In a series of detailed emails sent by Floyd Landis, the former team-mate of Lance Armstrong, Landis accused Armstrong of making use of performance boosting drugs.

Landis sent an email to Stephen Johnson, the president of USA Cycling, alleging that Johan Bruyneel, Armstrong’s team director since 1999, told him how to make use of steroid patches, human growth hormone, and blood doping without getting detected.

From Guardian.co.uk:

In emails sent to seven cycling officials, Landis is reported to have admitted using the banned blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO), as well as steroids, human growth hormone, testosterone and blood transfusions, from 2002 onwards.

Landis said he wanted to speak out before the World Anti-Doping Agency’s eight-year statute of limitations for doping offences comes into force. “Now we’ve come to the point where the statute of limitations on the things I know is going to run out or start to run out next month,” Landis said. “If I don’t say something now then it’s pointless to ever say it.”

Landis, who was brought up in a strict Mennonite community in Pennsylvania, won the 2006 Tour de France but tested positive for high levels of testosterone and was stripped of the title. He protested his innocence and fought a lengthy and costly campaign before losing his case and serving a two-year suspension. He returned to racing last year, riding for the US team OUCH.

Armstrong has always denied doping and has never been tested positive or sanctioned by the cycling authorities despite repeated allegations.

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Floyd Landis, a former teammate of cycling champion Lance Armstrong for three years, is persuading other riders to confess to doping, as per the New York Times. Landis has been struggling to resurrect his career after he was tested positive for testosterone after his win at the 2006 Tour de France.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) welcomed admission of Landis that he used a cocktail of doping products such as steroids, growth hormone, and EPO after four long years of denials.

From Guardian.co.uk:

With Landis so far the only witness to his allegations, it is this question that seems likely to hamper any investigation. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) welcomed the 34-year-old’s admission, after four years of denials, that he used a cocktail of doping products and methods, including EPO, growth hormone, steroids and blood-doping, from 2002, the year he joined Armstrong’s US Postal team.

Wada also pledged to look into his allegations concerning Armstrong and others, and a federal investigation remains a possibility, with reports that Jeff Novitzky, who helped expose Marion Jones and others in the Balco case, has interviewed Landis.

The reaction of Wada and the US Food and Drug Administration – for whom Novitzky is an agent – stood in stark contrast to that of the International Cycling Union (UCI), with the world governing body’s president, Pat McQuaid, quick to dismiss Landis as “a guy seeking revenge”, and claiming that his allegations followed a failed attempt to “blackmail” the Tour of California organisers into inviting his new team.

Late last night, the affair took a surreal twist with Armstrong’s decision to publish private emails allegedly sent by Landis to Messick and others, which – claimed an accompanying statement – “reveals a troubling, angry and misplaced effort at retribution by Landis for his perceived slights”.

Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), dismissed Landis as “a guy seeking revenge”.

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The game of cycling is collapsing under the weight of continuing doping issues, a fact that was suggested by the lack of a sponsor for the cycling team of Lance Armstrong and of this year’s Tour de France winner.

The team, the Discovery Channel, has been one of the cycling sports’ most successful franchises but the image crisis has even left Armstrong turning into a pessimist about short term future of the sport.

From NYTimes.com:

Many of cycling’s best riders have failed drug tests or been linked to doping in recent years, and doping issues last month all but overwhelmed the sport’s marquee event, the Tour de France. For a sport whose teams enjoy no revenue from ticket sales or television rights, the resulting publicity has started to drain its lifeblood: the sponsors that spend millions of dollars to finance the teams.

Known for the past three years as Discovery Channel and before that as the United States Postal Service squad, the team is owned by Tailwind Sports, a San Francisco-based company that is partly owned by Armstrong. The only American team at cycling’s top rank, it has been searching for a new sponsor since February, when the parent of the Discovery Channel network decided not to renew its three-year contract.

Though not even a single rider of the Discovery team has ever failed a drug test, yet that was probably not enough to avoid the doping suspicions besting the sport. This is indeed a bad news for cycling and its lovers since steroids have dominated almost every game and now even cycling is seen with suspicious eyes.

