Cycling: Tour winner Armstrong denies doping allegation

Lance Armstrong

LONDON - Seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs following a report in French newspaper L'Equipe that he had used the blood-boosting drug EPO in 1999.

"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs," the American said in a statement on his personal website.

L'Equipe, saying it had access to laboratory documents, reported that six of Armstrong's urine samples collected on the 1999 Tour de France showed "indisputable" traces of EPO (erythropoietin).

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells, in 1999, but samples from the 1999 Tour de France had been kept and have been recently retested by a lab specialising in doping tests in Chatenay-Malabry, outside Paris.

L'Equipe published what it claimed to be a results sheet from the lab which appeared to show six figures revealing traces of EPO.

The newspaper said the document had been sent by the lab to the French Sports Minister at the beginning of the week.

The laboratory and Tour de France officials declined to comment.

Armstrong added in his statement of denial: "Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and (L'Equipe's) article is nothing short of tabloid journalism.

"The paper even admits in its own article that the science in question here is faulty and that I have no way to defend myself.

"They state: 'There will therefore be no counter-exam nor regulatory prosecutions, in a strict sense, since defendant's rights cannot be respected.'"

The 33-year-old American retired after winning his record seventh Tour de France in July.

Before winning his first Tour in 1999, Armstrong won a battle against testicular cancer, undergoing two operations and four bouts of chemotherapy.

Since retiring, the Texan has concentrated on aiding the fight against cancer, pressing US President George W. Bush to boost spending on research.

Armstrong has been the target of doping allegations many times during his career. He has always strongly denied them.

- REUTERS