Did Lance Armstrong Cheat? The World Awaits News From the US Drug Investigation

Floyd Landis

"Yes, I saw Lance Armstrong using drugs," said Floyd Landis, who won the 2006 Tour de France but was later stripped of the title because he failed the Tour's blood tests which indicated he had used illegal performance enhancing drugs.

[For background information, please read our page on Scandals.]

Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong's former team-mate and friend told all to ABC's Nightline - his first interview since admitting doping during his career - on July 23, 2010 (see videos below).

He also told Nightline that his former friend and team-mate had transfused his own blood "Yes, many times".

Armstrong, who had won the Tour de France a record breaking seven-times Tour winner between 1999 and 2005, has always vehemently denied the accusations. He has also never tested positive for a banned substance or procedure.

On August 1, 2010, the China Daily cited Zhang Bin, secretary-general of the Chinese Cycling Association as saying that a 32-year-old Chinese rider on Lance Armstrong’s Team RadioShack has been confirmed as testing positive for using the banned substance, Clenbuterol, an anabolic agent.

A secret former Armstrong
team-mate speaks to the
New York Times
and backs up the cheating
allegations

On August 5, 2010, the New York Times reported that an unidentified former team-mate of Lance Armstrong had spoken to the newspaper and confirmed Floyd Landis' claims that while they were on the Postal Service team, they had engaged in systematic (systemic?) doping with Armstrong’s knowledge and approval. The secret informant added that he had spoken with federal investigators looking into the persistent cheating allegations. The unnamed rider admitted his own performance-enhancing drug use but said that nevertheless, he had never delivered a positive test during his career and he has not been called before the grand jury in Los Angeles that is investigating the case. The implication is that even though Lance Armstrong never tested positive for a banned drug, that does not definitively mean he never used drugs.

The cheating allegations now seem to implicate the entire team led my Lance Armstrong from 1999 to 2005.

On August 6, 2010, Wisconsin-based Trek Bicycle Corporation officials announced that they have provided documents to a federal criminal investigation involving Lance Armstrong. Armstrong endorses Trek bikes and has worked with Trek since 1998 when the company sponsored Armstrong's US Postal Service team. Trek now sponsors Armstrong's latest team, Radio Shack.

Lance Armstrong’s attorney Bryan D. Daly said "To the extent that any riders are suggesting that Lance Armstrong violated cycling rules or doped, they are either mistaken or not telling the truth. Lance has ridden with hundreds of riders over the years who will support his position, and over all that time he has never failed even a single test."

However, while we had heard from a few former team-mates, we have yet to hear from "the hundreds of riders" especially under oath.

Armstrong's attorney Daly went on to call the investigation un-American: "The power of the federal government is being abused to pursue dated and discredited allegations, and that’s flat-out wrong, unethical, un-American, and a waste of taxpayer dollars."

Up to now, the Armstrong defence team response to allegations has been angry put-downs and wrapping themselves in the flag. This might work if the investigators are easily intimidated. It won't work if the investigators doggedly seek the truth. What might be more helpful (than intimidation and mud-slinging) for Armstrong's defence to the allegations are sworn statements by the "hundreds of riders" cited by Armstrong's attorney - that Armstrong never violated cycling rules related to the use of prohibited performance enhancing techniques or drugs.

Click here to read our page on Scandals for various stories and background on the drug scandal surrounding Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and other US Tour de France cyclists.

The interview with ABC Nightline:

Lance Armstrong's team RadioShack face discipline and Fines for Violating the Tour's Dress Code and Delaying the Start of the Race

Armstrong in the offending black jersey featuring his foundation's
Livestrong slogan which he defiant put back on after the race finish.
Image credit: Francois Lenoir / Reuters at Yahoo Sports

In a show of utter disregard for the Tour's rules policed by the commissaires of UCI, Union Cycliste Internationale, the international cycling union, Lance Armstrong and his teammates decided to wear a jersey featuring his cancer foundation Livestrong rather than his team jersey.

The commissaires stopped the 38-year-old Armstrong and his teammates from publicising his foundation by wearing a black jerseys all with the number 28 referring to the estimated 28 million people living with cancer. Armstrong's move delayed the start of the race.

The UCI announced that team RadioShack would be made to withdraw from the race, and therefore forfeit their expected award for the best team, if the riders did not wear their team jersey. We were therefore afforded the spectacle of the team riders having to wear their regular team jerseys over the black foundation jerseys while riding their cycles during the starting warm-up kilometers before the dropping of the starting flag. But the team jerseys didn't have the riders' numbers. Besides, wearing two jerseys would have made it unbearably hot for the riders.

The referees stopped Armstrong to explain the rules (and probably threaten him). The RadioShack riders then had to stop, sit on the side of the road, take off the black jerseys and put on team jerseys with numbers. The race leaders at the front of the peloton first slowed down the whole race to allow the RadioShack riders to settle down.Then the race was stopped.

This blatant publicity stunt by Armstrong and team manager Johan Bruyneel, delayed the entire race by 20 minutes.The cameras were focused on the offending team and their charade.

Lance Armstrong (foreground) and team-mate (background) were forced
to change back to the team's regular red and black jerseys on the road side
in the initial warm-up before the rolling start. Riders at the front slowed down
when they read the news, delaying the start of the race by twenty minutes.
Photo credit: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images at Yahoo Sports

Not be be stopped from wearing black jerseys once more and provoking some more media attention and publicity, Armstrong and his team put on black jerseys for their ascent to the grand podium at the end of the race while accepting the best team award.

The commissaires issued "RadioShack's incorrect behaviour led to a 20-minute delay to the start of the final stage, which could have disrupted the televised coverage of the race, placing the commissaires under the obligation to impose a fine on each rider and the team managers."

They added, "The UCI regrets that an initiative for a cause as worthy as the fight against cancer was not coordinated beforehand with the Commissaires and organisers of the event. This could have been done whilst remaining within the rules."

Team manager Bruyneel posted on his Twitter page, "Ok people! Now it's official! To be a race commisar [sic], you don't need brains but only know the rules! Their motto: 'c'est le reglement!'"