Armstrong finishes 4th amid new doping charges

0
0
0

Lance Armstrong finished fourth in the prologue of the Tour de France today as the cycling world was abuzz over new doping allegations involving the seven-time winner in "Blood Brothers," a special report in the Wall Street Journal.

In an exclusive interview, Armstrong's former U.S. Postal Service Team member Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour victory after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and is not riding in this year's Tour, said he and Armstrong and other members of the team were given oxygen-boosting blood transfusions during the 2004 Tour, which Armstrong won.

Landis also said Armstrong gave him 20 testosterone patches during training for the Tour in 2002, according to the Journal, and that bicycles from the team's sponsor, Trek, were sold to raise money for performance-enhancing drugs.

Seven-time Tour winner Armstrong, who has been dogged by doping allegations throughout his career and is riding his last Tour at age 38, said the charges were bogus and the work of an ax-grinder. He said the attempt to cast suspicion on him will motivate him to win the race.

Floyd Landis, left, and Lance Armstrong, center.

Wall Street Journal

Floyd Landis, left, and Lance Armstrong, center.

The report says federal officials are investigating Landis' doping claims. According to the New York Times, authorities in Northern California are looking into whether money from the U.S. Postal Service, the Armstrong team's sponsor from 1996-2004, bought performance-enhancing drugs. According to the Times, the investigation could involve Armstrong because he had a stake in Tailwind Sports, a San Francisco firm that owned some of his former cycling teams.

Jeff Novitsky, the lead investigator in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative case that involved allegations of illegal drug use by Major League Baseball players including Barry Bonds, is assisting in the cycling investigation and met with Landis, according to the Times.

The interview with Landis comes just weeks after he dropped a bombshell on May 20 during the Tour of California, admitting that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career and accusing Armstrong and other Postal team members, including Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa (who is riding in the Tour on Armstrong's RadioShack team) of doing the same.

Armstrong, who crashed near Visalia the day of Landis' confession, said of Landis at the time: "He has no proof. It's just our word against theirs, and we like our word. We like where we stand."

This week, he grumbled on Twitter about repeated visits from anti-doping officials: "Surprise anti-doping control here in Rotterdam. 6 tubes of blood and urine. Must be time for the Tour."

In Saturday's 5-mile time trial around a drizzly Rotterdam, Netherlands, Armstrong rode strong, finishing fourth ahead of rival and reigning Tour champ Alberto Contador, who finished sixth.

Posted By: Michael Collier (Email) | July 02 2010 at 06:09 PM

Listed Under: tour de france