Support remains for Armstrong

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.

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Purdue tribute for Neil Armstrong

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — Purdue's football team will honor one of the school's most famous graduates, Neil Armstrong, with a new sticker on its helmets.

The decision was announced Monday and comes after coach Danny Hope shared stories of the astronaut following Armstrong's death Aug. 25. Fifth-year receiver Tommie Thomas then requested the team do something to honor the first man to walk on the moon.

Team officials agreed to use the sticker, which bears Armstrong's name and the dates of his birth and death. It will appear on the back of Purdue's old gold helmets just above the American flag starting with this week's game against Notre Dame and will remain there all season.

Armstrong graduated from Purdue in 1955.

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Armstrong, Hamilton in eatery row

New York — A lawyer representing Tyler Hamilton told the ESPN.com on Monday he felt compelled to notify federal authorities about an incident involving his client and fellow cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Hamilton, who has accused the seven-time Tour de France winner of doping, and Armstrong had a conversation in an Aspen, Colorado, restaurant Saturday. Attorney Chris Manderson said Hamilton told him Armstrong made derisive comments, while the restaurant co-owner and friend of Armstrong told ESPN.com: "It was not a big confrontation."

Federal officials are now in their second year of investigating doping in cycling. A Los Angeles-based grand jury is hearing evidence that could lead to charges of fraud, conspiracy and drug trafficking against Armstrong and his team.

"Lance Armstrong is a possible defendant in an investigation that's been widely reported, and Tyler is a probable witness," Manderson told the website.

Armstrong told Outside Magazine the incident was "certainly awkward for both of us" and "truly uneventful."

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Hamilton points finger at Armstrong

NEW YORK — Lance Armstrong's former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, says Armstrong and other team leaders encouraged, promoted and took part in a doping program in an effort to win the Tour de France in 1999 and beyond, according to a report aired Sunday night on the "60 Minutes" television program.

Hamilton said he saw Armstrong take performance-enhancing drugs, EPO and testosterone and also saw him receive a banned blood transfusion in 2000.

"I feel bad that I had to go here and do this," Hamilton said in his first public admission of doping throughout his career. "But I think at end of the day, like I said, long-term, the sport's going to be better for it."

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Report says Hincapie told feds Armstrong used PEDs

NEW YORK — A report by "60 Minutes" says George Hincapie, a longtime member of Lance Armstrong's inner circle, has told federal authorities he saw the seven-time Tour de France winner use performance-enhancing drugs.

Allegations mount: Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been accused by former teammate George Hincapie (left) of using performance-enhancing drugs. AP PHOTO

A segment of the report aired Friday night on the "CBS Evening News," one day after it broadcast an interview with another former member of Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team, Tyler Hamilton, who said he also used PEDs with Armstrong.

Hincapie has often been depicted as one of Armstrong's most loyal teammates and was with him for all seven Tour victories. In an interview last year, Armstrong said Hincapie was "like a brother to me."

Hincapie is among a number of former Armstrong teammates and employees who have appeared before a federal grand jury in Los Angeles investigating doping in cycling. Hamilton said he testified for six hours before the panel.

Armstrong has never tested positive and has steadfastly denied doping.

Using unidentified sources, "60 Minutes" reported that Hincapie testified that he and Armstrong supplied each other with the endurance-boosting substance EPO and discussed having used another banned substance, testosterone, to prepare for races. Citing the ongoing investigation, Hincapie declined to be interviewed by "60 Minutes," which will air its piece on the Armstrong investigation on Sunday night.

Reached at the Tour of California in Solvang, Hincapie said he didn't want to talk about the "60 Minutes" report.

"It's just unfortunate that that's all people want to talk about now," he said. "I'm not going to partake in any cycling-bashing. I have done everything to be the best I can be. . . . I want the focus on the future of the sport, what it's done to clean itself up. I believe in cycling and want to support it."

Later, Hincapie released a statement through his attorney: "I can confirm to you that I never spoke with 60 Minutes. I have no idea where they got their information. As I've said in the past, I continue to be disappointed that people are talking about the past in cycling instead of the future. As for the substance of anything in the 60 Minutes story, I cannot comment on anything relating to the ongoing investigation."

Asked to comment on the newest 60 Minutes report, Armstrong spokesman Mark Fabiani said: "We have no way of knowing what happened in the grand jury and so can't comment on these anonymously sourced reports."

The Hincapie and Hamilton revelations come a year after Floyd Landis, who had his 2006 Tour title stripped for using steroids, turned the focus of the feds' cycling investigation onto Armstrong, claiming he and Armstrong had both used drugs while on the U.S. Postal team.

But while Hamilton and Landis have credibility problems that Armstrong has pointed out — both cyclists denied using drugs for years before changing their story and implicating Armstrong — there aren't nearly as many issues with Hincapie.

The 37-year-old cyclist from New York has no known positive tests. He was on the Postal team even before Armstrong and, once Armstrong joined it, the two were frequent roommates on the road.

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