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Ironman Louisville Pro Triathletes react to Lance Armstrong's lifetime cycling ban

Seven Time Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong is about to get banned from professional cycling for the rest of his life along with having his 7 TdF titles stripped by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. In this video the professional triathletes racing this weekend's Ironman Louisville race react to this latest news.

Alberto Contador stripped of 2010 Tour de France Title for using a performance enhancing drug

As of today Alberto Contador is no longer the 2010 Tour de France champion. That prestigious title now goes to Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank, who finished second in 2010.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has stripped Alberto Contador of his former TdF title because they found him guilty of using the performance enhancing drug clenbuterol.

Today the CAS formally rejected an appeal by Contador in which he claimed he had ingested the drug in a portion of tainted meat.

Austrian triathlete Michael Weiss banned for two years for doping infringement

Austrian triathlete, inaugural Ironman St. George winner, former Olympic mountain biker and this year's Xterra World Champion...Michael Weiss has been banned for two years from competition stemming from a 2005 doping infringement.

The Washington Post is reporting that:

"An independent arbitration committee of Austria’s anti-doping agency (NADA), said Tuesday it has found Weiss guilty of having his blood taken for enrichment at a blood lab in Vienna six years ago.

The committee’s ruling overturned an earlier decision by NADA, which cleared the athlete of the doping charges last year. Weiss can appeal the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland."

Weiss competed as a mountain biker in the 2004 Athens Olympics, before switching to triathlon in 2008. As a professional triathlete Weiss has had numerous Xterra podiums including winning the World Championships this year.

' We are catching the dopey dopers, but not the sophisticated ones.' WADA chief

As you may recall from THIS story Floyd Landis was busted a few years ago during the 2006 Tour de France for using a performance enhancing drug.

That drug was testosterone.

Except that it really makes little sense for Landis to be using testosterone during the tour as the drug does little if anything to boost race day performance.

Most experts would agree that the main benefit of testosterone is during training when an athlete can recover faster and train harder while on testosterone.

Fast forward to today and the World Anti-Doping Agency Director General David Howman warned that international doping agencies need to do more to stop the spread of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports.

In THIS recent APF story Howman is quoted as saying:

"We are catching the dopey dopers, but not the sophisticated ones."

Armstrong to Hamilton...I'm going to 'make your life a living (expletive) hell.'

In what may be a sign of the cycling times, Lance Armstrong recently confronted Tyler Hamilton in an Aspen restaurant and told his former teammate, that his legal team would "(expletive) destroy you," "tear you apart on the witness stand," and "make your life a living (expletive) hell."

According to THIS story published in ESPN, the two Tour de France cyclist serendipitously met at a popular Aspen Restaurant when Armstrong confronted Hamiliton about THIS recent CBS News Interview where Hamilton alleged that he saw Armstrong use and inject performance enhancing drugs while preparing to race (and eventually win) the Tour de France.

According to Chris Manderson, Hamilton Attorney, the heated conversation unnerved Hamilton and was eventually reported to Federal Authorities.

"Lance Armstrong is a possible defendant in an investigation that's been widely reported, and Tyler is a probable witness," Manderson said. "When there's any contact, especially aggressive contact, we as lawyers have a duty to inform the authorities. ... What they will do with it, I don't know."

Lance Armstrong: 'I Never Failed One Of Those Shi***, Easy-To-Fool Doping Tests'...The Onion

If you ask us, it is about time that the satirical Onion newspaper took on the Lance Armstong doping story.

Thanks guys for poking a little bit of fun at what has mostly been a pretty sad story.

According to the Onion:

"Embattled seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong held a press conference this morning to sternly reiterate that during his career he passed every easy-to-mask, ineffective doping test he was ever given.

"Let me be entirely clear about this: I, like the hundreds of obviously juiced cyclists who also passed them, never failed one of those shi*** tests that you can basically learn how to beat by reading Internet message boards," Armstrong said.

Twitter photo of the day: Lance Armstrong has a secret

We're not sure if this was the wisest advertising slogan for FRS given the current Lance Armstrong news.

Photo Credit: Jim Vance on Twitpic

Follow on twitter @everymantri or view latest videos on YouTube.

In case missed it...watch the 60 Minutes Lance Armstrong doping story here

This weekend the CBS News show "60 Minutes" exploded the Lance Armstrong doping controversy into the headlines again with a tell-all interview with Armstrong's teammate Tyler Hamilton.

Did Lance Armstrong cheat to win seven Tour de France titles by using performance enhancing drugs...that's the question at the heart of the controversy?

The bombshell interview aired on 60 Minutes last night.

