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Report: Lance Armstrong Was Part of the ‘Most Sophisticated, Professionalized and Successful Doping Program That Sport Has Ever Seen’

Oct. 10, 2012 7:46pm Jason Howerton

26 Testify Against Lance Armstrong in Doping Case

Lance Armstrong competes in the Rev3 Half Full Triathalon Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012 in Ellicott City, Md. Armstrong joined other cancer survivors in the event which raised funds for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. (Credit: AP)

(AP) — Lance Armstrong said he wanted to see the names of his accusers. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency gave him 26, including 11 ex-teammates.

The world’s most famous cyclist said he wanted to see the hard evidence that he was a doper. The agency gave him that, too: About 200 pages filled with vivid details – from the hotel rooms riders transformed into makeshift blood-transfusion centers to the way Armstrong’s ex-wife rolled cortisone pills into foil and handed them out to all the cyclists.

In all, a USADA report released Wednesday gives the most detailed, unflinching portrayal yet of Armstrong as a man who, day after day, week after week, year after year, spared no expense – financially, emotionally or physically – to win the seven Tour de France titles that the anti-doping agency has ordered taken away.

It presents as matter-of-fact reality that winning and doping went hand in hand in cycling and that Armstrong was the focal point of a big operation, running teams that were the best at getting it done without getting caught. Armstrong won the Tour as leader of the U.S. Postal Service team from 1999-2004 and again in 2005 with the Discovery Channel as the primary sponsor.

USADA said the path Armstrong chose to pursue his goals “ran far outside the rules.”

It accuses him of depending on performance-enhancing drugs to fuel his victories and “more ruthlessly, to expect and to require that his teammates” do the same. Among the 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong are George Hincapie, Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis.

USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart said the cyclists were part of “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

Armstrong did not fight the USADA charges, but insists he never cheated.

His attorney, Tim Herman, called the report “a one-sided hatchet job – a taxpayer funded tabloid piece rehashing old, disproved, unreliable allegations based largely on axe-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals and threat-induced stories.”

Aware of the criticism his agency has faced from Armstrong and his legion of followers, Tygart insisted his group handled this case under the same rules as any other. Armstrong was given the chance to take his case to arbitration and declined, choosing in August to accept the sanctions instead, he noted.

“We focused solely on finding the truth without being influenced by celebrity or non-celebrity, threats, personal attacks or political pressure because that is what clean athletes deserve and demand,” Tygart said.

The report called the evidence “as strong or stronger than any case brought in USADA’s 12 years of existence.”

In a letter sent to USADA attorneys Tuesday, Herman dismissed any evidence provided by Landis and Hamilton, saying the riders are “serial perjurers and have told diametrically contradictory stories under oath.”

The testimony of Hincapie, one of Armstrong’s closest and most loyal teammates through the years, was one of the report’s new revelations.

“I would have been much more comfortable talking only about myself, but understood that I was obligated to tell the truth about everything I knew. So that is what I did,” Hincapie said of his testimony to federal investigators and USADA.

His two-page statement did not mention Armstrong by name. Neither did statements from three other teammates-turned-witnesses, all of whom said this was a difficult-but-necessary process.

“I have failed and I have succeeded in one of the most humbling sports in the world,” Christian Vande Velde said. “And today is the most humbling moment of my life.”

Tygart said evidence from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the U.S. Postal Service team’s doping activities, provided material for the report. The agency also interviewed Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie. Andreu’s wife, Betsy, was another key witness. She has been one of Armstrong’s most consistent and unapologetic critics.

“It took tremendous courage for the riders on the USPS Team and others to come forward and speak truthfully,” Tygart said.

In some ways, the USADA report simply pulls together and amplifies allegations that have followed Armstrong ever since he beat cancer and won the Tour for the first time. At various times and in different forums, Landis, Hamilton and others have said that Armstrong encouraged doping on his team and used banned substances himself.

