Armstrong lanced by Tour boss after drug claims

LANCE ARMSTRONG is locked in a war of words with the director of the Tour de France as he continues to fight claims he used blood-boosting drugs in 1999.

French newspaper L’Equipe alleged earlier this week that signs of EPO were detected in samples of Armstrong’s urine given during the 1999 race.

Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc said: “What L’Equipe revealed shows me I was fooled. We were all fooled.”

But Armstrong said: “To say that I’ve fooled the fans is preposterous.”

Armstrong had already issued a statement denying the newspaper claims, which were made on Tuesday.

The seven-time Tour de France champion insisted he had never taken performance-enhancing drugs and said the article was part of a “witch hunt”.

“This is great business for them,” said the 33-year-old American.

“At the end of day, that’s what it’s all about - selling newspapers.”

Armstrong, who retired after winning his seventh Tour in July, also questioned the validity of testing samples frozen seven years ago and how they were handled since.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that they have samples,” he said.

“Clearly they’ve tested all of my samples since then to the highest degree. But when I gave those samples, there was not EPO in those samples. I guarantee that.”

Armstrong charged officials at the Paris laboratory with violating World Anti-Doping Agency codes for failing to safeguard the anonymity of any remaining B samples it had.

He also said he was considering legal action to discover who leaked the details but admitted the cost and time of such an action were prohibitive.

“It would cost a million-and-a-half dollars and a year of my life,” he said.

“I have a lot better things to do with the million-and-a-half, and a lot better things I can do with my time.”

On Tuesday, four pages of L’Equipe were devoted to the allegations under the front-page headline ‘The Armstrong Lie’.

It said there were “characteristic, undeniable and consequent” signs of EPO in what it claimed were Armstrong’s urine tests, carried out by France’s national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry.

The newspaper explained that the tests on the samples were carried out in 2004 because cycling’s governing body did not start using a urine test for EPO until 2001.

The laboratory said in a statement it had “conducted EPO tests on samples from the 1998 and 1999 Tour de France races” but added it could not confirm that any tests it had conducted belonged to Armstrong.

However, the newspaper insisted Armstrong was guilty, appearing to have convinced Leblanc, who said: “For the first time - and these are no longer rumours, or insinuations - these are proven scientific facts.”