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Lance Armstrong’s team manager and longtime friend Johan Bruyneel comes forward to support the champion’s denial of thwarting anti-doping control issue. Bruyneel strongly disputed the report that stated that the legendary cyclist deliberately stalled a representative of the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) during an out-of-competition test on March 17 this year.

Bruyneel stated that both, he and Armstrong were returning from a training session when they met the AFLD tester, who was waiting outside the cyclist’s home in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

Various unsourced reports on several French Web sites and Radio Monte Carlo stated that Armstrong made the doctor, sent by the AFLD, waiting for 30 minutes behind a closed door before giving samples. The French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe also reported that the AFLD had filed a report in regard of the incident and also forwarded it to the UCI and WADA. During the incident, the cyclist was training in southern France for Milan-San Remo one-day race.

From ESPN:

Lance Armstrong’s team manager and longtime friend Johan Bruyneel on Monday strongly disputed a report that the cyclist deliberately stalled a representative of the French anti-doping agency (AFLD) during an out-of-competition test on March 17.

Armstrong was training in southern France at the time in preparation for the Milan-San Remo one-day race. Unsourced reports on several French Web sites and Radio Monte Carlo stated that Armstrong kept the doctor sent by the AFLD waiting for 30 minutes behind a closed door before giving samples. The French daily sports newspaper L’Equipe reported that the AFLD had filed a report about the incident and forwarded it to the UCI, cycling’s international governing body, and WADA.

AFLD head Pierre Bordry would not confirm any details about the report. “I am not making any judgment on what is in the report, because I’m not certain that it’s an infraction,” Bordry told ESPN.com.

Bordry said he was still awaiting a formal response from the UCI, but federation spokesman Enrico Carpani told ESPN.com that the UCI has no jurisdiction over this kind of issue. “The rules are very clear,” Carpani said. “Any out-of-competition control made by a national anti-doping agency has to be managed by them.”

However, AFLD head Pierre Bordry did not confirm any details about the report. Bordry said, “I am not making any judgment on what is in the report, because I’m not certain that it’s an infraction.” He also said that he was waiting for a formal response from the UCI, an international cycling governing body. But, federation spokesman Enrico Carpani said that the UCI has no jurisdiction over this kind of issue. Carpani further added, “Any out-of-competition control made by a national anti-doping agency has to be managed by them.”

According to the law, the AFLD has the authority to test athletes, who are covered by the WADA code and are in France for any reason. The March training period was the cyclist’s first visit to the country as an active athlete after he made a comeback from his retirement. Since then, Armstrong has been tested several times by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Earlier also this seven-time Tour de France winner had defended himself against doping allegations throughout his career. He told his online fans that it was his 24th anti-doping control test since his comeback after a three-year retirement. “Yet another ’surprise’ anti-doping control,’” he said via Twitter. “This one from the French authorities. Urine, blood and hair! Classic, “he says. Armstrong further added that he was clear and was not complaining about these tests.

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Sometimes, it’s tough to be Lance Armstrong.

The seven-time Tour de France champion has been on the radar of international drug testers since he announced his comeback in September.

The 37-year-old rider says he’s been drug tested 11 times in the past 18 weeks and two days in the past four days. His most recent test was conducted by officials from the International Cycling Union on Thursday at his Texas home according to AFP.

“UCI control. They flew a guy from Germany for it. That makes a ton of sense,” Armstrong wrote on Twitter, a social networking website.
Twitter allows users to send short messages which are then posted on subscribers’ cell phones and the Internet.

Armstrong even let his Twitter readers know that he was on his way to meet with the drug testers.

“I am back from the shop after riding four hours. I hear the drug testers are waiting at the house. #11,” he wrote.

Armstrong, who plans to resume his cycling career next year, was placed under a six-month probation period by the United States Anti-doping Agency at the beginning of August.

