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Bloomberg) Lance Armstrong got preferential treatment from officials at cycling’s governing body after failing a test for a performance-enhancing drug in 2001, his former teammate Tyler Hamilton said in a interview with CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” program.
Hamilton, 40, said he saw Armstrong doping on numerous occasions and that the seven-time Tour de France winner and leaders for the U.S. Postal Service cycling team encouraged the use of performance-enhancing substances.
Hamilton, who last week returned the Olympic gold medal he won in 2004, also challenged Armstrong’s assertion that he’s never failed a drug test. Hamilton said Armstrong told him about testing positive for erythropoietin, or EPO, at the Tour of Switzerland in 2001.
“Lance’s people and people from the other side -- I believe from the governing body of the sport -- figured out a way for it to go away,” Hamilton said in the “60 Minutes” interview. ............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-23/lance-armstrong-failed-drug-test-in-2001-tyler-hamilton-tells-60-minutes.html