Tour Champ Armstrong Denies Latest Doping Allegation
French Paper Says Results From 1999 Tour de France Sample Is Proof of EPO Claim
By ANGELA DOLAND, AP Sports

PARIS (Aug. 23) - Seven years after Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France title - and one month after he won his seventh - the doping allegations have returned.
 
According to French sports daily L'Equipe, six urine samples provided by the cancer-survivng American during the 1999 Tour tested positive for the red blood cell-booster EPO.

The drug, also known as erythropoietin, was on the list of banned substances at the time but there was no effective test to detect it.

Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc said the four-page article - headlined "The Armstrong Lie" - appeared "credible" and meticulously researched, adding that Armstrong must have a chance to rebut the claims.

"We are very shocked, very troubled by the revelations we read this morning," Leblanc told RTL radio.

Armstrong, a frequent target of L'Equipe, vehemently denied the allegations.

"Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow's article is nothing short of tabloid journalism," Armstrong wrote on his Web site. "I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs."

 
"I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs."
-Lance Armstrong
on his Web site  
 
The allegations surfaced seven years later because EPO tests on the 1999 samples were carried out only last year - when scientists at a lab outside Paris used them for research to perfect EPO testing. The national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry said it promised to hand its finding to the World Anti-Doping Agency, provided they were never used to penalize riders.

L'Equipe's investigation was based on urine B samples - the second of two samples used in doping tests. The A batch was used in 1999 for analysis at the time. Without those samples, any disciplinary action against Armstrong would be impossible, French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour said.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) did not begin using a urine test for EPO until 2001, though it was banned in 1990. For years, it had been impossible to detect the drug, which builds endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells.

Jacques de Ceaurriz, the head of France's anti-doping laboratory, which developed the EPO urine test, told Europe-1 radio that at least 15 urine samples from the 1999 Tour had tested positive for EPO.

Separately, the lab said it could not confirm that the positive results were Armstrong's. It noted that the samples were anonymous, bearing only a six-digit number to identify the rider, and could not be matched with the name of any one cyclist.

However, L'Equipe said it was able to make the match.

On one side of the page, it showed what it claimed were the results of EPO tests from anonymous riders used for lab research. On the other, it showed Armstrong's medical certificates, signed by doctors and riders after doping tests - and bearing the same identifying number printed on the results.

"It will be very interesting to see what UCI does and what the U.S. Cycling Federation does and what Lance Armstrong has to say," WADA chairman Dick Pound said. "If the evidence is seen as credible then, yes, he has an obligation to come forward and specifically give his comments, especially after his previous comments that he has never used drugs.

 
   
 
"If anything were found, we couldn't do anything because we didn't even exist in 1999. But it's important that the truth must always be made clear," Pound added.

Representatives for Armstrong said he was in Austin, Texas, where he lives and did not wish to comment beyond the statement on his Web site.

L'Equipe, whose parent company is closely linked to the Tour, often questioned Armstrong's clean record and frequently took jabs at him - portraying him as too arrogant, too corporate and too good to be for real.

"Never to such an extent, probably, has the departure of a champion been welcomed with such widespread relief," the paper griped the day after Armstrong's record seventh straight win.


08/23/05 20:45 EDT

These dumbasses are just pissed because he kicked their asses 7 years straight.

They can't beat him even on their on soil so they pick him apart slowly like flies on a scab.

I bet the French think the missing ball makes him more aerodynamic too...

My best guess is it boils down to one of two things:

1) The accusations are outright lies.

2) The samples were altered. They were sitting around for 7 years after all, in a country that has repeatedly shown disdain for both American and Armstrong.

Quoted: They can't beat him even on their on soil so they pick him apart slowly like flies on a scab.

I think it more likely that they are detecting his cancer meds and they are whining at him about taking his meds to treat his cancer and prevent the his cancer from reoccuring.

It is very common after chemo treatments that patients are put on drugs that increase their red blood cell counts due to the fact that chemo kills red blood cells.

It is also naturally produced by the human body, so there you have it. Yellow journalism at it's worst:

Erythropoietin, (EPO), a glycoprotein hormone produced primarily by cells of the peritubular capillary endothelium of the kidney, is responsible for the regulation of red blood cell production. Secondary amounts of the hormone are synthesized in liver hepatocytes of healthy adults. In premature as well as full term infants, the liver is the primary site of EPO production. The kidney becomes the primary site of EPO synthesis shortly after birth. EPO production is stimulated by reduced oxygen content in the renal arterial circulation. Circulating EPO binds to EPO receptors on the surface of erythroid progenitors resulting in replication and maturation to functional erythrocytes by an incompletely understood mechanism.

Can't blame them.  He DID win thier stupid, fairy-ass race 7 times in a row.

Quoted: Can't blame them.  He DID win thier stupid, fairy-ass race 7 times in a row.

I don't see you on a bike, girly boy lol

Quoted: Quoted: Can't blame them.  He DID win thier stupid, fairy-ass race 7 times in a row. I don't see you on a bike, girly boy lol

And ya won't.  Not anytime soon.


I'm afraid the French will accuse me of using performance enhanceing Cheetos.

Quoted: It is also naturally produced by the human body, so ther you have it. Yellow journalism at it's worst:

Yep, and since Lance is an elite athlete who survived cancer, you know his body is in overtime to enhance his cardio-respiratory system to recover from exertion and disease.

He took EPO as part of his cancer treatment.  He stopped taking it when he resumed training.  All of this is well documented and by the book.

EPO and its metabolites are natural.  The new tests are far from being beyond criticism.

Colleagues of mine can find cocaine and meth and lsd* traces in samples from just about anyone, given sufficient time and money and resources.  In fact, we do it in an advanced instrumental analysis class just to prove that point.

The tests were performed as funded by organizations with a history of animosity towards Armstrong from samples handled by an undocumented many.

Two mottos from analytical chemistry.

"The test is only as good as the sample."
"A good chemist can find anything in anything, given enough money, under the table or above it."

Kindstranger
Self-appointed, unofficial ARFCOM chemistry professor

*LSD not so common anymore, as just told to me.  However most people do have measurable detectable amounts of cocaine and meth in their tissues just from public exposure.  Especially if you work in a public place or handle alot of cash.

I hear the Germans are pissed at him too.



With his last victory, he has successfully invaded france more times than the krauts have.

Quoted: I hear the Germans are pissed at him too. With his last victory, he has successfully invaded france more times than the krauts have.

Gotten himmel! Verdammen Sie das testicled Wunder!!!



Lance =  

Quoted: I bet the French think the missing ball makes him more aerodynamic too...

It's one more ball than the entire nation has.

Quoted: Quoted: I bet the French think the missing ball makes him more aerodynamic too... It's one more ball than the entire nation has.

Gotta get a towel for my monitor..