Lance Armstrong

Past winners of the Tour de France

Video: Lance Armstrong interviews Ted King at the 2009 Giro

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For a race that came within days of being canceled two months ago, the SRAM Tour of the Gila has rebounded in spectacular fashion, now boasting its largest and most star-studded pro fields in history as it begins Wednesday. The race achieved high stature — and the perhaps inevitable resulting controversy — with the appearance of Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, three Astana teammates who, under agreement with the UCI, will race the Gila in the Mellow Johnny's kit of Armstrong's Austin, Texas, bike shop.

International cycling chief Pat McQuaid on Friday defended Lance Armstrong and criticized France's anti-doping authority (AFLD) over its handling of Armstrong's alleged misbehavior at an out-of-competition anti-doping test in France last month. On Thursday the AFLD announced it was pursuing Armstrong for unprofessional behavior, claiming the Texan had violated strict dope-testing rules.

Lance Armstrong's 20-minute shower last month may be getting him into more hot water. The French anti-doping agency, AFLD, said Thursday it may go ahead with disciplinary hearings against Armstrong for allegedly violating international anti-doping rules by leaving a French out-of-competition drug tester cooling his heels while Armstrong took a shower after a training ride. Armstrong has denied misbehaving during a test of his hair, urine and blood and notes that the tests came back negative for any kind of banned substance.

Lance Armstrong said he is outraged at claims from France that he had not behaved himself during an out of competition drug test earlier this season. The French Anti-doping Agency (AFLD) had announced on Monday that they had compiled a report on the seven-time Tour de France champion's behavior while undergoing the test. AFLD president Pierre Bordry revealed that he had sent the report to the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on March 30. He did not reveal the report's contents.

Lance Armstrong crashed hard in Monday’s opening stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y León and was transported by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Palencia, Spain.   Race organizers and the Astana team doctor confirmed that the seven-time Tour de France champion had broken his right collarbone after Armstrong underwent an X-ray at a hospital in the city of Valladolid. “Lance suffered a fracture of the middle third of the right collarbone as well as some bruises on his right hip and arm,” said team doctor Pedro Celaya, who was with Armstrong at the hospital.

Lance Armstrong will publicize the results of the drug tests he has undergone since coming out of retirement last year, he said in Adelaide Saturday. Armstrong will release his recent test results with the support and endorsement of anti-doping scientist Don Catlin, Armstrong said. Later, Armstrong and his Astana team released a press release on the subject.

Lance Armstrong has rejected an offer from France’s anti-doping agency to retest urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France.

France's national anti-doping agency (AFLD) has offered to test allegedly suspect samples taken from Lance Armstrong during the 1999 Tour de France. Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, announced last month that he intends to return to the sport following a three-year absence from the peloton.

Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation. Armstrong, who turns 37 this month, will compete in the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia, the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de France — and will race for neither salary nor bonuses, the sources, who asked to remain anonymous, told VeloNews. Armstrong's manager, Mark Higgins, did not respond to questions. And an Astana spokesman denied the report to The Associated Press.

Former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong issued a harshly worded statement Wednesday on the eve of the publication of a new book reviving claims that the American cyclist was a doper. Armstrong criticized "From Lance to Landis," the latest book by Irish writer David Walsh regarding Armstrong and doping accusations from the Tour de France, an English follow-up to his “LA Confidential,” published in French in 2004. "Predictably, on the eve of the Tour de France, I will be the subject of a repeated, baseless attack in yet another unobjective book," Armstrong said in a statement released

Tour de France champion Floyd Landis, who is fighting to keep his Tour de France title after a positive doping test, charged Thursday that U.S. anti-doping officials offered to go easy on him if he provided evidence incriminating seven-time champ Lance Armstrong. Landis said that Travis Tygart, general counsel for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, approached his attorney, Howard Jacobs, with a deal shortly after learning of the American's positive doping test during the 2006 Tour. "That took place in the first conversation between USADA and my lawyer," Landis said at a press conference in

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong made a stinging reply to the latest put-down by Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc over doping accusations against the American star. Leblanc said Thursday that he felt "disappointed and let down by Armstrong", who retired last July after his seventh consecutive victory in the gruelling stage race across France. Allegations by the French newspaper L'Equipe claimed Armstrong used the banned hormone EPO (erythropoietin) in 1999 during his first Tour triumph, claims Armstrong has denied while the International Cycling Union

Viatcheslav Ekimov is like a good wine, he just keeps getting better with age. Or so he’s hoping after telling Eurosport he’s eyeing a spot on the Russian national team for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. If he scores a spot on the team, Ekimov would be the ripe age of 42. The Discovery Channel rider said he feels like a “25 year old” after his recent comeback from injury. “I going to keep racing because I feel great after coming back from injury,” the Discovery Channel rider told Eurosport at the Criterium of Astana in Kazakhstan. “I am full of enthusiasm and optimism and was

Aigle, Switzerland (AP) - The Union Cycliste Internationale has appointed a Dutch lawyer to conduct an independent investigation into allegations Lance Armstrong tested positive for EPO during the 1999 Tour de France. The cycling body said Thursday that Emile Vrijman and his law firm would “undertake a comprehensive investigation regarding all issues concerning the testing conducted by the French laboratory of urine samples” from the '99 Tour. Vrijman's firm is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and he is a former director of the Netherlands' national anti-doping agency. In

