| Lance Armstrong AFP PHOTO |
WASHINGTON: “Overwhelming” evidence shows that Lance Armstrong engaged in the biggest doping conspiracy in sports history to win the Tour de France seven times, the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) said on Wednesday.
Usada chief executive Travis Tygart said that Usada has submitted a report on why it banned Armstrong for life in August to the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and released more than 1,000 pages of evidence gathered in a probe of Armstrong and the US Postal Service team.
“The evidence of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team-run scheme is overwhelming,” Tygart said.
“The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”
That includes testimony from 11 former Armstrong teammates and 26 people in all, 15 of them with knowledge of US Postal riders and doping activities.
Among those was George Hinscapie, who admitted in a statement on Wednesday that he took performance-enhancing drugs.
“Lance Armstrong did not merely use performance-enhancing drugs. He supplied them to his teammates,” the report said. “He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team. He enforced and re-enforced it.”
Other former Armstrong teammates who testified include Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie.
Tygart said that the program was designed to evade detection as well as pressure athletes into taking drugs and maintain a “code of silence” about activities.
“We hope the sport will use this tragedy to prevent it from ever happening again,” Tygart said.
Usada also cites e-mails, lab test results, scientific data and financial records, included more than $1 million in documented payments from Armstrong to a Swiss company run by doctor Michele Ferrari, who purportedly advised him on doping.
“The evidence in the case is beyond strong,” the report said.
Published : Thursday January 17, 2013 | Category : headlines | Hits:745
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