need to add title here

Hamilton: I saw Lance Armstrong inject EPO

May 19, 2011 3:30 PM

Cyclist Tyler Hamilton tells Scott Pelley that Lance Armstrong was using a banned drug called "EPO." He says he saw Armstrong inject himself more than once.

Ex-Teammate: I saw Lance Armstrong use EPO

60 Minutes OverTimeEx-Teammate: I saw Lance Armstrong use EPO

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by Bigringking July 16, 2011 2:50 AM EDT
Finally someone else who has heard of this molecule other than me. I've wondered about this since I first learned of it in 2002. For those who don't know how this works, it causes the red blood cell to hyper-saturate the hemoglobin in the red blood cell. It then moves the oxygen to the working muscle (or hypoxic tumor)where it then dumps approx. 90-95% oxygen before returning to repeat this cycle at lungs. Normally the red cell does not super saturate w/oxygen and then only dumps around 70% of the oxygen off at the needed source. This is how I understand it to work after having a close friend who is an Oncologist explained it to me.
However, as far as Armstrong having test results containing EPO ,he probably did and so would I and everyone else because it is a naturally occurring protein in the body. Until as of late the only way to test for use or abuse of EPO was to count the new, mid-aged and old red blood cells and calculate a ratio and based on that ratio make a determination. But, I agree with you the real story is in RSR13 it CAN be detected and they should still have some older samples, but I'm not sure how long they would keep them.
Very interesting topic!!!!! thnx BigRingKing
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by 2UpDuc May 23, 2011 1:48 PM EDT
60 Minutes. I can't believe that you are taking the word of one cyclist that has an 8 year ban on top of a 2 year ban for doping. You might as well be talking to a Harold Camping and believing that the rapture is on May 21st 2011. O and lets not forget to mention that Tyler Hamilton has a Tell All Book coming out. A little bit of self promotion I think.. You took the word of basically one disgruntle athlete that is ban from the sport for 10 years. This is very sub par reporting by 60 minutes. George Hincapie responded that he did not testify to Grand Jury about seeing Lance Armstrong doping. So you got your facts wrong and rode with it. Cyclists are tested in and out of competition all year round. It would be impossible to pass all those tests over a decade of racing without single positive result.
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by waltwhite May 23, 2011 11:44 AM EDT
I wish 60 minutes would cover the real story. Everyone inside the sport of cycling knows Lance doped. Just like most every European cyclist does. This is standard practice. It levels the playing field. The athletes with true physical gifts still rise to the top.

But Lance was never that good till he got cancer. Lance had drugs that none of the other riders had. That is the real story. Experimental cancer drugs like rsr13 developed by Allos Therapeutics and distributed by a sponsor Bristol Myer ... were far more effective then the EPO and Steroids. I think this is far beyond a standard doping program.

Lance seems to have a lot of republican government connections and relationships these days .... these new allergenic drugs that can make your red blood cells more efficient without raising your hematocrit rate could be a great drug for the US military complex to give to soldiers for battle field applications. I dont think lance and his idiot coaches could do all this themselves.

Hey 60 Minutes Investigators....
Why did Lance drop out of the Olympics 12 hours after RSR13 was added to the USOC banned substance list?

Why was RSR13 omitted from the Tour De France banned substance list on Lance's last tour win.... but it was on every other banned substance list of every other major race that season?

Why does everyone keep saying Lance has never failed a drug test? his 1999 and 2000 tour samples came back positive for EPO. He only avoided punishment because they didn't have a "B" sample to compare it too. But the US Government doesn't care about "B" sample crap like the UCI does. To the US Government ... positive with one sample is enough.

Defrauding the US Government (US Postal Service) from a Position of Trust (Owner of the Team)... that sound pretty serious to me.
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by scrubman May 22, 2011 11:10 PM EDT
Its obvious from the interview and just having lived life the last 25 years (I'm 54) that the majority of athletes at the top of all sports may at some time or another use enhancements. The real question is as a tax payer do I want my tax dollars being spent on this and the answer is absolutely not! When you see the amount of money spent on the never ending Barry Bonds case and ask yourself what did it really acomplish, the answer is not much. Let the governing sports take care of and use their own money to investagate anyone they want. If the government wants to really reduce our deficit, here is one of the many useless programs they can eliminate. If they just realized that millions of dollars for these programs mutiplied by all the programs DO add up, you have to start somewhere to get into the trillions.
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by texasboy37 May 22, 2011 10:51 PM EDT
Just curious, how many of these posts are lance's pr, defense, and other interested and paid parties?
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by billandjennie May 22, 2011 10:31 PM EDT
This is one of the MOST ridiculous things in the world that 60 minutes and ESPECIALLY for the Fed. Govt. to be investigating that I have ever seen. The stupid waste of taxpayer money to investigate things like this that have absolutely no relevance to the lives of ordinary American citizens is a prime example of the waste of our taxes!!! Spend this money helping some soldier save his home or some poor child being given shoes for his feet and food in his belly. Anything that is productive and this is NOT!! I don't give a rats' ass what Armstrong did or did not take to win a bicycle race in France or any other place. For Gods' sake it is a childs' sport just like baseball and all the nonsense that the fed. wants to stick their noses into. WASTE< WASTE< WASTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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by theloneconsumer May 22, 2011 12:26 PM EDT
Armstrong is a cancer survivor. And as such, would have needed some type of red blood transfusion infusion therapy, as chemotherapy strips your body. I know, I watched my mother from age 5 to late 20's with cancer treatments. And cancer that matastesized.
So, a chemical that makes the body increase red blood cells? Depends on what the Tour De France considered "enhancing" drug, and if the nature of his cancer treatment in itself was an enhancement.
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by sirdavidii May 20, 2011 8:45 PM EDT
Hamilton is very obviously lying.

ALL Stage/Race winners are tested. If, as some have indicated, EVERYONE is cheating, then there would be significantly more POSITIVE tests. So, obviously, everyone is NOT cheating.

And I would say that there are no more Performance Enhancing drugs in cycling than, say, ah......Baseball !! Maybe, actually less. And we all know that Football players do not use steroids, right?

One has to wonder why Tyler is "volunteering" this information.
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by dickkahrs May 20, 2011 4:34 PM EDT
I don't believe what Hamilton is saying. It sounds to me like he's making it up on the fly.
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by myodynamics May 20, 2011 3:09 PM EDT
I have treated and rehabed many pro athletes. You just cant compete clean against athletes that are using so i think it is not possible to win, especially 7 times with out something. Getting around tests has been done before. Hamilton should be locked up for fraud and an investigation undertaken
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