REDLAND
Active member
Lance Armstrong admitted he has taken the performance-enhancing drug erythropoietin (EPO) before treating his cancer, French daily Le Monde reported on Friday.
"In front of [Motorola team-mate] Franckie Andreu and his wife, who have testified under oath in Dallas, Armstrong said he had taken 'EPO, testosterone, growth hormones and cortisone'," Le Monde added.
American Armstrong, who retired after his record seventh consecutive victory last July, has always denied taking banned substances.
On the stand, he denied any such admission, adding that if Betsy Andreu had testified against him on the stand, it's because she hated him and her husband Frankie backed her up to support her.
Without offering an opinion on whether or not the Texan took EPO, the Dallas court ultimately ruled in favour of Armstrong in the suit against insurance company SCA for refusing to pay him a 5-million dollar premium for winning the 2004 Tour de France.
The court ruled that the insurance company could not deny him the money based on suspicions when sporting institutions had not called into question his victory.
"I WAS IN THAT ROOM. I HEARD"
A third witness to the scene, Stephanie McIlvain stands by Armstrong. The friend and employee of Armstrong sponsor Oakley took the stand on Novembrer 14, 2005 and denied hearing that the seven-time Tour winner admit to taking banned substanced.
But a September 21, 2004 phone conversation with three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond is open to interpretation. LeMond recorded the conversation and submitted it as testimony. McIlvain says "if I'm asked to take the stand, I'll do it (...) Because I won't lie. You know I was in that room. I heard."
None of the three other witnesses present on October 28, 1996 were asked to testify. They are Armstrong's girlfriend at the time, Lisa Shiels, then trainer Chris Carmichael and his wife Paige. Neither of the doctors who operated on him were called to the stand either.
SECOND ROW CONTINUES
French sports daily L'Equipe reported last August that it had access to laboratory documents and that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour showed "indisputable" traces of the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin.
Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman, a former director of the Netherlands' national anti-doping agency, was appointed by the UCI, cycling's governing body, last October to investigate the allegations.
Vrijman, who led the probe, said the World Anti-Doping Agency and the French national doping laboratory had effectively pronounced Armstrong guilty of a doping violation without sufficient basis.
WADA chairman Dick Pound rejected the Vrijman report as "bordering on the farcical."
On Friday, the UCI refused to comment on the Le Monde report when contacted by the Reuters news agency.
"In front of [Motorola team-mate] Franckie Andreu and his wife, who have testified under oath in Dallas, Armstrong said he had taken 'EPO, testosterone, growth hormones and cortisone'," Le Monde added.
American Armstrong, who retired after his record seventh consecutive victory last July, has always denied taking banned substances.
On the stand, he denied any such admission, adding that if Betsy Andreu had testified against him on the stand, it's because she hated him and her husband Frankie backed her up to support her.
Without offering an opinion on whether or not the Texan took EPO, the Dallas court ultimately ruled in favour of Armstrong in the suit against insurance company SCA for refusing to pay him a 5-million dollar premium for winning the 2004 Tour de France.
The court ruled that the insurance company could not deny him the money based on suspicions when sporting institutions had not called into question his victory.
"I WAS IN THAT ROOM. I HEARD"
A third witness to the scene, Stephanie McIlvain stands by Armstrong. The friend and employee of Armstrong sponsor Oakley took the stand on Novembrer 14, 2005 and denied hearing that the seven-time Tour winner admit to taking banned substanced.
But a September 21, 2004 phone conversation with three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond is open to interpretation. LeMond recorded the conversation and submitted it as testimony. McIlvain says "if I'm asked to take the stand, I'll do it (...) Because I won't lie. You know I was in that room. I heard."
None of the three other witnesses present on October 28, 1996 were asked to testify. They are Armstrong's girlfriend at the time, Lisa Shiels, then trainer Chris Carmichael and his wife Paige. Neither of the doctors who operated on him were called to the stand either.
SECOND ROW CONTINUES
French sports daily L'Equipe reported last August that it had access to laboratory documents and that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour showed "indisputable" traces of the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin.
Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman, a former director of the Netherlands' national anti-doping agency, was appointed by the UCI, cycling's governing body, last October to investigate the allegations.
Vrijman, who led the probe, said the World Anti-Doping Agency and the French national doping laboratory had effectively pronounced Armstrong guilty of a doping violation without sufficient basis.
WADA chairman Dick Pound rejected the Vrijman report as "bordering on the farcical."
On Friday, the UCI refused to comment on the Le Monde report when contacted by the Reuters news agency.