Armstrong needs to pass USADA’s out-of-competition testing pool before his cycling comeback can become official.

News of his return has drawn mixed reviews in cycling circles.

Armstrong’s career has been dogged by doping accusations, prompting him to file several lawsuits in the past years against his detractors to refute the allegations. Most explosive of the accusations was the report published in a French sports newspaper L’Equipe in 2005 which claimed that the six urine samples obtained from Armstrong from his 1999 Tour victory tested positive for the blood booster EPO.

Last month, Armstrong said that should he decide to join the Tour next year he said he fears for his personal safety due to a lot of resentment towards him France caused by negative publicity.

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From the Canadian Press:

Italian marathon runner Alberico Di Cecco has tested positive for EPO, the Italian Olympic Committee said Monday.

Di Cecco, who finished ninth at the 2004 Athens Olympics, failed a test at the Italian championship in Carpi on Oct. 12. Di Cecco, who won the Roma marathon in 2005, would face a two-year if found guilty of doping.

EPO is a blood-boosting hormone that enhances endurance.

EPO stands for erythropoietin, a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red cell blood production. Because of this property, exogenous EPO (also called erythropoiesis stimulating agent or ASA) is sought after by endurance athletes, such as cyclists and marathon runners, because it boosts aerobic power.

Marathon runner Deeja Youngquist tested positive for EPO during an out-of-competition screening prior to the 2004 US Olympic trials. The then 28-year-old Youngquist was penalized with a two-year-ban, which ended in December 2006.

Tour De France seven-time champ Lance Armstrong has been continually hounded by rumors of EPO use.

The testing for EPO has always been under scrutiny because of questions about its accuracy.  Exogenous EPO is almost identical to its natural counterpart so you cannot really be 100 percent sure if it’s injected or naturally occurring. Moreover, there are other two conditions that make testing for this prohibited compound problematic.

First, a test can only effectively detect EPO if it’s injected within six days of the use; beyond that it’s like you searching for a coin under murky water.

Second, some individuals have a natural higher percentage of RBCs, high enough to yield a positive test.

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It seems like Greg LeMond is not alone in his crusade to expose Lance Armstrong for what he really is – a doper.

According to the news report by the Herald Sun, the famed Australian sports scientist Dr Michael Ashenden, is not happy (that’s putting it mildly) with the news that seven-time Tour de France champ is jjoining the Tour Down Under. It was Ashenden who has made analysis of Armstrong’s urine samples taken from the 1999 Tour de France, which allegedly contained the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

It is obvious that Ashenden is dismayed that all his hard work will be for naught.
“It surprises me that the Tour is willing to embrace such a controversial figure,” Ashenden said.

“It surprises me in the wider context that there hasn’t been more adverse reaction to his proposal to come back.”

More from the Herald Sun:

Armstrong’s camp pointed to procedural and privacy issues over the 1999 samples and no sanction was imposed, although Dr Ashenden’s findings remain the blackest marks on Armstrong’s career.

The International Cycling Union last week ruled Armstrong could take part in the Tour Down Under, despite the cyclist not complying with a six-month drug testing program in the lead-up to the January event.

“People are dazzled by the star factor and they are not pausing to really reflect on what this is all about and whether or not it would be good for the sport,” Dr Ashenden said.
He also questioned Armstrong’s motives in appointing prominent anti-doping scientist Don Catlin to his team.

“Everyone recognises that this is prone to abuse. If Don Catlin finds EPO he can’t do anything about it,” Dr Ashenden said.

The 2009 Tour Down Under will be a week-long sport spectacle to be held in January 18-25. The Tour Down Under started in 1999 and since then has been held annually in Adelaide, South Australia, and surrounding areas. This year’s overall winner is Germany’s Andre Greipel.

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Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong says ‘Non merci’ to an offer that would clear his name of doping suspicions once and for all. The offer to retest Armstrong’s urine samples from 1999 Tour de France came from Pierre Bordry, head of French anti-doping agency.

