Tyler Hamilton : I saw Armstrong taking EPO.



limerickman

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Jan 5, 2004
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Hamilton claims on a TV interview that he saw Armstrong taking EPO.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hamilton-says-he-saw-armstrong-use-epo


Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Lance Armstrong has claimed that the seven time Tour de France winner used performance enhancing drugs, including EPO and testosterone during several of his Tour wins.
Hamilton made the claims during an interview with the credible "60 Minutes" program that is planning to air this Sunday.
Hamilton rode with Armstrong on the US Postal Service team from 1998 until 2001 and was a key part of Armstrong's winning Tour runs. He went on to to rival Amstrong with first CSC and then Phonak.
He had previously been caught for a homologous blood doping in 2004 and then tested positive for testosterone in an out-of-competition doping control taken before the Tour of California in February 2009. He claimed the positive came as a result of homeopathic medicine he was taking for depression, before accepting an eight-year ban on June 11, 2009. He was later given a lifetime ban from WADA.
"[Armstrong] took what we all took...the majority of the peloton," Hamilton told "60 Minutes. There was EPO...testosterone...a blood transfusion," he said.
"I saw [EPO] in his refrigerator...I saw him inject it more than one time like we all did, like I did many, many times."
Armstrong has been dogged by doping allegation throughout his career but has strenuously denied them. Last year, another former teammate Floyd Landis, confessed to taking performance enhancing drugs during his time at US Postal and claimed that Armstrong had carried out similar practices. Landis also claimed that the sport's governing body had covered up a positive test for Armstrong in an edition of the Tour de Suisse. Something the UCI and Armstrong also denied.
With the news of Hamilton's confession and allegations Cyclingnews contacted Landis who had this to say. "At the moment my only is that I wish the best for Tyler."
Cyclingnews contacted Lance Armstrong's attorney who released this statement.
"Tyler Hamilton just duped the CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes and Scott Pelley all in one fell swoop. Hamilton is actively seeking to make money by writing a book, and now he has completely changed the story he has always told before so that he could get himself on 60 Minutes and increase his chances with publishers. But greed and a hunger for publicity cannot change the facts: Lance Armstrong is the most tested athlete in the history of sports: He has passed nearly 500 tests over twenty years of competition."
Another former Armstrong teammate, also a witness in the federal investigation, is Frankie Andreu. He tells "60 minutes" he took banned substances because lesser riders he believed were doping passed him by. "Training alone wasn't doing it and I think that's how...many of the other riders during that era felt, I mean, you kind of didn't have a choice," said Andreu.
The bedrock of Armstrong's denials over the years has been his claim to have never failed one of the hundreds of drug tests he has taken. Hamilton says Armstrong told him he did fail a test in 2001 given during the Tour de Suisse, an important event right before the Tour de France, thus backing up Landis's allegations.
That allegation is under investigation by federal authorities
 
There should be a gag order in place. This case if it goes to trial will be huge and you have potential idiots I mean witness's blabbing away to 60 minutes.
 
George Hincapie has now broken ranks with Armstrong claiming that Armstrong doped and that he and Armstrong were swapping dopage.

Velonews.

George Hincapie, one of Lance Armstrong’s closest friends during their time together at the U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams and the only member of all seven of Armstrong’s Tour de France-winning squads, testified before a federal grand jury that he and Armstrong had supplied one another with EPO and testosterone, CBS News reported Friday afternoon.

According to CBS News, Hincapie testified that he and Armstrong supplied each other with EPO and discussed having used testosterone to prepare for races.

Through an attorney Hincapie declined to be interviewed, citing the ongoing federal investigation led by FDA agent Jeff Novitsky.

The story’s release Friday afternoon was the latest salvo in a war of the words that broke out after CBS News broadcasted an interview with former Postal teammate Tyler Hamilton Thursday night, in which Hamilton said he had witnessed Armstrong inject himself with EPO. A full report, with more from Hamilton, is scheduled for Sunday evening.

According to The Daily Beast, negotiations over whether Armstrong would grant an interview for Sunday’s program broke down this week amid accusations of bad faith from Armstrong’s camp.

On Thursday night Armstrong told The Daily Beast that “60 Minutes” had “reneged” on promises made to him, saying of the producer of the story, “I would not call him a straight shooter… My version of events has never changed on this, and won’t.”

CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” dismissed Armstrong’s complaints. “We have been so thorough and fair to Lance Armstrong,” he said. “We have shared with them every single allegation in our story… This is a PR game. Our reporters have done a first-class job.”

After the Hamilton admission and accusation was the lead story on Thursday night’s “CBS Evening News,” promoting Sunday’s in-depth report, Fabiani released a statement saying that Hamilton “had duped CBS News, 60 Minutes and CBS reporter Scott Pelley, all in one fell swoop.”

“Hamilton is actively seeking to make money by writing a book, and now he has completely changed the story he has always told before so that he could get himself on ’60 Minutes’ and increase his chances with publishers,” Fabiani said in his statement. “But greed and a hunger for publicity cannot change the facts: Lance Armstrong is the most tested athlete in the history of sports: He has passed nearly 500 tests over twenty years of competition.”

Armstrong downplayed the accusations by Tweeting: “20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case.”

In a letter to Fager, two of Armstrong’s lawyers, Robert Luskin and Ted Herman, said that “60 Minutes” was engaged in “disgraceful journalism” and “a serious breach of the most fundamental journalistic principles.”

However downplaying Hincapie’s testimony will prove more difficult. Hamilton and former USPS teammate Floyd Landis both faced credibility issues after denying for years that they had used performance-enhancing drugs despite testing positive, only to later admit they’d lied. Likewise, both men had fallen out of favor with Armstrong after leaving his team and had suffered major financial burdens as a result of mounting costly legal defenses — a point the Armstrong camp has pointed to as part of their motivation to lie about Armstrong.

Hincapie, however, a three-time U.S. national road champion, has a solid reputation, is the co-owner of a successful outdoor clothing brand, and has remained friendly with Armstrong. A times Armstrong and Hincapie have referred to each other as best friends, and in an interview last year, Armstrong described Hincapie as “like a brother.”

While “60 Minutes” is reporting that Hincapie testified before a federal grand jury about his and Armstrong’s use of PEDs, he declined to be interviewed by “60 Minutes,” which will air its piece on the Armstrong investigation at 7 p.m. EDT Sunday.

Several sources have told VeloNews that further bombshells, beyond those of Hamilton and Hincapie, will be revealed.

Asked to comment on the newest “60 Minutes” segment, Fabiani told The Associated Press, “We have no way of knowing what happened in the grand jury and so can’t comment on these anonymously sourced reports.”

Hincapie also declined to comment on Hamilton’s confession and accusation Thursday when reached by VeloNews, saying, “I know you’ve got a job and you’ve got to ask these questions. I’ve got a job too. My job is here to race my bike, promote the sport that we all love; that I’ve sacrificed my whole life for. I just have no interest in dragging this sport through the mud, so I’m sorry, but I have no comment.”

When asked whether he had a reason to disbelieve Hamilton, Hincapie, who rode with him at Postal from 1997 to 2001, said, “I’m sorry. I’m not commenting
 
Hamilton returns his Olympic Gold medal


Cycling : American cyclist Tyler Hamilton has surrendered his 2004 Olympic gold medal after confessing to doping, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said on Friday.
"I can confirm that Tyler Hamilton has given his gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games to USADA and that we will continue to work with the IOC and the USOC as appropriate concerning the final implications of our overall investigation," USADA chief executive Travis Tygart said in a statement.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) earlier on Friday said it also was studying the issue.
"The IOC has taken note of Hamilton's confession and will of course study any potential Games-related implications," it said.
Hamilton won cycling's time-trial at the Athens Olympics and was allowed to keep his medal after testing positive for blood doping because the laboratory accidently destroyed his B sample by deep freezing it.
In an interview to be aired by the television program "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Hamilton ended years of denials by admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs, but said he was not alone.
The 40-year-old said he witnessed former team mate Lance Armstrong inject himself with a blood-booster during the 1999 Tour de France, which Armstrong won.
Armstrong, who won the Tour de France seven times, has always denied taking banned substances but has repeatedly had to fend off accusations despite having never failed a drugs test.
His lawyer Mark Fabiani told Reuters on Thursday that Hamilton's accusations about Armstrong were untrue.
Tygart said USADA was continuing its ongoing investigation in cycling.
"Where there is credible evidence of doping, a fair and thorough process exists for resolving such violations," he said. "We do not comment on the substance of an active investigation, but as always we remain committed to protecting the rights of clean athletes and preserving the integrity of sport."
The US Olympic Committee referred all queries to USADA