A former doctor with the U.S. Postal Service cycling team has reiterated earlier allegations that he says support claims that American Lance Armstrong used EPO (Erythropoietin) to win his first Tour de France in 1999. Prentice Steffen, a 44-year-old emergency room physician, claims U.S. Postal fired him in 1996 when he refused to administer doping products to certain riders. And although he says he has received threatening phone calls warning him not to speak out from Armstrong, who in recent weeks has been forced to deny reports that he used EPO in 1999, warning him not to speak out,

Former world champion Johan Museeuw Belgium was charged Monday with possession of banned doping substances, Belgian prosecutors said. The 1996 world road race champion was accused of possessing 2000 units of the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) and two other banned performance enhancers. Museeuw was suspected of being at the head of a ring of drug traffickers including a veterinary surgeon and three-time world cyclo-cross champion Mario De Clerq and eight other riders and go-betweens. They are suspected of supplying human growth hormones, stimulants, steroids and testosterone to

The former president of the German Cycling Federation (BDR), Sylvia Schenk, has hit out at the UCI for what she claims is the organization’s willingness to “brush aside” the Lance Armstrong affair. Schenk, who has been at loggerheads with UCI president Hein Verbruggen for the past few months, said cycling's world ruling body is only interested in finding out who leaked information about the alleged positive doping tests of the seven-time Tour de France winner, and not in the case itself. The German official told reporters that Verbruggen is more intent up finding the source of leaks

World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound said Thursday that UCI president Hein Verbruggen was the source of documents linking anonymous urine samples to Lance Armstrong, revealed three weeks ago by the French newspaper L’Equipe. A UCI statement issued late Thursday confirmed that the agency had released a single document to L’Equipe reporter Damien Ressiot, adding that it had done so with the permission of Armstrong himself. Where does the finger point?In conference call with reporters on Thursday, Pound referred to an as-of-yet-unreleased letter from Verbruggen that acknowledges

UCI president Hein Verbruggen said Friday no action would be taken against Lance Armstrong following the recent allegations of doping against the American cyclist. Armstrong, who retired after his seventh consecutive Tour de France victory in July, has been accused of using banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin) by French sports daily L'Equipe in an article two weeks ago which showed details of 1999 drugs tests. Armstrong has vehemently denied the allegations, and said he is prepared to make a comeback from retirement just to spite the French organizers of the world's toughest

09/09/2005: UCI DECLARATION : 1999 Tour de France samples analysisAs we announced on Monday, August 29, 2005, the Union Cycliste Internationale(“UCI”) is undertaking an investigation into the recent press reports fromFrance. The article published by the French newspaper L’Equipe concernedtesting apparently conducted by a French laboratory of urine samples fromthe 1999 Tour de France. Our initial investigation has identified a greatmany issues and we are in the process of gathering the information we need.The UCI is currently unable to express any judgement on these cases, asit does not have

Allegations of doping against seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong appear to be continuing, with a former soigneur from the American's team adding fuel to the scandal which has rocked cycling. Dutchman Ron Jongen, who worked with Armstrong's former team US Postal in 1999 - the year in which it has been alleged he tested positive six times for banned blood booster EPO (Erythropoietin) - claims he witnessed "strange occurrences" during that year's race, which was Armstrong's first victory on the Tour following his recovery from cancer 18 months previously. Jongen

Lance Armstrong has vigorously denied allegations outlined in Tuesday’s edition of the French sports daily L’Equipe charging that the seven-time Tour de France champion used the performance-enhancing drug EPO to help him achieve his first Tour victory in 1999. "Yet again, a European newspaper has reported that I have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs," Armstrong said in a statement on www.lancearmstrong.com.

Lance Armstrong looked around near the summit of the rather anonymous Cat. 2 Col de la Schlucht in the chilly Vosges Mountains and couldn’t find many friendly faces. In the big front group he was with, there were no other Discovery Channel riders. No Chechu, no Triki, no Popo. Not even his 2005 favorite mountain goat, José Azevedo. What the six-time Tour champion did see were lots of riders licking their chops. For the first time in years at the Tour de France, Armstrong was isolated. “It was not a great day. I didn’t feel very good and the other teams did feel good,” said Armstrong, who

The smooth running of this year's Giro d’Italia appeared further assured Thursday after an agreement between the race organizers and the 20 ProTour teams who had been threatening to boycott the season’s first grand tour. Giro organizers had been under threat of a possible boycott of the race, which begins in three weeks time in Reggio de Calabria because of a dispute over appearance fees. According to the professional cycling teams' union, represented by Liberty Seguros boss Manolo Saiz and Quick Step's Patrick Lefevere, agreement with Giro d'Italia director Angelo Zomegnan

His training clothes sodden, his face flushed from riding in two hours of glacial rain, Lance Armstrong burst into the lobby of Tucson's swank Westin La Paloma hotel, dropped off his Trek with a bellhop and, shivering from the cold, asked for his room key. Welcome to "sunny" southern Arizona, the place chosen for this month’s U.S. Postal Service team get-together and sponsor weekend. "That was as cold as my hands have ever been," the Texan said in response to the first question of an interview he extended to VeloNews. Already, the cold ride was a memory. Now, installed on a comfortable