a favorable divorce settlement. I mean once they were divorced... you never heard a peep out of her. Maybe she just does not want to be involved either, but it is like she fell off the planet.

actually wasn't she writing for Runners World?   I know there were a few articles that she did in there but I'm not sure if she did a regular column.  Then again maybe it's since I"m in texas that I've heard a few things about her in the running/writing area.

They have kids together, maybe she's just being a responsible parent.

Well, for some reason I got "HER" in my head... it is HIM. Daniel Coyle

Here is the interview.

Interview

He wrote two books on Lance, and he is the author of Tyler Hamilton's book. He did not come from cycling.

So I have pretty much written Tyler Hamilton off from his 60 min interview. I mean to me, he did not seem credible... even though he could be telling the truth. And not because he lied, but I did not think his story was credible that Lance himself supplied him... that's like saying the head of the Columbian Cartel delivered an 8 ball to you.

Any way, now that his book is out I have been reading some reviews.... uuhhhh... wow! Maybe not everything is true, some is not new.... but just the whole thing.... wow. Do not read anything from it if you still want to believe in fairy tales of elite level cyclists that don't dope.

As far as people that say everyone did it so it was a level playing field, that includes me, his assertion was that the field was never level... "Lance was two years ahead of what everyone else was doing".