From Cycling Weekly:

Bordry yesterday offered to retest the samples according to L’Equipe newspaper as of a way to prove Armstrong’s good faith and dispel accusations made by the L’Equipe newspaper that the samples may contain traces of the banned blood booster EPO.

It was L’Equipe which broke the news back in 2005 that six of Armstrong’s urine samples from the 1999 Tour allegedly showed traces of the banned compound erythropoietin (EPO) in an article entitled “The Armstrong Lie.”

Armstrong vehemently denied the allegation with this statement:

“Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow’s article is nothing short of tabloid journalism,” Armstrong wrote on his Web site. “I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs.”

In a written statement, Armstrong sidestepped the offer by claiming that an independent investigation instigated by the UCI had said the 1999 samples “have not been maintained properly, have been compromised in many ways, and even three years ago could not be tested to provide any meaningful results.”

“There is simply nothing that I can agree to that would provide any relevant evidence about 1999,” Armstrong added in his statement.

Armstrong also pointed out that the “the Independent Investigation concluded that the French laboratory, the French Ministry of Sport, and Dick Pound, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, all behaved improperly with respect to the 1999 Tour de France samples.”

He says that WADA and the French Ministry refused to address the finding of the investigation by refusing to have the issues heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

“If Mr. Bordry would now like to re-examine the past, he must start with presenting the issues of the misconduct of the French laboratory, the French Ministry, and WADA before a proper tribunal.” Armstrong said in the statement.

The seven-time Tour de France winner also reminded everyone that he has agreed to work with anti-doping expert Dr Don Catlin for his comeback to racing, to develop a blood and urine testing protocol. Armstrong said that his results will be posted on the internet and that the testing protocol will be available to other riders.

At the time the said samples were taken, there were no means to determine the presence of exogenous EPO. The samples were preserved and have undergone testing again by a French lab located near Paris. However, doubts surround the validity of the tests conducted by the French lab since they were taken on B samples only since the A samples have already been used up.

EPO enhances performance by increasing red blood cell production. Clinically, EPO is used to treat certain types of anemia, particularly those that are due to chronic kidney disease and from treatment of cancer. EPO is sometimes referred to as Erythropoiesis Stimulating Agent or ESA when used as performance-enhancing drug.

EPO and related substances, along with anabolic-androgenic steroids and their related substances, are included in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances. According to WADA, “unless the athlete can demonstrate that the concentration (of prohibited substance) was due to physiological or pathological condition” and “if a laboratory report, using a reliable analytical method, that the Prohibited Substance is of exogenous origin, the Sample will be deemed to contain a Prohibited Substance and shall be reported as an Adverse Analytical Finding.”

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The newly-installed Tour de France organizer’s president Jean-Etienne Amaury has dropped some controversial comments about Lance Armstrong, labeling the seven-time tour champion as an ‘embarrassment’. The comments have elicited immediate response from Armstrong, who has staged a comeback last month.

Amaury told L’Equipe, a French nationwide sports newspaper, this weekend, “We can’t say that he has not embarrassed the Tour de France, as he has had a quite a complicated history with it.”

Armstrong responded: “I’ve stated clearly, my main objective in 2009 is to bring about global awareness of a disease that kills 8 million people annually worldwide. Nobody ever said that I need the Tour de France in order to try and achieve this,” he said in a statement.

It comes down to an issue of distraction – while I love the event and France’s people, I cannot accept this sort of grandstanding which distracts from the Livestrong message that is urgently needed, and being sought out, in many other places around the world.

“The last time I checked I won the tour seven straight years and was never once found to be guilty of doping despite seven years of intense scrutiny,” Armstrong said. “Not to mention that my team of 25 riders over those seven years was also never found to be positive. We won clean and fair.

“Also, according to industry standards, TV ratings, worldwide media impressions, spectators along the route, and global sponsorships were at an all time high. Where’s the embarrassment in that?”

