Tuesday, June 15, 2004
A new book raises doping suspicions about the cyclist.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DALLAS -- Lance Armstrong, training for his run at a record sixth straight Tour de France title in July, vowed to take legal action against two European journalists who have written a book raising new suspicion of doping by the cyclist.
In a statement released Monday by Tailwind Sports, owner and operator of the U.S. Postal Service Cycling team, Armstrong, 33, promised to initiate libel proceedings against the authors and publishers of the book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong."
Excerpts of the book, written by David Walsh of the Sunday Times in Britain and Pierre Ballester, who once worked for the French daily L'Equipe, have appeared in published reports recently.
Reports on the excerpts have centered on statements attributed to Emma O'Reilly, 33, a U.S. Postal physiotherapist who worked with Armstrong from 1998-2000.
Accusations
According to reports, O'Reilly said Armstrong used the banned blood booster EPO. O'Reilly also alleges that Armstrong asked her to dispose of bags containing syringes after the 1998 Tour of Holland. O'Reilly said she didn't know what was in the syringes, according to reports.
In May 1999, while Armstrong was training in the Pyrenees, O'Reilly said she was asked to drive to Spain to pick up drugs and bring them back to France, where she handed them to Armstrong in a parking lot, according to reports.
O'Reilly also said Armstrong asked her to use makeup to cover up syringe marks on his arm at a Tour de France medical checkup in 1999, according to reports.
Armstrong has never tested positive for banned substances and has never been disciplined. A lengthy French investigation following allegations that U.S. Postal disposed of syringes, bloodied compresses and packaging for Actovegin -- a medicine with a base of calf's blood -- during the 2000 Tour de France turned up nothing.
"Lance Armstrong utterly denies ever having taken any performance-enhancing drugs," the statement released Monday from Tailwind said. "Accordingly, Lance Armstrong has instructed his lawyers to immediately institute libel proceedings."