Lance Armstrong speaks to delegates at the World Cancer Congress in Montreal Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. (Credit: AP)

Written in a more conversational style than a typical legal document, the report lays out in chronological order, starting in 1998 and running through 2009:

- Multiple examples of Armstrong using multiple drugs, including the blood-boosting hormone EPO, citing the “clear finding” of EPO in six blood samples from the 1999 Tour de France that were retested. UCI concluded those samples were mishandled and couldn’t be used to prove anything. In bringing up the samples, USADA said it considers them corroborating evidence that isn’t even necessary given the testimony of its witnesses.

- Testimony from Hamilton, Landis and Hincapie, all of whom say they received EPO from Armstrong.

- Evidence of the pressure Armstrong put on the riders to go along with the doping program.

“The conversation left me with no question that I was in the doghouse and that the only way forward with Armstrong’s team was to get fully on Dr. Ferrari’s doping program,” Vande Velde testified.

- What Vaughters called “an outstanding early warning system regarding drug tests.” One example came in 2000, when Hincapie found out there were drug testers at the hotel where Armstrong’s team was staying. Aware Armstrong had taken testosterone before the race, Hincapie alerted him and Armstrong dropped out of the race to avoid being tested, the report said.

Though she didn’t testify, Armstrong’s ex-wife, Kristin, is mentioned 30 times in the report.

In one episode, Armstrong asks her to wrap banned cortisone pills in foil to hand out to his teammates.

“Kristin obliged Armstrong’s request by wrapping the pills and handing them to the riders. One of the riders remarked, `Lance’s wife is rolling joints,’” the report read. Attempts to reach Kristin Armstrong were unsuccessful.

While the arguments about Armstrong will continue among sports fans – and there is still a question of whether USADA or the International Cycling Union (UCI) has the ultimate authority to take away his Tour titles – the new report puts a cap on a long round of official investigations. Armstrong was cleared of criminal charges in February after a federal grand jury probe that lasted about two years.

UCI confirmed receiving the report and said it would respond to it soon, “not to delay matters any longer than necessary.” It has 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The head of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Doug Ulman, lauded Armstrong’s work as a cancer fighter. Armstrong won all his titles after overcoming testicular cancer.

“Our longstanding concerns about the impartiality and fairness of USADA’s proceeding are compounded today,” Ulman said. “As a federal judge pointed out, USADA appears motivated more by publicity rather than fulfilling its mission.”

Some of the newest information – never spelled out in detail before Wednesday – includes a depiction of Armstrong’s continuing relationship with physician and training guru Michele Ferrari. Like Armstrong, Ferrari has received a lifetime ban from USADA.

Long thought of as the mastermind of Armstrong’s alleged doping plan, Ferrari was investigated in Italy and Armstrong claimed he had cut ties with the doctor after a 2004 conviction. USADA cites financial records that show payments of at least $210,000 in the two years after that. It cited emails from 2009 showing Armstrong asking Ferrari’s son if he could make a $25,000 cash payment the next time they saw each other.

“The repeated efforts by Armstrong and his representatives to mischaracterize and minimize Armstrong’s relationship with Ferrari are indicative of the true nature of that relationship,” the report states. “If there is not something to hide, there is no need to hide it and certainly no need to repeatedly lie about it.”

In addition to Armstrong and Ferrari, another player in the Postal team circle, Dr. Luis Garcia del Moral, also received a lifetime ban as part of the case.

Three other members of the USPS team will take their cases to arbitration. They are team director Johan Bruyneel, team doctor Pedro Celaya and team trainer Jose “Pepe” Marti.

Armstrong chose not to pursue the case and instead accepted the sanction, though he has consistently argued that the USADA system was rigged against him, calling the agency’s effort a “witch hunt” that used special rules it doesn’t follow in all its other cases.

Sworn affidavits from Hincapie and several others, included in the agency’s report, were dated after Aug. 23, when Armstrong announced he would not fight the charges. The affidavits were dated as such, USADA said, because lawyers originally thought those witnesses would present their testimony live at an arbitration hearing.

The report also went to the World Anti-Doping Agency, which also has the right to appeal, but so far has supported USADA’s position in the Armstrong case.

