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Armstrong denies doping claim

This file photo shows US rider Lance Armstrong putting on the yellow jersey on the podium after winning the 86th Tour de France prologue, an individual time trial in Le Puydu-Fou, western France, on July 3, 1999. Armstrong was proven to have taken an endurance-boosting hormone during his first Tour de France triumph in 1999, the France sporting daily L'Equipe said yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong yesterday said a report in a French newspaper accusing him of doping was part of a "witch hunt," and again denied ever having taken performance-enhancing drugs.

His comments followed the report in yesterday's edition of the daily L'Equipe which said that tests carried out by a French laboratory found traces of the blood doping substance EPO in urine samples taken from Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France.

"Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and the article is nothing short of tabloid journalism," Armstrong said on his Web site.

"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance enhancing drugs," said the 33-year-old Armstrong, who retired from competitive cycling after winning this year's Tour de France, his seventh consecutive victory in the race.

The paper said that official documents it had obtained showed that tests carried out by the National Anti-Dopage Laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry on urine taken from Armstrong in 1999 and then frozen tested positive for all three methods of detecting the presence of EPO.

In addition, the tests showed that Armstrong had used EPO on six stages of the 1999 Tour. That year, the Texan won the first of his seven victories in the world's most prestigious cycling race. No other cyclist has won the Tour more than five times.

EPO, or erythropoetin, is a natural hormone produced in the kidneys that increases the blood's ability to absorb and carry oxygen, thereby increasing stamina. However, since 1983 it has been possible to produce synthetic EPO, which has become a staple in the doping arsenal of many athletes involved in high-performance sports.

In a comment on the report, the head of the laboratory at Chatenay-Malabry, Jacques de Ceaurriz, said EPO either deteriorates over time and becomes undetectable, or it survives in the urine.

"We therefore have no doubts about the validity of our results," Ceaurriz said.

He also said that the laboratory had worked with urine samples that were anonymous and identified only by a number.

"We passed on our results to the World Anti-Doping Agency without knowing that some of them concerned Lance Armstrong," he said.

The test used to detect EPO in Armstrong's urine samples were not validated for use by the world's cycling body UCI until 2001 and were first used in the Tour that year, L'Equipe said.

The paper also said that EPO was detected in 12 urine samples from the 1999 Tour, but the source or sources of the other six samples were not identified.

A spokesman for the UCI said yesterday that he was unable to say if "legal procedures would be initiated against Armstrong."

However, L'Equipe reported that the tests were carried out as part of a scientific research project, rather than in the framework of an official doping inquiry, so there will almost certainly be no sports sanctions against the American.

But the damage to Armstrong's image is likely to be grave, especially if he is considering going into politics, as some media have suggested.
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