butchersapron
Bring back hanging
The French press have been gunning for him for years but i think this is the first really damaging blow they've managed to land. If L'Equipe is correct Armstrong was using EPO as far back as 1999. The tests are unofficial though and so he cannot be disciplined, though the police can taken independent action.
"L'Equipe, whose parent company organises the Tour, alleged that he had taken the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO). It published results of tests done recently on urine samples that had been taken originally in 1999 when Armstrong won his first Tour de France. A test was not available for EPO until 2000. L'Equipe claimed that traces of EPO were found in six of 15 urine samples provided by Armstrong.
[...]
The director of the Tour de France, Jean Marie Leblanc, told the French radio station RTL he felt let down by Armstrong and said L'Equipe's report seemed "very complete, very professional, very meticulous" and that it "appears credible"."
Here
"L'Equipe, whose parent company organises the Tour, alleged that he had taken the banned blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO). It published results of tests done recently on urine samples that had been taken originally in 1999 when Armstrong won his first Tour de France. A test was not available for EPO until 2000. L'Equipe claimed that traces of EPO were found in six of 15 urine samples provided by Armstrong.
[...]
The director of the Tour de France, Jean Marie Leblanc, told the French radio station RTL he felt let down by Armstrong and said L'Equipe's report seemed "very complete, very professional, very meticulous" and that it "appears credible"."
Here
They can stand the fact he's won the event so many times and have a vendetta against him. Doubly so because of what happened to Virenque...the french were pretty shamed by that.
