20 avril 2005

Lance Armstrong may have indirectly contributed to the two-year suspension of fellow American Tyler Hamilton.
The six-time Tour de France winner admitted to Eurosport that he'd anonymously contributed a
fair "amount of money" to the world cycling body UCI for research into improving dope testing.

Armstrong's quiet contribution against doping

It was UCI President Hein Verbruggen who first told us of Armstrong's contribution a few years ago :

"He gave money for the research against doping, to discover new anti-doping methods," Verbruggen told us. "He gave money from his private funds, cash. He didn't want this to be known but he did it".

When we quizzed Armstrong, he confirmed Verbruggen's story.

"This is not my position or my modus operandi to advertise what I do," the 33-year old Texan told us.

"So, if I've done money to the UCI to combat doping, step up controls and to fund research, it is not my job to issue a press release. That's a secret thing, because it's the right thing to do."

Armstrong announced his retirement at the end of this year on Monday, the same day that Hamilton's two-year sentence was confirmed for homologous blood doping, i.e. illegal blood transfusions.

The popular rider from Marblehead, Massachusetts, was the first professional cyclist ever to test positive under a new detection method that the UCI helped fund and a part of this money came from Lance Armstrong.

«We all habe to be involved
Armstrong told us of his pain when he saw the sport's name tainted in the 1998 Tour de France doping scandal.

"Doping has existed for ever. It did not start in 1998. It has existed since the first Olympics and probably even before. There was always a way to go faster. And doping will never go away. So this is an ongoing process and an ongoing fight. I think we all have to be involved, either trough our words or actions or funding.

"I am not the type of person that likes to get up and say in the newspaper: 'Our sport is dirty, everybody is cheating.' This is the sport that I love more than anything, the sport that feeds my children. Why would I stand up and say that ?

"There are other avenues to combat doping, versus trashing the sport and its players, and sponsors and spectators. It's been the road that I chose. Maybe I'm right, Maybe I'm wrong, but... "

Both the UCI and Armstrong remain tight-lipped over the amount given by the Texan :

"(Laughter) It was a fair amount. It wasn't.. It wasn't a small amount of money".

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