Originally posted on 08/24/2012:

When he was dominating the Tour de France, his team included:

Floyd Landis - admitted doper.

Tyler Hamilton - admitted doper.

Frankie Andreau - admitted doper.

Heras (don't recall his first name) - caught doper.

Armstrong was a control freak to the extent that he popularized weighing food to the exact ounce. His team mechanics called him "Mr. Milimeter" because if a saddle height was off by just a fraction of an inch, he'd know about it. He was often known to carry a carpenter's level to make sure his saddle was exactly parallel the to ground. He had his head mechanic "age" his racing tires in a cellar because the old school tires actually gripped better as the rubber aged.

The team traveled together in a bus and sleep at the same hotel. Are you telling me that he wouldn't have known if other guys on the team were sticking needles up their a55es?

You can argue that he simply looked the other way while he himself stayed clean. However, former members of his team have sworn statements that he and Bruyneel (the equivalent of the manager in baseball) not only condoned it but enforced the use of "oil" (they called it oil because the infamous Dr Michele Ferrari mixed testosterone with olive oil to try and fool the authorities). Frankie Andreu's wife also has a sworn statement that she heard Armstrong confess to the doctor that he took anabolic steroids. Armstrong's former soigneur (an assistant that top level cyclists employ during races) has a sworn statement he she saw him performing blood transfusion for EPO (this was the drug of choice back then due it it's ability to increase blood cell count).

All these were conveniently swept away because Saint Lance and his cancer foundation was so well-received by the public.

His early mentor was Eddie Merx, who most consider to be the greatest cyclist ever. By the way, Eddie was a caught doper (amphetamines was the drug of choice back then) but got off due to politics. It turned out he was too famous to be banned from the Tour.

Armstrong's two greatest rivals were Marco Pantani and Jan Ulrich.

Pantani was a caught doper who later committed suicide.

Ulrich was a caught doper who left the Pro Tour under disgrace. His team manager was a former winner of the Tour de France and a confessed doper.

Both riders, by Armstrong's own admission, had better genetics for winning the Grand Tours (such as the Giro d'Italia and Le Tour de France). Both riders had superbly well-equipped teams.

In his later Tours, his biggest rival was an Italian Ivan Basso - a caught doper.

So you're telling me that a clean rider can beat genetic freaks over the course of three weeks and thousands of miles...?

Are you fukking kidding me...?

And, yes, Armstrong was busted in the past but exonerated on a technicality.

When he tried his comeback under extremely tight testing protocols, he was nowhere near the rider he used to be. You can blame it on his age if you so choose.

It's one thing to presume innocence until guilt is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. It's another to turn a blind eye to a confluence of overwhelming circumstantial evidence. OJ was exonerated for the infamous murders. So he, too, must be innocent, right...? Dirty scum get away in the court of law all the time.