With the cycling season kicking into high gear, the strongest doping allegations yet against Lance Armstrong surfaced yesterday in a barrage of detailed messages from Floyd Landis, the disgraced rider and former teammate who finally confessed to years of cheating himself.
In a series of e-mails sent to sponsors and sports officials, Landis alleged Armstrong not only joined him in doping but taught others how to beat the system and paid the former president of the International Cycling Union to keep a failed test quiet.
“We have nothing to hide,” Armstrong said at an impromptu news conference before the fifth stage of the Tour of California where the seven-time Tour de France winner crashed. He was sent to the hospital for X-rays and stitches to his left elbow and under his left eye.
“Credibility,” the seven-time Tour de France winner said in Visalia. “Floyd lost his credibility a long time ago.”
In two e-mails obtained by the Associated Press, Landis also admitted for the first time what had long been suspected — that he was guilty of doping for several years before being stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title.
“I want to clear my conscience,” Landis told ESPN.com. “I don’t want to be part of the problem any more.”
Neither Landis nor his family returned repeated messages from the AP. The Wall Street Journal first reported the details of the e-mails on its website early yesterday.
Landis alleged that Armstrong and longtime coach Johan Bruyneel paid former UCI president Hein Verbruggen to cover up a test in 2002 after Armstrong purportedly tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO. The UCI denied changing or concealing a positive test result.
In an e-mail Landis sent to USA Cycling chief Steve Johnson, he said Armstrong’s positive EPO test was in 2002, around the time he won the Tour de Suisse. Armstrong won the Tour de Suisse in 2001 and did not compete in 2002.
“We’re a little confused,” Armstrong said.
The e-mail to Johnson also said: “Look forward to much more detail as soon as you can demonstrate that you can be trusted to do the right thing.”
Landis also implicated at least 16 other people in various doping acts, including longtime Armstrong confidant George Hincapie, Olympic medalist Levi Leipheimer and Canadian cyclist Michael Barry.
The Wall Street Journal reported another e-mail from Landis also linked another top American racer, Dave Zabriskie, to doping.
“At the end of the day, he pointed the finger at everybody still involved in cycling, everybody that’s still enjoying the sport, everybody that still believes in the sport, everybody that’s still working in the sport, was in the crosshairs,” Armstrong said. “Yes, I’m standing here with all you guys because I won the Tour de France seven times.”
Landis said he was asked at one point to stay in an apartment where Armstrong was living in 2003 and check the temperature in a refrigerator where blood was being stored for future transfusions.
“Mr. Armstrong was planning on being gone for a few weeks to train. He asked me to stay in his place and make sure the electricity didn’t turn off or something go wrong with the referigerator,” Landis wrote.
Landis is part of a long list of former Armstrong teammates and former U.S. Postal Service riders who have either acknowledged or been caught doping.