Latest L. Armstrong controversy

First, if these allegations are true, they are serious. Don't give me this, "it was soo long ago..." line. We are still cheesed off about Michelle Smith and the East Germans, so no double standards where foreigners we don't like are satan's span forevermore, but Americans we do like get a free pass based of the passage of time. Lance has made a BIG deal about how clean he is, and look at what an exemplary athlete, etc. etc. IF (I say again IF) it was all a big con job and he is simply the most effective doper, that would be a BIG story. Second, prove it. My understanding, from an NPR piece I heard, is that there are samples from the 99 Tour. At that time there was no EPO test. Subsequently, a test has been developed. A lab that was one of the leaders in developing that test wanted to use some old samples to test, validate and refine their process. They got some samples from the 99 Tour. Some of those samples tested positive for EPO. The lab only knew them by ID numbers. L'Equipe claims to have documentary evidence showing some of the positive samples were from Lance. The Lab Director has stated that a false positive is very unlikely, and in fact that a false negative is more likely because EPO tends to degrade over time. This is what we have so far. OK fellas. You made the claim. Let's pull all the relevant documents--the ones the magazine has and any others that may still exist. Let's retest any of the samples in question. If that is not necessary because this last test is reliable, let's here from the Lab about why that is so. If it is not possible because there is nothing left of the sample, let's have a full explanation of that. If Lance is truly innocent, he should be eager to sign any release necessary to allow review of any relevant documents. By the same token, if L'Equipe is willing to stand behind its story, it should be eager to have it verified any way possible. This is a serious story, but I HATE unverifiable accusations. Prove it, or shut the flip up. Matt

First, if these allegations are true, they are serious. Don't give me this, "it was soo long ago..." line. We are still cheesed off about Michelle Smith and the East Germans, so no double standards where foreigners we don't like are satan's span forevermore, but Americans we do like get a free pass based of the passage of time. Lance has made a BIG deal about how clean he is, and look at what an exemplary athlete, etc. etc. IF (I say again IF) it was all a big con job and he is simply the most effective doper, that would be a BIG story. Second, prove it. My understanding, from an NPR piece I heard, is that there are samples from the 99 Tour. At that time there was no EPO test. Subsequently, a test has been developed. A lab that was one of the leaders in developing that test wanted to use some old samples to test, validate and refine their process. They got some samples from the 99 Tour. Some of those samples tested positive for EPO. The lab only knew them by ID numbers. L'Equipe claims to have documentary evidence showing some of the positive samples were from Lance. The Lab Director has stated that a false positive is very unlikely, and in fact that a false negative is more likely because EPO tends to degrade over time. This is what we have so far. OK fellas. You made the claim. Let's pull all the relevant documents--the ones the magazine has and any others that may still exist. Let's retest any of the samples in question. If that is not necessary because this last test is reliable, let's here from the Lab about why that is so. If it is not possible because there is nothing left of the sample, let's have a full explanation of that. If Lance is truly innocent, he should be eager to sign any release necessary to allow review of any relevant documents. By the same token, if L'Equipe is willing to stand behind its story, it should be eager to have it verified any way possible. This is a serious story, but I HATE unverifiable accusations. Prove it, or shut the flip up. Matt