Lance Armstrong’s long battle with cycling officials over a seemingly never-ending doping scandal clocked another chapter yesterday with the release of a United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report claiming that the cycling legend was at the center of “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport (of cycling) has ever seen.”
The USADA report on Lance Armstong was just one turning point in many as the cycling star claims over and over again that he is innocent and agencies like the USADA insist that Armstrong — who became a sport legend due to his many wins and anti-cancer charity following his own bout with the killer disease — gamed officials for years as he racked up the wins.
Many in cycling have turned their backs on Lance Armstrong, including former teammates who eventually testified against him. But some involved in elite cycling still stand by Armstrong as he insists he is the subject of a witch hunt, and fellow elite cyclist Samuel Sanchez , Olympic road race champion in 2008, said (in Spanish) yesterday:
“Until the contrary is proved, he remains innocent. Lance has overcome many controls and even until today he has never been found positive in any of them … So about all the accusations that have been poured against him, we have to see what is the goal of all of them, whether it is an economic motive or they want to harm his image.”
Sanchez continued:
“We still need to wait to see what’s the final decision taken by the UCI, and see what it rules. The UCI has said all the time that it works on today’s cycling and not in the cycling of the past.”
Do you think Lance Armstrong has been unfairly treated in the doping scandal that has dogged him for so many years?