BEIJING — Lance Armstrong still has some support among riders in elite cycling despite a damning report by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that detailed testimony from 26 witnesses, including 11 former teammates.Samuel Sanchez, the 2008 Olympic road race champion, said "until the contrary is proved, he remains innocent.""Lance has overcome many controls and even until today he has never been found positive in any of them," the Euskaltel-Euskadi rider said in Spanish in a television interview before Thursday's third stage of the Tour of Beijing."So about all the accusations that have been poured against him, we have to see what is the goal of all of them, whether it is an economic motive or they want to harm his image."We still need to wait to see what's the final decision taken by the UCI (cycling's governing body), and see what it rules," he added. "The UCI has said all the time that it works on today's cycling and not in the cycling of the past."USADA released about 200 pages filled with vivid details of accusations, portraying Armstrong as a man who spared no expense — financially, emotionally or physically — to win the seven Tour de France titles that the anti-doping agency has ordered to be taken away.Meanwhile, five of Armstrong's teammates — George Hincapie, Tom Danielson, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie — have accepted six-month doping suspensions, reduced because they provided evidence that helped the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency make the case to strip Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.
No comments:
Post a Comment