Lance Armstrong had been challenging the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to name names and to show evidence, and it came out today that they finally decided too.
Eleven teammates were listed in the evidence that spanned 1,000 pages against Armstrong. Some of the former teammates that testified were George Hincapie, Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton. Armstrong’s attorney Tim Herman has called the report a hatchet job and refers to a lot of the men that testified as proven serial perjurers because they lied under oath to try and protect themselves during their own doping trials.
One of Armstrong’s close friends that testified was Hincapie, and he never mentions Armstrong by name in his two-page testimony, so take that for what it is worth. Armstrong has said that he will not fight the cases and that he has just moved on from everything that has happened. Armstrong has been stripped of his Tour de France victories and received a lifetime ban; although he was not the only one, Dr. Michele Ferrari and Dr. Garica del Moral both did as well.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) wants the details for the case prior to signing off on the sanctions, but the USADA has said that it doesn’t need their approval and their sanctions are in place.
According to ESPN, “The report also will go to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which also has the right to appeal, but so far has supported USADA’s position in the Armstrong case. ASO, the company that runs the Tour de France and could have a say in where Armstrong’s titles eventually go, said it has ‘no particular comment to make on this subject.'”
The more I read and hear about this case, the more I believe that this is not going to go away quickly or any time soon. And despite the USADA and Lance Armstrong’s desire for it to end quickly, there is a real possibility that this will drag out and more personal and damaging information will come out.