Tour de France Floyd Landis Admits Doping; Accuses Lance Armstrong
May 20 2010, Published 10:17 a.m. ET
After years of denials, disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is finally admitting that he did in fact use performance-enhancing drugs --and a bombshell accusation, he's accusing seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of doing the same, RadarOnline.com can report.
Landis was stripped of his crown in 2006 after testing positive for doping. Furthermore, Landis is admitting he used the drugs for the majority of his career, according to the New York Times.
Landis recently sent out several emails to cycling authorities in the U.S and in Europe, confessing to his PED use, the Times reports. One official told the Times that Landis admitted to using the performance-enhancing drugs or methods since 2002, when he got his start racing with the then-United States Postal Service team. At that time, seven-time Tour de France-winning cyclist Lance Armstrong led the cycling squad.
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The Wall Street Journal first reported about the emails, which focus on the PED use by Landis, Armstrong and other members of the team. Landis reportedly named these cyclists as using PEDs:
* Reigning U.S road racing national champion George Hincapie
* Three-time Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer
* Five-time U.S. time trial champ David Zabriskie
He went on to say that doping was a generally accepted practice that, in some cases, was even encouraged by team officials, including Johan Bruyneel, the former U.S. Postal Service Team manager who leads Armstrong's current RadioShack team, the Times reports.
Landis was banned for two years from cycling following his positive test after the 2006 Tour de France.
"I want to clear my conscience," Landis, who races with the lower level OUCH-Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling team, told ESPN.com. "I don't want to be part of the problem any more."
Federal authorities have spoken with Landis in recent weeks about the information in the e-mails, according to two people briefed on the matter, the Times reports.