A former cycling teammate said seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs before several events, including the Tour de France, according to an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes."
In the interview, part of which CBS aired Thursday on the "CBS Evening News," Tyler Hamilton admitted that he, Armstrong and members of the U.S. Postal Service team often used banned substances. Hamilton has served a two-year suspension for doping.
Armstrong rebutted the allegation Thursday night on Twitter saying: "20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case."
Hamilton, who won an Olympic gold medal in 2004, told "60 Minutes" that he knows Armstrong used EPO, which helps boost endurance, several times, including in his win for the 1999 Tour de France.
"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," Hamilton said.
MayoClinic.com: Performance-enhancing drug risks
Armstrong on Thursday night tweeted for his followers to go to Facts4Lance.com, a site dismissing several doping allegations lodged against Armstrong over the years. Armstrong has always said he never took banned substances. He has never failed a drug test but repeatedly has been accused of using performance-enhancing drugs by other riders.
"Tyler Hamilton is a confessed liar in search of a book deal – and he managed to dupe 60 Minutes, the 'CBS Evening News,' and new anchor Scott Pelley," Armstrong lawyer Mark Fabiani said in a statement. "Most people, though, will see this for exactly what it is: More washed-up cyclists talking trash for cash."
Hamilton, who had previously denied using the substances, said that he and riders took the drugs because they felt they needed to gain an edge.
"(Armstrong) took what we all took ... ," Hamilton told CBS. "There was EPO ... testosterone ... a blood transfusion."
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Contact us | Work for us | Help
I believe hamilton, there is always someone who is willing to look at those who adore him In the eye nd give a bold face lye. Not feeling anything relying on – his white privilege status to hide the truth. Look what he did to his last wife, his character is questionnable anyway...
Give the man a break. His blood and urine have been tested 100's of times with not a trace of performance enhancing drugs. He was and always will be one of the greatest cyclists of all time. Hamilton should be ashamed.
I'm pretty sure that the grand jury disagrees with you.
EPO is easy to detect in blood testing. This is why Hamilton was guilty. He should have been smarter when lying and made up another drug name.
I'm guessing he did.he came up with ca.testicle what do u think that came about?or was it just carma for dumping his wife.either way u get what u give.carma has caught up .
I hope all of the people minimizing the importance of whether Armstrong doped or not are similarly indifferent to the question of whether Barry Bonds, Marion Jones, Sammy Sosa, Ben Johnson, and numerous other athletes doped... unless of course you're hypocrites.
If it's wrong for one, it's wrong for all. It doesn't matter that Armstrong is a cancer survivor. It doesn't matter that you've decided based upon your acceptance of his carefully crafted image that he's a "good guy." It doesn't matter that he brought considerable natural ability to the table. (Barry Bonds was one of the greatest ballplayers to ever play the game before he ever doped at all, even going by the timeline of the "Game of Shadows" guys.)
If doping is wrong, it's wrong, end of story.
I think eventually we'll have to grudgingly head toward the old Saturday Night Live sketch, "The All-Steroids Olympics." There is such a massive amount of doping of various kinds across the entire sports world, and the tests to ferret it out will always be a step or two behind.
I'm not saying everyone dopes, but it's foolish to feel confident that we know with certainty that any ostensibly clean athlete truly is clean.
The sporting world is not clean, it's not pure (except maybe the purity of some of the drugs taken)... if you can enjoy it knowing this, cool... but don't kid yourself about what's going on, not anymore.