“We would like to commend USADA for having the courage and the resolve to keep focused in working on this difficult case for the sake of clean athletes and the integrity of sport,” WADA President John Fahey said.

ASO, the company that runs the Tour de France and could have a say in where Armstrong’s titles eventually go, said it has “no particular comment to make on this subject.”

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Comments (61)

KissMyAmericanFlag
Posted on October 11, 2012 at 3:18am
Well, jolly-good; thoroughly justifies yet another taxpayer-subsidized federal bureaucratic agency. Anti-Doping?! for Pete’s sake. If athletes of any stripe need to fake/ enhance abilities to perform, they remain part of the show, get their recognitions, and the public is (momentarily) satisifed. So, where’s the problem?

Also, given the guilty verdict, since the USPS is _behind_ Mr Armstrong vis sponsorship, are they/ the postmaster general also complicit in a cover-up of perhaps broader proportions, eg with the so-called management of the USPS? Hmmm…..? Why has postage continuously increased without commensurate value to the consumer? Why is the benefit only to the federal bureaucracy, yet USPS is continuously insolvent during the previous ~20 years…? Time to appoint another commission to ‘study the problem’, or utilize common sense, eg via Romney/ Ryan2012…

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KyleD
Posted on October 11, 2012 at 1:10am
I’m not sure how any of this can be proven unless he were found to have steroids in his system or possession. It doesn’t matter if every single biker out there swears that they’ve seen him take drugs you can’t punish the man unless you can actually prove he did.

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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 8:14pm
  Exactly. That’s what we have doping tests for in the first place. And they haven’t proven that he’s done anything wrong. He’s innocent until proven guilty.
  
  Report this comment
kwayt
Posted on October 11, 2012 at 12:58am
Catch him at the time of the race or in between races and ban him then or leave him the heck alone! All you morons(USADA) have done to cycling in the USA is discourage the cyclists…and NOT from doping, but from a great and healthy sport, and what about all the cancer victums Lance has helped, what are they to think? Do you really think after having cancer someone would really want to intentionally subject themselves to dangerous activity with their own body? Just doesn’t make sense to me…

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mattmo79
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 11:34pm
This report and our government’s efforts behind it are total BS! Here’s another government program that can be cut! If doping is illegal, pass the damn law and have a judge and jury decide. This back room secret investigation with threatening potential witnesses etc. it BS! No more progressives in government,kickt all their commie a$$e$ out of office!!

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Ethan8
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 11:15pm
I feel postive this is a set up to discredit Lance Armstrong.

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Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:56pm
I am not comfortable with this report. Its “regulatory justice” as opposed to a verdict proven in a courtroom and affirmed by jurors. If we are not careful, we will all be under the thumb of the regulators and will answer to reports rather than assumptions of innocence until proven guilty.

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1HonestInjun
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:51pm
Hearsay evidence. And we read where fellow teammates Geo Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer testified
against him. Lance is banded for life, yet Geo and Levi are still racing. In other words you testify
against Lance and you go free. Squeeze the teammates to get statements true or false, and than use taxpapers unlimited money to overwhelm a citizens defense. Justice USADA style.

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thegodfather
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:20pm
Sorry…France and the world tested him for 7 years, if they didn’t find anything …he’s clean. He WON.

It’s like saying…”I KNOW that guy cheated. I don’t have any proof….but I KNOW it”

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- Mutiny
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:49pm
  Barry Bonds was found innocent also, doesnt mean he didnt cheat. Armstrong cheated and is a piece of garbage for it.
  
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dealer@678
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 10:06pm
The French will never accept an American that wins that race, Why even compete ?

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Maxim Crux
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:26pm
Let them all dope and it will be even

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- Socco
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 11:00pm
  ^^^this
  
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- Wango
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 1:14am
  The do all dope. In most sports, most athletes dope.
  
  Report this comment
- Git-R-Done
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 8:11pm
  Wacko – Apparently you’re not smart enough to get that you have to have physical evidence to prove your case. The USADA hasn’t shown any physical evidence of Lance Armstrong doping.
  
