Former Postal teammate says he saw Lance Armstrong inject

[Don Vito Corleone]

Another interesting article - Lance's longtime teammate George Hincapie and coach Jim Ochowicz are refusing to comment on the substance of the Hamilton allegations, including after Hincapie was asked whether he had any reason to disbelieve Hamilton. Ochowicz calls the allegations "outrageous" but admits he has no knowledge one way or the other.

From http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/hincapie-ochowicz-react-to-hamilton-accusations_174673:

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (VN) – George Hincapie and Jim Ochowicz of BMC Racing were two of embattled Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong’s closest companions for much of his career. Ochowicz Thursday night called former U.S. Postal Service rider Tyler Hamilton’s accusations that he witnessed Armstrong use EPO “outrageous,” while Hincapie reserved comment.

* * *
Hincapie, the only rider to accompany Armstrong through each of his seven Tour de France titles, and Ochowicz, who recruited the Texan into the professional ranks with Motorola in August of 1992, refused to comment on the latest in a string of accusations against Armstrong.

* * *

“I know you’ve got a job and you’ve got to ask these questions. I’ve got a job too,” Hincapie told VeloNews at the team’s hotel in Paso Robles, California. “My job’s here to race my bike, promote the sport that we all love; that I’ve sacrificed my whole life for and I just have no interest in dragging this sport through the mud, so I’m sorry, but I have no comment.”

Ochowicz claimed he hadn’t seen interview excerpts as he was on a bike ride when they ran just after 5:00 p.m. local time. The BMC Racing president held the same position at the U.S. Cycling Federation between 2002 and 2006. He was not involved with the U.S. Postal Service team in an official capacity.

“I don’t have an opinion. I wasn’t there,” he said. “I don’t want to comment on something that’s that outrageous of a statement. It’s too bad that something like that would be said. I have no idea. It’s a pity.”

* * *

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.”

 

[BudAshes]

dude had cancer. Let him take some roids.

 

[SP33Demon]

It's my understanding (as borne out by the very article you linked) that the EPO testing is considered relatively unreliable and unlikely to yield positive, accurate results.

To answer your question, I would maintain it's not only possible but highly likely that Lance doped for an entire decade without being caught. He had the greatest financial and logistical resources of any cyclist in history at his disposal, and was highly motivated to a) win and b) not get caught. I simply don't see how there is any reasonable explanation for the sworn testimony of, among others, Frankie Andreu (who, unlike Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton, has admitted doping despite never being caught at it), Betsy Andreu and Emma O'Reilly, none of whom appear to have anything to gain from "defaming" Lance, which carries the risk of being sued into the ground by an astronomically wealthy, litigious professional athlete. There is also the question of how a cancer survivor could be so dominant in a peloton full of cheaters without doping.

As I said before, it seems to me Lance deserves his victories because every other rider in the top of the peloton was also cheating, but I think the evidence clearly supports the proposition that he was doping. I am not a Lance hater - just a pragmatist.

So Lance dodged EPO tests for over a decade, including last year's top 3 finishes? Lance was doping at ages 13-19 when he was ranked the #1 triathlete (19 and under) in the country? His VO2Max of 85~ was a result of EPO that he took right before that test(s)?

Highly unlikely. Possible? Yes, but not likely. Lance had extraordinary endurance even as a kid.

 

[SP33Demon]

Another interesting article - Lance's longtime teammate George Hincapie and coach Jim Ochowicz are refusing to comment on the substance of the Hamilton allegations, including after Hincapie was asked whether he had any reason to disbelieve Hamilton. Ochowicz calls the allegations "outrageous" but admits he has no knowledge one way or the other.

From http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/hincapie-ochowicz-react-to-hamilton-accusations_174673:

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (VN) – George Hincapie and Jim Ochowicz of BMC Racing were two of embattled Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong’s closest companions for much of his career. Ochowicz Thursday night called former U.S. Postal Service rider Tyler Hamilton’s accusations that he witnessed Armstrong use EPO “outrageous,” while Hincapie reserved comment.

* * *
Hincapie, the only rider to accompany Armstrong through each of his seven Tour de France titles, and Ochowicz, who recruited the Texan into the professional ranks with Motorola in August of 1992, refused to comment on the latest in a string of accusations against Armstrong.

* * *

“I know you’ve got a job and you’ve got to ask these questions. I’ve got a job too,” Hincapie told VeloNews at the team’s hotel in Paso Robles, California. “My job’s here to race my bike, promote the sport that we all love; that I’ve sacrificed my whole life for and I just have no interest in dragging this sport through the mud, so I’m sorry, but I have no comment.”

