I don't think EPO is detectable after a certain amount of time but you still benefit from it increasing your red blood cell count.

They had a maximum percentage (I think) of red blood cells that you could have in your blood which was possible to reach just by intense altitude training but very unlikely - hence people like Millar got away with it as the EPO wasn't in his system and the other "recuperation" drugs he used were also out of his system/not detectable/not illegal so they didn't get caught.

It's also supposed to be 'The most sophisticated doping system' ever used so I suppose that they were just very good at it...

And I don't think that his doctors and team mates are any better but it seems that Lance was spearheading the whole operation and pushing people into doing stuff (if what his teammates, USADA etc... are saying is true) so I think he's also a bully...

And the recovery excuse is a classic - Millar got caught with Cortisone in his system but with a letter from his doctor was able to 'prove' that it was for a genuine medical reason...! So the organisers were also shit at enforcing rules and let people get away with stuff

I understand and agree with every point. (no buts). The thing with pros in any sport they all move around from team to team etc over the years and someone who had moved must have had a arguement etc with Lance and would have dropped this out within the time and not all these years after. As with J Saville it is easy to say - I was raped etc by him when nobody can prove either way...

True, but why did it take people so long to come forward, for both things? Fear, loyalty (if not to Lance than other people who it would bring down and the fact they might get done for it themselves? Who knows...

Isn't the big point the fact that Armstrong had effectively bought the compliance of those at the very top of the sport, ie the UCI?
The USADA certainly thinks so: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/oc ... ng-scandal
This would go a long way to explaining why Armstrong and his team were able to avoid testing - they were receiving preferential treatment and anonymous tip-offs from UCI insiders, while other teams and riders got caught.

When the competitors run the competition sport is dead. This is what Armstrong was doing, and the French racing establishment knew this all along but were prevented from doing anything about it by their UCI overlords and Armstrong's massively powerful corporate sponsors and their army of lawyers. Corruption wherever you look!

Because he has a big cheque book to keep media / snitches quiet

I believe the allegation s obviously some must be fake

Lucy Worsley. Yes. I would.

Whos Lucy Worsley?

Hmm,looks very 1920's