Tour winner Armstrong denies doping allegation

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 used the blood-boosting drug EPO in 1999.

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

"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.

International Cycling Union (UCI) president Hein Verbruggen told Reuters: "We have to wait and see if this is true. Only then will we be able to ask whether there should be any legal action and whether this is a further blow for cycling.

"I have to say this is not pleasant but, for the moment, it only involves Lance Armstrong and France."

The World Anti-doping Agency (WADA)-accredited Chatenay-Malabry lab, which developed the test to detect EPO, started re-testing last year samples that had taken between 1998 and 1999 and frozen. The new tests were part of scientific research.

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 on Monday.

"My first conclusion is that sportsmen who want to cheat will now be under permanent pressure anywhere in the world," French Sports Minister Jean-Francois Lamour told French radio.

"Those who cheat are not safe. This is sad but it's also a great step forward for the fight against doping," he added.

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 (the) 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.

French lab cannot confirm tests were Armstrong's

A French specialist doping laboratory said yesterday it could not confirm that tests it had conducted for the blood-boosting drug EPO belonged to Lance Armstrong.

"The lab cannot link the results to a sportsman and can therefore not confirm the link made by L'Equipe between the test results and the (French federation) documents they publish," the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory said.

The lab said all tests were anonymous and had been transmitted to the WADA providing they would not take disciplinary action.

There were no tests to detect EPO, a drug that increases the level of red blood cells and endurance, in 1999. However, samples from the 1999 Tour de France were kept and have been recently re-tested by the lab based outside Paris.

"The lab can confirm that it has conducted EPO tests on samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tour de France races," it added.