Ochowicz claimed he hadn’t seen interview excerpts as he was on a bike ride when they ran just after 5:00 p.m. local time. The BMC Racing president held the same position at the U.S. Cycling Federation between 2002 and 2006. He was not involved with the U.S. Postal Service team in an official capacity.

“I don’t have an opinion. I wasn’t there,” he said. “I don’t want to comment on something that’s that outrageous of a statement. It’s too bad that something like that would be said. I have no idea. It’s a pity.”

* * *

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.”

Yup, agree with Hincapie, there's no reason to comment on Hamilton's dumbass accusations.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Let's just look at the facts here. Lance DOMINATED one of the dirtiest sports on the planet for the better part of a decade. Unless he's some kind of genetic freak superman there's no way he did it without drugs. The fact that he never tested positive, sadly, doesn't matter. The cheaters always have been and always will be ahead of the testers. Guys get caught because they make a mistake or because they try to do it on their own and don't understand what they're doing.

There was even a former winner of the Tour de France who stepped forward to admit he was dirty even though he never tested positive. Barry Bonds never tested positive and who here believes he wasn't juicing?

Everybody loves the Lance Story but a nice story doesn't make him innocent of this.

Read the book "Game of Shadows". It's not about Barry Bonds. It's about drug use in sports. It's well documented and well researched. You'll never believe any of these guys are clean after you read it.

 

[SP33Demon]

Let's just look at the facts here. Lance DOMINATED one of the dirtiest sports on the planet for the better part of a decade. Unless he's some kind of genetic freak superman there's no way he did it without drugs. The fact that he never tested positive, sadly, doesn't matter. The cheaters always have been and always will be ahead of the testers. Guys get caught because they make a mistake or because they try to do it on their own and don't understand what they're doing.

Everybody loves the Lance Story but a nice story doesn't make him innocent of this.

Read the book "Game of Shadows". It's not about Barry Bonds. It's about drug use in sports. It's well documented and well researched. You'll never believe any of these guys are clean after you read it.

So what you're saying is the UCI fcked up Lance's tests last year and he had to have doped in order to finish 2nd in the ToS and 3rd in the ToL, right? In 2010, Lance was doping is what you're saying. Even under the intense scrutiny and spotlight.

I don't believe that for a second.

 

[PimpJuice]

Cycling is a shitty sport, who cares

I'd rather watch WNBA which ranks right after killing myself on my ordered list of fun things to do.

 

[BeauJangles]

Unless he's some kind of genetic freak superman there's no way he did it without drugs.

Actually, the studies they've done on his body point to him being a genetic freak superman. I'm not saying he's innocent, either, but all of these accusations against him always come at extremely convenient times for his accusers.

 

[OCGuy]

He used some super-secret substance that all of the xenophobic Frenchie's tests couldnt see.

 

[Zedtom]

Since the pharmaceutical companies always quietly disappear into the shadows when athletes are outed, maybe the media should focus their attention on the source instead of the users.

Designer drugs are usually associated with recreational use, but who's to say that big pharma isn't cooking up special recipes for clients that have plenty of cash and a certain need?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer_drugs

 

[TheNinja]

I can't say for sure, but if I had to bet, I'd say all of the top guys were cheating during that time. Just like MLB and Barry Bonds. The crappy thing for Lance is that if he is caught he'll be the poster boy for everything wrong with cycling during that time period just like Barry is killed in the media as a poster boy for steroids in baseball. When scandals come out, they'll always target the guy at the top.

Fact is Lance still won all those tours on a level playing field as 90% of everyone else. I'm not a Lance, cycling, baseball, or Bonds fan either. Just trying to stay objective.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Drug use in cycling? Unpossible!

 

[Mursilis]

So Lance dodged EPO tests for over a decade, including last year's top 3 finishes? Lance was doping at ages 13-19 when he was ranked the #1 triathlete (19 and under) in the country? His VO2Max of 85~ was a result of EPO that he took right before that test(s)?

Highly unlikely. Possible? Yes, but not likely. Lance had extraordinary endurance even as a kid.

The mere fact that he's a genetic freak doesn't preclude him from doping regardless. Plenty of elite athletes are genetic freaks. That doesn't mean they don't cheat.

 

[BrownShoes]

Armstrong was a medium-notable young rider, among many such others, when in 1996 he was struck with testicular cancer. He became at that time at least the third member of the US Cycling team to be afflicted by severe, life-threatening illnesses. The two other riders in this group, Greg Strock and Erich Keiter, ended up suing USA Cycling claiming that US coaches systematically injected them with performance-enhancing drugs that ultimately ruined their health. Among the coaches alleged to have injected the drugs was Chris Carmichael who is Lance Armstrong's long-time training coach.

