Lance Armstrong vs Tyler Hamilton on EPO Drug Issue

Lance Armstrong denied all allegations made by ex-teammate Tyler Hamilton that he used a blood-booster called EPO in the 1999 Tour and before the race in 2000 and 2001. Hamilton told CBS 60 Minutes “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.”

Armstrong’s attorney Mark Fabiani dismissed the “60 Minutes” report. “Hamilton is actively seeking to make money by writing a book, and now he has completely changed the story he has always told before so that he could get himself on ’60 Minutes’ and increase his chances with publishers. But greed and a hunger for publicity cannot change the facts: Lance Armstrong is the most tested athlete in the history of sports: He has passed nearly 500 tests over twenty years of competition.”

Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, answered by with a tweet: “20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case.”

EPO is a drug that boosts endurance by increasing the number of red blood cells in the body. Federal authorities are investigating whether Armstrong and his former U.S. Postal team did participate in a systematic doping program.