DopeStrong?

Things are not looking good right now for Lance Armstrong.  From holding status as the most prolific Tour de France rider ever (not the best rider ever, that title belongs to Eddie Merckx and always will) to being accused of being the best sporting drug czar ever the fall has been swift, and fairly damning. Whether or not you like or approve of USADA (I don't, as I think the drug enforcement groups are often more corrupt than the athletes themselves) the information that they put together has ruined the legacy of the greatest American cyclist of all time.

Lance Armstrong was the leader of the biggest doping conspiracy in sporting history say USADA. Nick Hoult, The London Telegraph

The United States Anti-Doping Agency charged him with six offences covering the use of banned substances, the trafficking of drugs, the administration of drugs to team-mates and aiding and abetting a massive cover-up between 1998 and 2005, a period when he dominated the world’s most famous race.

Dave Brailsford, British Cycling’s performance director who was key to Bradley Wiggins becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France this year, said was stunned to read the USADA findings. “It is shocking, it’s jaw dropping and it is very unpleasant.”

A total of 26 witnesses including 11 fellow riders from the United States Postal Service team testified to USADA against Armstrong in a ­doping case the agency described as “more extensive than any previously revealed in professional sports ­history”. The dossier has been sent to the International Cycling Union which now has 21 days to challenge its findings and appeal to the World Anti-Doping Agency or comply with the decision to strip Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.

In short, cycling another mess on it's hands.  In question are Lance's 7 Tour de France titles won from 1998 to 2005.  The easy solution would seem to be to just strip Armstrong of his titles and award the next finisher in line the championship.  The problem with this scenario is that most of the cyclists who finished 2nd to Lance (Including Ivan Basso) have been implicated (and in may cases suspended) for their own drug-related scandals. A worse option might be to vacate the titles and leave cycling with a gaping void of seven years where no Tour champion is listed.  It may not be a good solution, but it could be a fitting tribute to a cycling era where anyone who wasn't cheating wasn't seriously trying. (I'm looking at you, French riders)

For his part, Armstrong is remaining defiant, deciding to stay quiet and out of the public eye perhaps hoping that all of this just blows over and that he can keep chugging along post cycling as the public face of LiveStrong.

Time will tell what the legacy of Armstrong will ultimately be, but I don't think there's any way he's going to totally over come his doping legacy.  Even the staunchest of Lance Armstrong defenders has to go pale after reading the accusations and evidence compiled by USADA in this instance. There are really only two options, either Lance Armstrong is guilty as charged, or he's the subject of the greatest, most wide-reaching conspiracy that's ever been hatched to take down an individual who, by all accounts, hasn't hurt anyone if the allegations are false.  It's a staggering amount of money and resources that have been spent in what would all amount to a lie.

At the end of it all this case brings about one inevitable conclusion:  It's time to have a serious grown-up talk about PED's in sports, and whether or not we're willing to let a bunch of lawyers in suits come in and declare invalid what we've seen with our own eyes because they enjoy the power and privilege that come with being on the doping control board.  In the end, drug "cheats" hurt no one but themselves and we spend Billions trying to stop them from doing so.