Lance Armstrong's Teammates Claim He Doped

Michael Stewart/Getty Images(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) -- Eleven of Lance Armstrong's former teammates who helped cycling's greatest champion clinch seven victories at the Tour de France, say they also helped Armstrong use performance enhancing substances, according to a new report by the US U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

According to the USADA, which banned Armstrong for life from professional competition and stripped him of his record-setting Tour titles, the athlete, his coaches and teammates "ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

In a statement released Wednesday, the USADA said its investigators had interviewed 26 people with direct knowledge of Armstrong's doping and would release nearly 1,000 pages of evidence bolstering their claim that the cyclist used performance enhancing drugs.

In a career that spanned two decades, Armstrong underwent more than 500 tests for banned substances and never failed one, proof, he says, that USADA's findings amount to little more than a "witch hunt."

From 1999-2005, Armstrong cruised to victory at the Tour as the premiere rider on the U.S. Postal Service Team. The witnesses who lined up against him read like a Who's Who of American cycling, including Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis, champion riders who were earlier found to be doping.

Responding to the press release previewing USADA's report, Armstrong's attorney Tim Herman called it a "one-sided hatchet job -- a taxpayer funded tabloid piece rehashing old, disproved, unreliable allegations based largely on axe-grinders, serial perjurers, coerced testimony, sweetheart deals and threat-induced stories."

"Ignoring the 500-600 tests Lance Armstrong passed, ignoring all exculpatory evidence, and trying to justify the millions of dollars USADA has spent pursuing one, single athlete for years, USADA has continued its government-funded witch hunt of only Mr. Armstrong, a retired cyclist, in violation of its own rules and due process, in spite of USADA's lack of jurisdiction, in blatant violation of the statute of limitations, and without honoring … national and international rules," Herman said in a statement.

USADA will release the complete findings of their investigation Wednesday.

Many of the teammates who testified against Armstrong never tested positive for doping, but admit now that they used performance enhancing substances.

Armstrong tried to fight the USADA ban in court, but gave up and accepted the sanctions.

International cycling's governing body, the UCI, will soon review USADA findings and decide whether it will implement its own sanctions against Armstrong.

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Lance Armstrong Drops Fight over Doping Charges

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Cycling great Lance Armstrong has decided he will no longer contest charges by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

"There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, 'Enough is enough.' For me, that time is now," Armstrong said Thursday night in a statement.

Armstrong added, "If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA's process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and -- once and for all -- put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance."

Calling the process "one-sided and unfair," Armstrong still maintained his innocence.

"Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims," he said Thursday.

The USADA on Thursday said it has not received direct confirmation from Armstrong that the retired cyclist will cease his fight against the doping charges.  However, the agency's CEO, Travis Tygart, responded to Armstrong's announcement.

"It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and our athletic heroes.  This is a heartbreaking example of how the win-at-all-costs culture of sport, if left unchecked, will overtake fair, safe and honest competition, but for clean athletes, it is a reassuring reminder that there is hope for future generations to compete on a level playing field without the use of performance-enhancing drugs," Tygart said in a statement Thursday.

Armstrong now faces the possibility of being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, as well as a potential lifetime ban from cycling.

The International Cycling Union, the sport's governing body, says it will wait for USADA to explain why the former champion should lose his titles before commenting on the case, according to a statement posted on their website Friday morning.

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Lance Armstrong Suit To Dismiss Doping Case Thrown Out

Michael Stewart/Getty Images(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong faced a stunning and swift blow Monday from a federal judge in Texas who shot down Armstrong's attempt to stop the doping case that threatens his legacy.

Armstrong's legal team filed a federal suit Monday morning in the western district of Texas in an attempt to shut down the U.S. Anti- Doping Agency case against Armstrong.

But by late Monday, Judge Sam Sparks had already rejected the suit in a strongly worded order that said Armstrong appeared to be playing to the media more than to the legal system.

"This Court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong's desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement, or vilification of Defendants, by sifting through eighty mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material relevant to his claims," Sparks wrote in the order.