After Armstrong survived cancer and raced again in 1998, he found himself unable to compete at a high level, and ultimately stopped racing altogether after abandoning a Paris-Nice race exhausted and looking very much as one would expect a man who has undergone cancer treatment to look. At that point, Armstrong went into seclusion with coach Chris Carmichael and emerged the next year to win the Tour de France. In the space of a few months, he had gone from collapsing by the side of the road to handily winning one of the top three cycling races in the world. The label that the press, fellow riders, and amazed fans put on this feat was unanimous: "It's a Miracle".

During the 1999 Tour de France, Armstrong tested positive for cortisone, a banned performance-enhancing drug. The test result, which carried with it an immediate disqualification from the race, was explained away by claiming that it was due to a topical cream legally prescribed to Armstrong. However, Emma O'Reilly, a key staff member of the US Postal team at the time and who was present when the team discussed what to do about the positive tests, has declared to various media outlets that the saving prescription was actually a doctored one fabricated with the express purpose of deceiving Tour officials. O'Reilly, who is a respected member of the cycling community, has nothing to gain with her allegations and has no ax to grind with Armstrong.

For many years, even as early as 1996, Armstrong's favorite doctor has been Michele Ferrari whom Bicycling magazine calls without hesitation "cycling's doctor most suspected of doping athletes". Dr. Ferrari is currently on trial in Europe for allegedly supplying riders with performance-enhancing drugs. Far from distancing himself from Dr. Ferrari, Armstrong has defended his association with him and gone as far as physically threatening riders who have decided to testify against Dr. Ferrari.

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/07/322007.shtml


The Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reported Thursday that U.S. investigators are working with their Italian counterparts to review millions of dollars’ worth of financial transactions involving physician Michele Ferrari and several high-profile cyclists.
La Gazzetta’s Luca Gialanella reported that U.S. Food and Drug Administration criminal division investigator Jeff Novitzky has spent time working with prosecutors in Italy examining records of transactions, some of which date back to years when Ferrari served as a consultant to the former U.S. Postal Service cycling team and its star rider Lance Armstrong.
Novitzky, who recently testified in the perjury trial of baseball’s Barry Bonds, is also part of a team investigating allegations of doping and misuse of public funds by Armstrong and others at U.S. Postal. Gialanella’s report suggests that the U.S. investigation has shifted its emphasis from one largely focused on doping allegations to a much broader case involving fraud, money laundering and tax evasion.
Sources close to the U.S. investigation recently told VeloNews that investigators have begun to focus on a years’ worth of secretive financial transactions involving “tens of millions and maybe more.”
Thursday’s report in Gazzetta notes that U.S. and Italian investigators are currently examining a series of bank transfers and cash transactions totaling an estimated 15 million Euros.
While Novitzky’s investigation focuses largely on Ferrari’s relationship with Armstrong, the Italian investigation is wider and recently resulted in the questioning of several current Italian cyclists as well as a search of the Katusha team’s Italian headquarters.
The American investigation includes forensic accountants who are working with Italian authorities and Swiss bank auditors to review relevant documents in the case.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...orities-examine-armstrong-ferrari-ties_169668


Around 8 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2010, Italian police and customs officials acting at the behest of agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pulled over Yaroslav Popovych as he drove on a roundabout in Quarrata, a quaint Tuscan village of stucco facades and colorful shutters between Pistoia and Florence. The officials had been looking for Popovych, one of Lance Armstrong's Radio Shack teammates, to execute a search warrant. Italian authorities say the Ukrainian cyclist was startled but cooperative. He led them through olive groves to his house beside a cemetery. There the officials found drug-testing documents, medical supplies and performance-enhancing drugs. They also found e-mails and texts that, they say, establish that as recently as 2009 Armstrong's team had links to controversial Italian physician Michele Ferrari, with whom the Texan had said he cut ties in 2004.
This new evidence is now part of the FDA's investigation, directed by agent Jeff Novitzky, into whether Armstrong was involved in an organized doping operation as a member of the team sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), an independent agency of the federal government. In light of this criminal inquiry involving the greatest Tour de France rider of all time, SI reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and interviewed dozens of sources in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S. Because the case could potentially involve accusations that are more than a decade old, SI also examined doping allegations against Armstrong throughout his career as a pro cyclist, discovering information that is reported here for the first time.
The federal inquiry focuses on the period from 1999 to 2004, during which Armstrong won six of his seven Tour de France titles and the USPS team received more than $40 million toward sponsorship of the squad, which was managed by Tailwind, Inc., according to documents reviewed by SI. Through his attorney, Armstrong claims that he "started at USPS as a low paid, regular rider" and "was never the boss, director, the owner, or the doctor." But because government sponsorship is involved, if evidence suggests that Armstrong was directing illegal doping activity, the inquiry could result in charges against him of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking and defrauding the U.S. government.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1180944/index.htm

 

[preslove]

Of course he doped.