The 32-year-old Amaury has replaced Patrice Clerk as Amaury Sports Organization’s head honcho. ASO is the company that organizes Tour de France. The replacement has caused some jitters among cycling observers, especially those who have strong views against doping in the sport. Clerc has been known for his hard-line approach against the  use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in the organization.

Amaury, however, stressed that is still a big no-no in the tour, remaining a top priority under his tenure.

“The Tour de France’s position has always been very strict and that will not change in the years to come,” he said. “(ASO) is quite conscious of the fact that doping undermines cycling’s credibility.”

When Amury was asked whether Armstrong’s comeback would cast doubts on the race, Amaury replied that “today’s tools in the fight against doping are different.”

Armstrong will definitely take that as a warning.

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To Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond is like a nasty habit – he won’t go away despite taking him by the horn.

LeMond has been quite vocal about his concern whether Armstrong is using anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. And now, as Armstrong readies himself for an impressive comeback, LeMond is there to put a damper on every twist and turn Armstrong takes.

When Armstrong attended an Interbike trade show a day after officially announcing his comeback to talk with the media and other stakeholders in the cycling sport and industry, one of people sitting in the front row was, you guessed right, Armstrong’s nemesis – good old LeMond.

This news from Bike Radar:

LeMond led off the questioning with some pointed ones, all surrounding the theme of questioning the reasonability of the planned special testing of Armstrong by Don Catlin of the UCLA lab.

“I see Mr. Greg LeMond is here,” Armstrong said somewhat wryly, but allowed him to have the first question.

LeMond pressed Armstrong and Catlin about the type of testing they had planned. He called into question the proposed testing, arguing that it is not comprehensive enough, such as using T/E ratios and tests for specific EPO drugs as opposed to measuring physiological variables such as power output changes over time. LeMond inferred that a spike in power output would better indicate the use of something illegal compared to trying to test for particular substances.

“That is not my area,” responded Catlin. “He will be subject to testing by everyone under the sun. I think that will be all sorted out.”

Catlin said that the actual program is still taking shape. “[Lance] has agreed to a couple of a few very fundamental points. One is his data, like T/E ratio and all that kind of stuff that a doping control is allowed to do will be on the web, so you can see it. ‘Ah, your T/E ratio changed today, what happened?’ Like to see if he is taking EPO – all the actors to make it a very public campaign.

“The other thing is samples will be kept frozen for a good long time so that if next year, five years a new test comes out and someone says Lance was doing something five years ago, we can pull out the samples and test them. This is longitudinal testing whereas the usual type of testing is taking a stop in time. This is where you connect the dots and is much more powerful kind of program to understand the physiology.”

“That is all irrelevant,” LeMond responded. “It doesn’t matter about T/E ratio but watts and power output…”

“I don’t think it is irrelevant,” said Catlin. “I dare say you know this business pretty well! Come with your ideas of what we should do!”

At that point Armstrong stepped in tried to move things along. “You’ve done your job,” Armstrong said to LeMond. “We are here to talk about a couple of things, like the Global Clinton campaign and my comeback to cycling. It’s time for us, everybody in this room, to move on. We are not going to go there, I appreciate you being here – next question.”

We’re sure that brush off would not be enough to deter LeMond’s crusade to prove that Armstrong is not as clean he wants the sports world to think.

Armstrong’s career has been dogged by doping rumors. The book L. A. Confidentiel - Les secrets de Lance Armstrong, published in 2004, tells of the allegations of Armstrong’s former masseuse that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs.  Steve Swart, Armstrong’s former teammate, has also alleged in the same book that Armstrong was into PEDs.

On August 2005, a French newspaper has reported that six urine samples taken from Armstrong Tour prior and during the 1999 Tour de France had tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO).

There have been more similar allegations that have been thrown against the seven-time Tour de France champ; most have ended in lawsuits, which have been either dismissed or settled out of court.

In 1999, his urine sample has shown metabolites of corticosteroids, but it was reported the amount was not within the positive test range. Armstrong claimed the he used the drugs to treat saddle sores, substantiating his statement with a medical certificate. He has continually denied allegations of steroid and PED use.

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