2 Ex-Teammates of Cycling Star Admit Drug Use

[Benny Profane]

Two of Lance Armstrong’s eight teammates from the 1999 Tour de France have admitted for the first time that they used the banned endurance-boosting drug EPO in preparing for the race that year, when they helped Armstrong capture the first of his record seven titles.

Their disclosures, in interviews with The New York Times, are rare examples of candor in a sport protected by a powerful code of silence. The confessions come as cycling is reeling from doping scandals, including Floyd Landis’s fall in July from Tour champion to suspected cheat.

One of the two teammates who admitted using EPO while on Armstrong’s United States Postal Service team is Frankie Andreu, a 39-year-old retired team captain who had been part of Armstrong’s inner circle for more than a decade. In an interview at his home in Dearborn, Mich., Andreu said that he took EPO for only a few races and that he was acknowledging his use now because he thought doping was damaging his sport. Continued doping and denial by riders may scare away fans and sponsors for good, he said.

“There are two levels of guys,” Andreu said. “You got the guys that cheat and guys that are just trying to survive.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/sp...rtner=homepage

[Cornholio]

No shit. I'd like to think this is the start of a new era of openness in cycling, but then I wake up.

I fear this is some sort of backhanded retaliation for Andreu's getting fired from Toyota United, the team he started by working without pay for a few years.

It's a refreshing admission, either way.

[RootSkier]

“There are two levels of guys,” Andreu said. “You got the guys that cheat and guys that are just trying to survive.”

Translation: "Of course Lance cheated, you dumbass."

[Plakespear]

Not entirely surprised, though.
Read Paul Kimmage's book "A Rough Ride." It deals with amphetamines (he retired from the sport in 1989, before the EPO epidemic). In it he said that doping was more widespread amongst the domestiques, who are simply trying to keep their jobs, as oposed to the stars, who Kimmage said were so strong they didn't need to dope.
But still,

[lph]

In it he said that doping was more widespread amongst the domestiques, who are simply trying to keep their jobs, as oposed to the stars, who Kimmage said were so strong they didn't need to dope.

That is some funny shit right there! Probably makes for a good read though.

I am not coming to any conclusions based on Frankie's admission, and who knows, maybe some guys did it just to keep up, but it seems unlikely that if the weaker were doing it, the stronger almost certainly were.

[Cornholio]

but it seems unlikely that if the weaker were doing it, the stronger almost certainly were.

I assume you meant it's likely.

Either way, I doubt there's much talk between riders in the peleton about this shit, so how would Little Luigi the Domistique have any clue about the big guns? It's not like you're cruising along in the pack discussing how many units you transfused that morning.