CYCLING: Lance Armstrong was hoping for a quiet life after retiring last month after his seventh consecutive victory in the Tour de France, but yesterday those hopes were shattered when the American was accused by the French press of having tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
L'Equipe, whose parent company organises the Tour, alleged that he had taken the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO). It published results of tests done recently on urine samples that had been taken originally in 1999 when Armstrong won his first Tour de France. A test was not available for EPO until 2000. L'Equipe claimed that traces of EPO were found in six of 15 urine samples provided by Armstrong.
After being contacted by L'Equipe, Armstrong moved quickly to deny the allegations, describing the paper's investigation as "tabloid journalism" and a "witch hunt". "I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs," Armstrong said on his website. The Texan had never failed a doping test during his 14-year career.
Yesterday L'Equipe printed results of tests carried out in the Paris laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry, which is registered with the World Anti-Doping Agency. The samples were recently retested as part of scientific research co-ordinated with Wada.
They had been preserved at -20C to prevent molecular transformations that could lead to false positive results.
"There is no possible doubt about the validity of the result, even though the analysis was carried out five years after the sample was taken," l'Equipe quoted Professor Jacques de Ceaurriz, the director of Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, as saying.
The EPO test was first introduced at the Olympic Games in Sydney and has been used since the 2001 Tour de France. None of the tests has subsequently showed Armstrong as being positive.
The Wada president Dick Pound said he was looking into the allegations. "It's a pretty serious story if it is true," he said. "We have not decided what we would do because I have not looked at all the details. We will look at the information available and then we will decide the best way to get as much light on this as possible."
Just how L'Equipe obtained the test results and identified Armstrong's urine samples and results remains unclear. The laboratory denied leaking the information but confirmed tests on samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tour have recently been carried out. L'Equipe refused to reveal its sources.
The L'Equipe journalist Jean-Pier Bidet, who followed Armstrong closely during his Tour de France victories, said that the paper had been investigating the test results for four months but only received the final piece of the jigsaw on Monday afternoon when official documents showed the samples were taken from Armstrong.
Although a total of 12 positive samples were discovered during testing, L'Equipe only made the allegations against Armstrong because the newspaper could confirm his identity with the official anti-doping test documents.
The laboratory said all tests were anonymous and had been transmitted to the Wada providing they would not take disciplinary action.
When a rider gives a urine sample he signs documents admitting that it is his sample. A copy of the document goes to the International Cycling Union and another to the Ministry of Sport in France, while the sample is sent to the laboratory marked by a code so the testers do not know the identity of the rider. L'Equipe had claimed to have matched leaked documents to the codes on the laboratory samples.
Because the tests were not part of official anti-doping testing and because no counter-analysis can be carried out Armstrong cannot be disciplined and banned. However, he could be placed under police investigation in France and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) told L'Equipe the tests results could be used against him.
The accusations could also hurt Armstrong in the pocket. The US insurance company SCA refused to pay out a $5 million bonus when he won a sixth Tour de France in 2004 following allegations made in the book, LA Confidentiel: Les Secrets de Lance Armstrong, which contained allegations of doping. Armstrong is already involved in seven legal battles against the writers of the LA Confidentiel book, fellow riders and former assistants.
The director of the Tour de France, Jean Marie Leblanc, told the French radio station RTL he felt let down by Armstrong and said L'Equipe's report seemed "very complete, very professional, very meticulous" and that it "appears credible". However, he warned that Armstrong, his doctors and his aides should be heard out before any final judgment was made.
The International Cycling Union president Hein Verbruggen said: "We have to wait and see if this is true. Only then will we be able to ask ourselves whether there should be any legal action and whether this is a further blow for cycling. I have to say this is not pleasant but, for the moment, it only involves Lance Armstrong and France."
Armstrong has always dismissed the allegations against him and criticised those who refused to believe in his comeback from cancer and in his seven Tour victories.
"To all the cynics, I'm sorry for you," Armstrong said after his final Tour triumph in July. "I'm sorry you can't believe in miracles. This is a great sporting event and hard work wins it."
Guardian Service
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