Lance Armstrong Maintains Innocence in Face of New Drug Charges

According to a letter sent this week to Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France champion is facing new charges from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that threaten to strip him of those titles.

The 15-page document, obtained by The Washington Post, says the USDA took blood samples from Armstrong in 2009 and 2010 that were tested and proved to be “fully consistent with blood ma­nipu­la­tion including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.”

In accordance with these charges, Armstrong is currently barred from triathlon competition, a sport he took up not long after retiring from cycling in 2011.

In a statement released by his publicist, Armstrong says:

“I have never doped, and, unlike many of my accusers, I have competed as an endurance athlete for 25 years with no spike in performance, passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one. That USADA ignores this fundamental distinction and charges me instead of the admitted dopers says far more about USADA, its lack of fairness and this vendetta than it does about my guilt or innocence. Any fair consideration of these allegations has and will continue to vindicate me.”

The letter in question names "more than 10 cyclists" as having "firsthand knowledge" of "long running doping conspiracy" involving Armstrong and a quintet of former cycling team associates.

Of course, even if these allegations are proven true, they wouldn't be the most embarrassing facts about the star athlete to come out. He did once date Ashley Olsen, after all.

Do you think Lance Armstrong took performance enhancing drugs?

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