If you haven't watched it, Check out "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger,_Stronger,_Faster*

It's on netflix streaming.

 

[SP33Demon]

Friday, two former Armstrong teammates told The Associated Press that they never saw Armstrong or Hamilton used banned substances. Pascal Derame, a Frenchman who was on the 1999 Tour-winning team with Armstrong and Hamilton, said he wasn't in Armstrong's "inner circle."

"I never saw [Armstrong] take anything," Derame said. "I cannot say what I didn't see."

Another former teammate of Armstrong and Hamilton, Steffen Kjaergaard of Norway, rode on U.S. Postal's Tour de France team in 2000 and 2001.

"I didn't feel any pressure of doing any prohibited thing to be stronger, to do doping," Kjaergaard said. "I didn't have any hints, 'You should do this. You should do that.' "

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/cycling/news/story?id=6567822

 

[dainthomas]

The guy sure seems to be hated in the cycling world. I wonder if it's mostly jealousy or because he's a legit db.

Likely because he's really good AND a legit db. Haters gonna hate.

I'd heard that his crazy endurance was basically due to the way he rebuilt his bone marrow after cancer. I could be wrong though.

 

[freegeeks]

Lance won the Iron Kids Triathlon at age 13, was he doping then? His VO2Max is around 85~, and the only way he could consistently keep it that high is to blood dope (easily detected during the years he won 7 straight). Simply put, he had one of the highest VO2Max in the world of cycling at the time, just like Micheal Indurain (5 time winner)@88 VO2Max. That's something you're born with and cannot enhance without easily getting caught.

LOL, you don't really follow cycling don't you. Every singe top pro cyclist Lance competed against has been caught, the list is endless. People should get over it, Lance was also on the juice, only the blind followers like you still believe him. This doesn't make him a lesser champion but only fools believe he could win clean against equally natural genetic freaks like Ullrich who were also on EPO. Seriously, anyways who believes Lance was clean is simple not following pro cycling for the last 20 years and is in serious denial. Even the all time greats like Merckx were taking stuff, doesn't make him a lesser champion because everyone was doing it and he still destroyed them, just like Lance

 

[freegeeks]

Actually, the studies they've done on his body point to him being a genetic freak superman. I'm not saying he's innocent, either, but all of these accusations against him always come at extremely convenient times for his accusers.

All these top riders in the TdF are genetic freaks

 

[freegeeks]

So Lance dodged EPO tests for over a decade, including last year's top 3 finishes? Lance was doping at ages 13-19 when he was ranked the #1 triathlete (19 and under) in the country? His VO2Max of 85~ was a result of EPO that he took right before that test(s)?

Highly unlikely. Possible? Yes, but not likely. Lance had extraordinary endurance even as a kid.

Most of them dodged EPO tests, only the stupid and unlucky ones got caught. And during Lance first Tdf wins, they were not testing on EPO. Testing started in 2001. They still have frozen B samples of 1999 and 2000, if Lance is clean he should not have any trouble to have them tested for EPO

 

[Miramonti]

Report: Teammate George Hincapie tells Feds Armstrong used PED's

Hamilton said he also used PEDs with Armstrong.

Hincapie has often been depicted as one of Armstrong's most loyal teammates and was with him for all seven Tour victories. In an interview last year, Armstrong said Hincapie was "like a brother to me."

 

[DangerAardvark]

dude had cancer. Let him take some roids.

Then everyone will just get ball cancer. It's a slippery slope. First ball cancer, then dick cancer and eventually full blown anal cancer.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Report: Teammate George Hincapie tells Feds Armstrong used PED's

If this is true - and it certainly seems consistent with Hincapie's refusal to deny Hamilton's allegations - I find it very hard to understand how anyone could continue to deny that Lance doped.

 

[D1gger]

If this is true - and it certainly seems consistent with Hincapie's refusal to deny Hamilton's allegations - I find it very hard to understand how anyone could continue to deny that Lance doped.

Bingo!!!

 

[SKORPI0]

So his downfall begins, I wonder what will be done regarding his 7 year win on the Tour de France. 2nd Place gets the medal, money winnings, etc. Lance gives everything back, plus probable penalty/jail time?

I've had this lingering suspicion about this "doping" over the years like everyone else, but why now?

Will be watching the 60 minutes show Sunday at 6 pm CST.