Quote Originally Posted by OldPhiKap View Post
Let's say you strip the Jerseys from Armstrong and give them to the second place rider. This gives you as your champs:

1999 - Alex Zuelle, who was part of the Festina team thrown out of the 1998 Tour de France after team manager Bruno Roussel confessed the existence of "an organized doping system."
2000 - Jan Ullrich, who has been conviced of doping and was banned for a period of time.
2001 - Ullrich again.
2002 -- Joseba Beloki, who was implicated in Operación Puerto and was withdrawn from the Tour de France in 2006.
2003 - Ullrich again.
2004 - Andreas Kloeden -- Freiburg Univerity Clinic alleges he used illegal blood transfusions in a subsequent tour.
2005 - Ivan Basso (2005), who was banned for two years in 2007 for his involvement in Spain's Operation Puerto scandal.

Well done, USADA.
To be fair, I suspect that they would just say there was not a winner (sort of like when Bush had to return his Heisman trophy). I don't think they'd then give the trophy to the second place rider.

But unless they can actually provide positive samples from Armstrong, I don't think there's any legitimate justification for stripping him of his titles. And that's coming from someone who is absolutely convinced that he did cheat.

But your scenario above isn't really an indictment of the idea of punishing Armstrong if he's guilty of cheating; it's an illustration of the fact so many prominent riders were implicated in cheating. Further evidence supporting the idea (if Armstrong can be proven to have cheated) that there should be no winner.