Skip to content
Sports
Link copied to clipboard

Former teammate says he doped with Armstrong

NEW YORK - A former teammate of Lance Armstrong has told 60 Minutes that he used performance-enhancing drugs with the seven-time Tour de France winner to cheat in cycling races, including the Tour.

NEW YORK - A former teammate of Lance Armstrong has told 60 Minutes that he used performance-enhancing drugs with the seven-time Tour de France winner to cheat in cycling races, including the Tour.

Tyler Hamilton said Armstrong took a blood-booster called EPO in the 1999 Tour and before the race in 2000 and 2001. Armstrong won the race every year from 1999 to 2005.

The interview with Hamilton was broadcast on The CBS Evening News on Thursday.

Armstrong has steadfastly denied doping and has never failed a drug test.

Federal investigators are probing whether Armstrong and his former U.S. Postal team engaged in a systematic doping program, which he denies.

"I saw [EPO] in his refrigerator. ... I saw him inject it more than one time," Hamilton said, "like we all did. Like I did, many, many times."

Hamilton told 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley: "[Armstrong] took what we all took ... the majority of the peloton," referring to riders in the race. "There was EPO ... testosterone ... a blood transfusion."

EPO is a drug that boosts endurance by increasing the number of red blood cells in the body.

Armstrong's attorney, Mark Fabiani, said Hamilton "just duped The CBS Evening News, 60 Minutes, and Scott Pelley all in one fell swoop.

"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," Fabiani said in a statement.

Hamilton told 60 Minutes that Armstrong told him he did fail a test in 2001 given during the Tour de Suisse. That allegation is said to be part of the federal probe.