Lance Armstrong's lawsuit thrown out of court

They got leave to refile, didn't they? How damning can it be?

Fair enough - innocent till proven guily, but why did 4 of his former team mates admit they cheated and testified against him to commute their sentence to a life ban from all competitions. If he did win all his TDFs by cheating, is that fair?

I believe in this USADA have to look at the evidence provided and what Lance says before accusing anyone of anything and if there is any reasonable doubt then you have no case at all on him!

why cant he be BOTH a drug cheat AND the biggest douche in the hostory of douches?

sorry Bondy, there is nothing compelling about it. In fact, half of his assertions are outright lies starting with the "500 tests" hokum which is easily discredited. Research is indicating the figure is in the order of 120 official tests going back to 1993. The list of athletes that have been santioned and never tested positive is even more interesting than the positive list - Marion Jones, Montgomery, Bonds, Ullrich, Basso etc etc. Some people like to use the analogy "I have never been issued a speeding ticket, therefore I have never neen found guilty of speeding" whilst not actually saying "I have never speeded". The two major issues the $500ph brigade tries to introduce are (1) jurisdiction of USADA to conduct doping investigations, (2) USADA is a state actor aka government body therefore bound by rules of jurisprudence. 1) Lance raced every year under a new USA Professional Cycling license, agreeing to know and abide by the applicable rules and regulations of USA Cycling and the UCI, including the anti-doping rules and procedures as set forth by USADA, the UCI or WADA and agreeing to submit to any drug test organized under the rules by the UCI, USA Cycling, USADA, or the official anti-doping authority of a foreign country where competing. He also submitted to the jurisdiction of the USADA when he gave samples. 2) It has been clearly determined by the Courts through numerous attempts by prior (ultimately convicted) dopers that USADA is NOT a state actor. Therefore criminal jurisprudence procedures do not apply, and Lance must abide by the USADA rules that ironically his personal manager, Bill Stapleton, helped draft when he was a board member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and served as the chairman of the athletes' advisory council, and that every IOC athlete in USA has agreed to. Not compelling at all I'm afraid.

it was not that traces were found, he tested positive for corticosteroids and the TUE was supplied retrospectively. Any guesses who was the doctor who signed it? I'll give you a hint, its one of the three that have today been found guilty of a conspiracy by USADA and banned for life.

vitalyg, Judge Sparks did more than strike it as poorly drafted. “This court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong’s desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement, or vilification of the Defendants by sifting through 80 mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material.” “Contrary to Armstrong's apparent belief, pleadings filed in the United States District Courts are not press releases, internet blogs, or pieces of investigative journalism. All parties, and their lawyers, are expected to comply with the rules of this Court, and face potential sanctions if they do not.” This is a damning indictment.

The Herald Sun is reporting that Armstrong has re-filed the lawsuit asking the judge to issue a temporary injunction against USADA on the basis that USADA do not have jurisdiction and that the system they use to pursue doping charges violates the US constitution. I don't know about you but this refusal to let USADA carry on with proceedings says to me that he is hiding something.

Doping is a problem in all sports and not just cycling. There are a number of untold statistics about permanent damage and even death from using performance enhancements. Armstrong developed cancer from his widespread abuse of PE drugs and he should be promoting a clean approach to sport and life in general. Ironic how he was once lauded a hero for his efforts and his ability "to beat cancer". Doping is a cancer in all sports and no surgeon in the world can remove it. While it reamins a lucrative business, it will always attract people beyond the law.

This will be one of the most explosive sport/court cases in the history of sport, I can see it all heart attacks' feigned', Majorca perhaps ,extradity treaties the list could go on and on,stay tuned for sure. Ps I'd just seen florence griffith run past she's still going, damn she 's still quick.

Where there's smoke, there's usually fire. A lot of those pointing the finger at Armstrong would also be implicating themselves as well. I find it hard to believe that that many people would risk jail time just to pursue a vendetta.

To be exact, the suit wasn't thrown out of court. The complaint was dismissed with leave to refile, which it was today, in a shorter, 25-page form. The judge did not decide the issues in the complaint on the merits, but simply struck it as poorly drafted (shame on the lawyers). I'm guessing the merits will be addressed based on the refiled complaint submitted to the court today.

His urine showed traces of corticosteroids in 1999, for which he produced a medical certificate, so it is not entirely true to say he never tested positive. There are also rumours surrounding the cover up of a positive test to EPO at the 2001 Tour de Suisse (combined with some , and Australian doping expert Michael Ashenden has claimed that retrospective tests of his 1999 TDF samples were positive to EPO (link: http://velocitynation.com/content/interviews/2009/michael-ashenden). Besides, Marion Jones never tested positive, either.

Just because Armstrong has never tested positive does not mean he didn't use. There are plenty of good "chemists" around who are one or two steps ahead of the drug testing agencies. Marita Koch and Waldemar Cierpinski never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during their career, yet we now know the East Germans had a systematic doping program. The Balco scandal is but another example. Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery did not test positive for performance enhancing drugs either, yet Jones ended up in prison for lying about her use of performance enhancing drugs. Many, many others athletes, cyclists, weighlifters, swimmers etc who never tested positive have been later shown to have used performance enhancing drugs. Where there is smoke there is fire, and there is plenty of smoke around Lance Armstrong.

The guy would appear to have either been a drug cheat or the biggest douche in the hostory of douches. We have just seen a high profile sportsman in Roger Clemmens have to appear and defend himself against pergery charges in the U.S, so for five seperate guys to be willing to risk jail time by making up stories that he was taking drugs is an awfully big risk for a guy who they didn't like.

There are just too many people, those that were close to him included, saying he is a drug cheat for there to be no substance to the allegations. He certainly has a lot to lose so it is understandable that he is fighting hard but...there is just too much smoke for there to be no fire. Also didn't Flo Jo have no positive tests against her? The dopers are usually one step ahead of the testers although having said that wasn't another rider arrested yesterday for doping? The sport cannot be taken seriously whilst this stench hangs over it.

Armstrong puts forward a fairly compelling case US.ADA and many others have not been able to register a positive with him in fifeteen years of professional Cycling in the eyes of the public it can be seen a personal crusade by another branch of a very deranged legal system and not just in sport . I believe there is nothing fair about this whether you like the guy or not,they will get their man.