In it Tyler Hamilton tells Pelley that he not only used Performance enhancing drugs, but that he also witnessed Armstrong use performance enhancing drugs on many occasions, including in 1999 when Armstrong, according to Hamilton, used EPO to win the first of his seven Tour de France victories.

"There was EPO...testosterone...a blood transfusion," Hamilton goes on to tell Pelley in the interview below.

Tyler Hamilton returns 2004 Time Trail Olympic Gold Medal

American cyclist, and former U.S. Postal teammate to Lance Armstrong, Tyler Hamilton has returned his 2004 Olypic Gold medal in the individual time-trial race after confessing to doping.

According to Chris Manderson, Hamilton's attorney the once American Star Cyclist returned his Gold medal from the 2004 Olympics to to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

“Tyler didn’t want to hand it in for any reason other than he knew people were going to make a stink about it,” Manderson said.

Manderson went on to say that Hamilton had returned the medal because "he did not want it to be a distraction from his recent admission to doping or his comments about Armstrong in a “60 Minutes” television interview."

In the 60 Minutes interview Hamilton says that he personally watched as Lance Armstrong injected himself with EPO in preperation for the Tour de France.

Hamilton could be stripped of Olympic Gold Medal after confessing to doping

The International Olympic Committee could strip Tyler Hamilton of his 2004 cycling gold medal now that he has admitted to doping IOC vice president Thomas Bach said today.

In an Interview with 60 Minutes Hamilton said that he, along with Armstrong, used performance enhancing drug to better compete in the Tour de France.

"The IOC has taken note of Hamilton's confession and will of course study any potential games-related implications. We will contact UCI and USADA for further information," the IOC said in a statement.

In a public letter to friends and fans Hamilton writes:

"During my cycling career, I knowingly broke the rules. I used performance-enhancing drugs. I lied about it, over and over. Worst of all, I hurt people I care about. And while there are reasons for what I did -- reasons I hope you'll understand better after watching -- it doesn't excuse the fact that I did it all, and there's no way on earth to undo it."

Video: 'I saw him inject it,' Tyler Hamilton tells CBS 60 Minutes that Armstrong used EPO

"I saw it in his refrigerator, I saw him inject it more than one time," former Lance Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton tells Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes in an upcoming interview. "Like we all did, like I did many, many times."

The bombshell interview will be aired on 60 Minutes. In it Tyler Hamilton tells Pelly that he not only used Performance enhancing drugs, but that he also witnessed Armstrong use performance enhancing drugs on many occasions, including in 1999 when Armstrong, according to Hamilton, used EPO to win the first of his seven Tour de France victories.

"There was EPO...testosterone...a blood transfusion," Hamilton goes on to tell Pelley.

Did Lance Dope?

Bicycling Magazine just posted a preview of their May edition article, in which Bill Strickland, for the first time, takes a position on whether or not Lance doped and if so, what it means. The article will be a comprehensive examination of whether or not Lance doped.

Click here to read the full version.

The naked truth: Chrissie Wellington publishes complete drug testing resume & history

With this tweet, "One small step to promote transparency, accountability and dialogue. The publication of my drug test history," Chrissie Wellington exposed the naked truth today by publishing a complete history of her drug testing including:

- date of test

- location

- type of the test (blood/urine/blood passport)

- result

- testing authority

Floyd Landis says doping should be legal and that current drug testing is a 'joke'

There's an old saying that when you are in a hole the best way to get out is to stop digging, but apparently that's a saying the disgraced 2006 Tour de France winner has never heard.

"You've got to legalize doping. They (the testers) are so far behind in the testing organizations that there's no way to change it now," Landis told Cyclingnews this week.

As you may recall from THIS story Landis won the 2006 Tour de France only to be stripped of his victory after testing positive for a banned substance (synthetic testosterone) during the race.

Video: Alberto Contador blames tainted meat for positive drug test.

"It is a food contamination case of which I am the victim," said three time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador today at a press conference in Spain.

The Spanish super star rider tested positive for trace amounts of clenbuterol, a banned substance that aids in weight loss and muscle building, over two months ago just before the mountain stages of this year's Tour de France.

Shocker: Alberto Contador tests positive for a banned substance and may lose Tour title

The 2010 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador has tested positive for clenbuterol, a banned substance that aids in weight loss and muscle building.

The positive test may cost the three time Tour de France winner his most recent Tour title as well as a two year suspension from professional cycling. According to a press release issued by Contador publicist the Spanish cycling superstar will hold a press conference to explain the positive test.

"The experts consulted so far have agreed also that this is a food contamination case, especially considering the number of tests passed by Alberto Contador during the Tour de France," the press release states.