  Report this comment
Jenny Lind
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:14pm
I have to say, the mental image is of a bear being attacked by a pack of coyotes. I do not believe it, never will so don’t waste your time trying to convince me. There seems to be an organized attack of eceptional people, damn shame.

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- RabidPatriot
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:40pm
  Apparently, the USADA does not know what “hard evidence” means. He has never failed a drug test. Could you imagine passing every work related drug test for you entire career and then having a handful of coworkers and an ex-wife say that they helped you take drugs or did them with you and get fired just based on their say so. No drugs ever found. No paraphernalia ever found and not one shred of “hard evidence.” The USADA’s powers should be abolished.
  
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- endthemindlessspending
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:53pm
  I agree, this makes me sick the extremes they are going to keep this story going. He gave in cause they wouldn’t leave him alone and they still pursue him. I feel horrible for Lance and his family.
  
  Report this comment
- PontiusPirate
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:57pm
  I don’t think you understand what blood doping is, it doesnt mean he’s taking drugs.
  
  Report this comment
woodyee
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:04pm
Well, the French finally got a step up – on yet another Americans’ back…

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MODEL82A1
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:47pm
And there we have the end of financially viable professional cycling. Hope the Europeans are happy, as they stand to lose the most (by far). We Americans mostly could not care less. Lance will always be THE MAN.

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- sillyfreshness
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:12pm
  I’m sorry, but you can run a mega drug factory like that for years on end without getting caught. Handing out cortisone like candy to anyone on the team. All it would take is for a teammate who thought it was wrong to go to the press. The press was all around for the races. And running blood transfusion centers in his hotels? Sorry, I’m not buying it. Again, all it would take is 1 person out of the 100s of teammates to tip off the press at the time and have the press show up at his hotel room and see this gigantic blood transfusion center standing there. I don’t believe that all these teammates were totally okay with drawing blood at any request. I know I wouldn’t do it. Plus there is always the risk of catching some disease messing with blood and needles. I just don’t buy it.
  
  The bottom line of this report is “Lance was sooooooo sophisticated in his drug doping that there is zero evidence that he actually did it.” Yeah, he was so good that there is no evidence he did it. I need actual evidence rather than the word of a jealous teammate who accused Lance of being like him.
  
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- MODEL82A1
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:23pm
  SILLY, You are obviously in the vast majority of Americans who have never followed Pro Cycling. Good for you. Lance will always be THE MAN.
  
  Report this comment
Ilikepeople
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:41pm
Well if he’s a doper he sure knows it, he sure knows it, he knows the dope won the race, and not himself.

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- wianno94
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:08pm
  “Well if he’s a doper he sure knows it, he sure knows it, he knows the dope won the race, and not himself.”
  But, the ganja, cocaine, and shrooms didn’t win the presidency, the dope did!
  
  Report this comment
Tankertony
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:41pm
God knows the Truth, and will punish accordingly.

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marcus_arealius
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:35pm
Life, give him life for his dirty deeds.. How dare he drink fruit juice, eat vegetables, meat, protein, milk, and all that unfair stuff ‘other people’ don’t have. What a jerk. And his exercising all the time. More unfairness.. while ‘real people’ were working down at the car wash, Armstrong was ‘exercising’, ‘training’, totally unfair advantages.. and taking VITAMINS? No way can this be allowed. No he should have eaten dirt like the rest of us. PS… WHO GIVE A FLYING RATS ASS how he won the races..?? If he could bolt a volkswagon engine to his legs and win, more power to him you morons.

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- rookorami
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:49pm
  Who is to say the other racers could not get the drugs as well? They could, but chose to follow the rules. I would say this is less about fair and more about integrity and ethics. That is why people care. If the substances were not banned then by all means who cares.
  
  Report this comment
- netmail
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:59pm
  So long as ‘ANYTHING GOES’ is sanctioned and understood by all participants, then OK, ‘let the games begin’. Talk about ‘thinning the herd’. THAT will help the cause. “He’s down, he’s dead..the crowd roars.” That sounds familiar.
  
