Ryan Garcia retires today

No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying doping or no doping, Lance still would have won, because he was just the better man, sure he cheated, but he was merely evening the playing field. Unlike most of the people who repeatedly cite Armstrong as an example, I'm an actual cycling fan and watched all 7 of Lance's wins in full. The reality is, in cycling, the handful that can physiologically actually win a grand tour, is minimal. Of the peloton, which in Armstrong's time averaged around 170-180 men, only about 10 of them ever in the running to pull off a win. Most cyclists are helpers to the team leader or domestiques, they aren't usually physically capable of winning a grand tour, so eliminate them. Why you may ask? Because they lack in certain disciplines. They can't time trial, or can't climb or at the very least, they can't time trial or climb as good as the ones who can. For example, Mark Cavendish will never win a grand tour, because he's a sprinter. Because he's not built to, he's incredible at short bursts, where he can travel faster than everyone else in the peloton,at the end of a stage. But he's too stocky to haul his ass over a mountain, so he loses 30-40 minutes on average over every climb. He ends most of the grand tours he's participated in, not an hour behind, but usually in the vicinity of 4 hours behind the winner. Well that applies to the vast majority of the peloton, they all end their tours in the realm of 1 hour to 4 hours behind. That leaves about 20 guys that get within an hour of the actual winner. About 15 of them can be eliminated as comp immediately, because they still lose by roughly 15 to 50 minutes. Which leaves the top 5, of which most of them lose by 5 to 10 minutes. We're not talking seconds here usually. Even today, in this era of supposedly clean cyclints, Vingegaard and Pogacar regularly win their tours by 5 to 10 minutes. Because they're simply head and shoulders above everyone else. Now sure... Ullrich, Basso, Vinokourov, Beloki, and everyone else who Lance beat were also dopers and were doping. Sure, one could make an argument, but Lance was doping more than they were! He also tested negative like they did, because they were all microdosing at the time and knew how to game the system and evade detection. Regardless, at the end of the day, he only had one real threat to his crown, and that was Jan Ullrich, the perennial second place, and most years he'd finished 6 minutes down. Jan also had access to state of teh art doping techniques, but he still couldn't get the job done. Because Lance took the sport more seriously, trained twice as hard, and came to the tours in immaculate shape, whereas Jan was a party boy, lazy, frequently too fat to pose a genuine threat. One year he ran Lance ridiculously close, and lost by only a minute, in 2003, because Jan took his camp seriously, showed up in the shape of his life, and it was a crash in a time trial that deprived him of potentially beating Lance. So feasibly, he's the only guy who really stood a chance and that was in 1 of the grand tours Lance won. Lance won consistently, because he was the better man. End of the discussion. That's not denial, that's reality.

Helenius was doped up when he fought AJ, yet AJ still won. Because AJ was the better boxer and hits harder. How often do opponents miss weight, then get KTFO? Frequently. Ryan Garcia beat Devin Haney, because he has a killer left hook, and consistently landed it. The ostarine in his system, in all likelihood was due to contamination, and was so minimal, it might have helped him with his weight, which he still missed, so even there.... barely. At the end of the day, Ryan beat Haney, because he has a better chin, Haney has pillow fists, Ryan hits harder and was the better boxer. Ryan's stamina has never been an issue in the recent past, except for when Tank drained him. He's also carried his power late into a fight. So most of the hysterics around this match, is rooted in denial and cope. Ryan beats Haney clean or unclean, 10 out of 10 times.

 

Clearly from my above post, I vehemently disagree with you, and nothing you say will convince me otherwise. As far as his idiot former teammates go, they tested positive, because they were dumb and overdid it, partially because they knew how good Lance was and needed twice what he had in his system to be remotely competitive. Now... that doesn't explain Ullrich, Beloki, Vino, Basso etc. who were his actual competition, who were confirmed admitted dopers, who doped as much as he did. Consistently evading detection as well.

 

They both rehydrated, Haney was the heavier of the two, and didn't struggle making weight himself. Sure, the 3.5 might seem egregious, but the reality is, it also had minimal effect. It's not like Ryan had this exquisite healthy camp.