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Angry Armstrong takes on accusations

Lance Armstrong went on the offensive Wednesday, saying it was "preposterous" for the director of the Tour de France to suggest the seven-time champion "fooled" race officials and the sporting world by doping.

He also took to task the French newspaper that accused him, the laboratory that released the urine samples in question and any officials of the Tour and sports ministries involved in putting the story together.

"Where to start?" Armstrong mused during a conference call from Washington when asked what he found most objectionable about the controversy. "This has been a long, love-hate relationship between myself and the French."

L'Equipe reported on Tuesday that six urine samples Armstrong provided during his first tour win in 1999 tested positive for the red blood cell booster EPO. On Wednesday, tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc sounded convinced that Armstrong had been caught.

"For the first time -- and these are no longer rumors, or insinuations, these are proven scientific facts -- someone has shown me that in 1999, Armstrong had a banned substance called EPO in his body," Leblanc told the newspaper.

"The ball is now in his court. Why, how, by whom? He owes explanations to us and to everyone who follows the Tour. Today, what L'Equipe revealed shows me that I was fooled. We were all fooled," Leblanc said.

The Tour did not respond on Wednesday to a request from reporters to interview Leblanc. But Armstrong said he had talked with him by phone.

"I actually spoke to him for about 30 minutes and he didn't say any of that stuff to me personally," Armstrong said. "But to say that I've `fooled' the fans is preposterous. I've been doing this a long time. We have not just one year of only `B' samples; we have seven years of `A' and `B' samples. They've all been negative."

Armstrong questioned the validity of testing samples frozen seven years ago and how those samples were handled since. He also charged officials at the suburban Paris laboratory with violating World Anti-Doping Agency code for failing to safeguard the anonymity of any remaining `B' samples it had.

"It doesn't surprise me at all that they have samples. Clearly they've tested all of my samples since then to the highest degree. But when I gave those samples," he said, referring to 1999, "there was not EPO in those samples. I guarantee that."

Armstrong saved his most withering criticism for L'Equipe.

"Obviously, this is great business for them. Unfortunately, I'm caught in the cross-hairs," he said.

A moment later, he added, "I think they've been planning it for a while. I think they much would have preferred to have done this at start of the Tour, or the middle, but for some reason, it was delayed. At the end of day, I think that's what it's all about ... selling newspapers.

Armstrong was in Washington for a previously scheduled meeting with sponsors. He said their support was intact and that he was considering legal action to discover who leaked the details.

"In the meantime, it would cost a million and a half dollars and a year of my life. I have a lot better things to do with the million and a half ... a lot better things I can do with my time. Ultimately, I have to ask myself that question."
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