Lance Armstrong on Thursday dismissed accusations of doping levelled against him by disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis, who implicated the seven-time Tour de France winner and others in confessing his own cheating.
“It’s our word against his word,” Armstrong told a clutch of reporters in Visalia, California. “I like our word. We like our credibility.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Landis acknowledged his own drug use and accused colleagues in emails he sent to cycling officials and sponsors.
He said Armstrong schooled him in doping techniques, and colluded with an official of the International Cycling Union to have a positive test covered up.
Sports news site ESPN.com said Landis confirmed to them that he had sent the emails admitting the use of performance-enhancing drugs. “I want to clear my conscience,” he said. “I don’t want to be part of the problem anymore.” — AFP
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Injured Lance pulls out of race
Los Angeles, May 21: Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong abandoned the Tour of California after crashing early in the fifth stage on Thursday.
“Sorry to report there was a huge crash,” RadioShack team manager Johan Bruyneel said via Twitter. “Lance had to abandon and is going to the hospital for X-rays.”
Team spokesman Philippe Maertens said Armstrong was evaluated by doctors in the team bus who gave him eight stitches under his left eye, and also had “a severe left elbow contusion”.
He was taken to hospital for precautionary X-rays, which were negative. Armstrong, defending champion and teammate Levi Leipheimer, and Saxo Bank’s Stuart O’Grady were among those involved in the crash, which came as the road narrowed departing the town of Visalia.
— AFP