Lance Armstrong Injured in Cycling Crash, Hours After Denying Doping Allegations By Floyd Landis
Tour de France champion says Floyd Landis's claims are a lie.
May 20, 2010— -- Cyclist Lance Armstrong today denied allegations by his former teammate Floyd Landis that he used performance-enhancing drugs, questioning Landis's credibility and motivation in admitting to his own drug use after years of denial.
"We have nothing to hide. We have nothing to run from," Armstrong told a crowd of reporters before riding in stage five of the Tour of California race.
Armstrong was later involved in a crash during the race and was taken to a hospital for X-rays, his coach said.
Armstrong was injured after another rider skidded on gravel and fell. A bloodied Armstrong reportedly tried to return to the race, but then went to a hospital for stitches to his elbow and cheek.
The coincidence of a crash on an already tumultuous day is "typical of everything that surrounds Armstrong," said Bill Strickland, an editor-at-large for Bicycling magazine and author of a forthcoming book on Armstrong. "It's such an opera with the guy," Strickland said.
At the press conference before the accident, Armstrong said Landis was changing his story. "This is a man that's been under oath several times and had a very different version. This is a man that wrote a book that had a completely different version. This is somebody that took, some would say, close to a million dollars from innocent people for his defense under a different premise. And now, when it's all run out, the story changes."
Landis confessed to ESPN.com on Wednesday that he had used performance-enhancing drugs for much of his cycling career, including during his Tour de France win in 2006.
That victory was stripped from him after he was accused and found guilty of doping. Landis maintained his innocence for years following the race, reportedly spending millions to defend his reputation.
As recently as February, Landis publicly denied doping charges in an interview with Larry King, according to a CNN transcript.
In recent weeks, though, he changed his story, sending e-mails to cycling officials in which he admitted to drug use and accused some of the biggest names in the sport, including Armstrong, of doping too, Landis confirmed to ESPN.
Landis told ESPN that he had used drugs including testosterone, human growth hormone, female hormones, and the red blood cell booster erythropoietin. He also said he had done blood doping, receiving transfusions of red blood cells. He claimed that he spent $90,000 per year on such drugs, and, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal, claimed that Armstrong and his longtime coach Johan Bruyneel had helped to introduce him to the doping techniques.
"I want to clear my conscience," Landis told ESPN. "I don't want to be part of the problem anymore."
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