Armstrong's lawsuit had claimed USADA doesn't have jurisdiction in his case, while also accusing the agency's CEO, Travis Tygart, of waging a personal vendetta against Armstrong.

The stakes in this case are huge for Armstrong and the clock is ticking. If he doesn't respond to doping charges by Saturday -- and ask for an arbitration hearing to fight the accusations -- a lifetime ban will go into place and he could face the loss of his Tour de France titles.

If he does go forward with the proposed hearing, USADA plans to put at least 10 former teammates under oath with detailed allegations that Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs and strongly encouraged others on his team to do the same.

Neither scenario is particularly attractive for Armstrong's legal team, which argues that former teammates have been coerced into testifying against the Tour champ. This lawsuit was an attempt to at least slow the case down, if not to do away with it altogether.

The Armstrong lawsuit called USADA a "kangaroo court." It charged that "the process [USADA] seeks to force upon Lance Armstrong is not a fair process and truth is not its goal." The lawsuit also claimed "Defendants would strip Mr. Armstrong of his livelihood, his seven Tour de France titles and the many other honors he has won."

To this, Sparks wrote: "... the bulk of these paragraphs contain 'allegations' that are wholly irrelevant to Armstrong's claims and which, the Court must presume, were included solely to increase media coverage of this case, and to incite public opinion against Defendants."

The suit was dismissed without prejudice, and Armstrong's lawyers can re-file within 20 days.

Sources close to the investigation say the real goal of the Armstrong claim was to try to bankrupt USADA by tying it up with expensive litigation while at the same time putting the agency on trial.

"This is the route hardcore dopers always take. They play by their own set of rules," said one source.

USADA has dealt with similar litigation with other athletes and expected this move.

Officials wouldn't comment on the Armstrong filing, but issued a brief statement from Tygart, saying in part: "Like previous lawsuits aimed at concealing the truth, this lawsuit is without merit and we are confident the courts will continue to uphold the established rules which provide full constitutional due process and are designed to protect the rights of clean athletes and the integrity of sport."

In the meantime, Armstrong's former team doctors who are also facing USADA charges have mostly remained quiet. They have until Monday night to respond to their own charges or face sanctions that could include a lifetime ban from participating in sport. His longtime coach Johan Bruyneel has asked for an extension and like Armstrong has until Saturday.

Armstrong, who has previously called the charges against him a "vendetta," refused to comment on the case his lawyers filed Monday.

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USADA to Proceed with Doping Charges Against Lance Armstrong

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's review board has decided there is enough evidence to move forward with a case against Lance Armstrong.  The seven-time Tour de France winner is accused of using performance enhancing drugs during his cycling days.

"USADA can confirm that the independent three-person Anti-Doping Review Board (ADRB) has conducted a full evaluation and has made a unanimous recommendation to move forward with the adjudication process in accordance with the rules," said a USADA statement.

Armstrong Friday shot off a response immediately, declaring his innocence and calling the USADA a "kangaroo court." He referred to the allegations as a "complete sham."

"USADA continues to sacrifice the values of fair play which is what, ironically, they claim to be attempting to protect. They have played dirty from the beginning and continue to let [Travis] Tygart carry out his own personal vendetta," Armstrong said in an email to ABC News, directly calling out USADA CEO Travis Tygart. "The American taxpayer continues to fund this kangaroo court yet there's no oversight or adult supervision. It's a complete sham."

While claiming the decision to proceed with the case is a waste of taxpayer funds, Armstrong said the USADA should be monitoring athletes who are preparing for this summer's Olympic games, rather than spending time and resources on him -- an athlete who has since retired from professional cycling.

The USADA said all respondents -- in this case, Armstrong -- have the right to a full hearing where all evidence and testimony can be presented before an independent panel of arbritators who will ultimately decide the outcome of the case.

Armstrong, who has decided to challenge the doping charges, could be stripped of this Tour de France titles if the panel rules against him.

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