  Report this comment
- rookorami
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:42pm
  Our herd could use a little thinning… If winning the race is that important to you then its your body. Take all the drugs you want, just do not expect sympathy for your inability to think of the consequences. the scenario I think you are referring to is a whole different ball game, as the participants in the sport were not the ones causing the problem, it was the crowd. However it all goes back to sportsmanship. I personally would rather take 2-last on my own personal abilities than take 1st by using a drug to do it.
  
  Report this comment
- Kilmerfan
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 9:30am
  Rooky I care how much cash was spent on this Sammy the Bull**** witch hunt crap Methinks the taxpayer and their kids is going to pay for this for a loooooong time.
  
  Funk Dat!
  
  Report this comment
HerrZauberer
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:27pm
I’m not an Armstrong fan by any stretch, but the way the USADA handled the
whole thing made it seem like something from the Inquisition.
“Where going to keep asking until they confess.”

Because of this I think the USADA has done more damage to itself than
they are willing to admit. Did Armstrong dope up in some fashion? Probably.
Did the USADA keep on him in order to find anything that would “prove”
they weren’t on a witch hunt from the word go? Again, probably.

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Iswingright
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:27pm
He cheated. Then he lied over and over again — as he cheated! I can’t stand these guys (Bonds, Clemens, etc.).

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- Kilmerfan
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 9:40am
  This crap very costly crap the USADA has wasted a lot of taxpayer money on shite. Feel safer now?
  
  We will be paying China for this and other crap for years to come. Oy Vey!
  
  Report this comment
BlessedONE333
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:25pm
“As a federal judge pointed out, USADA appears motivated more by publicity rather than fulfilling its mission.”

THERE IS YOUR ANSWER

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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 7:15am
  200 pages of lies. Sandusky’s sentencing statement with the video wasn’t even aired. The whole media is tearing a probably innocent man to shreds to advance the agenda. Let’s tear down as many WHITE heroes as we can now. BASTARDS!
  
  Report this comment
TJexcite
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:21pm
This all boils down to the way he treated his team not the sport. Just who else was on the team that Armstrong raced with and trained with. Cycling is a single person sport but there is a huge team behind them and Armstrong got to big to bring the team with him for the ride and share the spotlight.

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TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:20pm
Whether or not guilty; he is a jerk and I would bet indeed; a fraud.

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- PaxInVeritate
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:01pm
  Wow! You met Lance? When, where, how and what was said that pissed you off so much?
  
  Report this comment
sndrman
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:11pm
i guess you always do get caught…..you might think you’re slick,clever,smart,nothing can touch me,charming,and i could go on but i think GOD put in place a way to alway find out the truth…..maybe not now,not this week,not this month,not this year but the truth does come out 98-99% of the time…..the BIBLE is full of examples of doing the right thing right away………..people will forgive you if you confess but the forgiveness is not so forth coming or complete if you’re found out…………make sense? sometimes i ramble and i lose my main focus……but it did at one time make perfect sense in my head………..

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- chips1
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:42pm
  Your post scares me. I understood it.
  
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- helllsbellls
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:59pm
  SNDRMAN……I know exactly what you mean. By the time I get to the end of my story I have to be reminded what the story was about. Hells Bells.
  
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netmail
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:03pm
Boy, there’s a lot of people here expected to keep secrets. Good luck with that. They did hold out a long time. Wonder how Lance managed to do that??

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- PaxInVeritate
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 9:07pm
  Good question! Perhaps he had a bunch of Hit Men all over the globe ready to pounce if anyone blabed about it. He would have to have been some Svengali to keep everyone quiet for so long.
  
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Verceofreason
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:02pm
Yet he always tested clean?

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- rookorami
  Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:25pm
  I saw mention in the article of blood transfusions. I suppose if you dope and switch out blood in time its possible, but I am not a doctor. “from the hotel rooms riders transformed into makeshift blood-transfusion centers”
  
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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on October 10, 2012 at 8:00pm
But it was the film that caused the deaths in Bengazi, and caused Lance to dope….right.

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- Kilmerfan
  Posted on October 11, 2012 at 9:44am
  The movie Breaking Away did it. It is evil……Evil! /sarcasm
  
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