How can one trust someone willing to throw away an Olympic Gold medal ?

Clearly Tyler has a hidden agenda here. PS - Is Radio Shack selling
Grubers yet or just the batteries to power them?

LONDON (AP) -- In the wake of fresh doping allegations against Lance
Armstrong, cycling's world governing body and one of his former
teammates came to the defense of the seven-time Tour de France
champion on Monday.

Tyler Hamilton, another ex-teammate of Armstrong, says he witnessed
the American take performance-enhancing drugs before or during the
1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours while with the U.S. Postal team.

However, team rider Viatcheslav Ekimov says he never saw Armstrong do
any of the things Hamilton described. (Anton's full disclosu:
neither did I )

The International Cycling Union also denied claims from Hamilton that
it helped cover up a positive sample submitted by Armstrong at the
Tour de Suisse in 2001.

"The UCI is deeply shocked by the seriousness of the allegations made
on the '60 Minutes' program aired by U.S. television network CBS," the
organization said in a statement. "The allegations of Mr. Tyler
Hamilton are completely unfounded."

Ekimov, who rode with Armstrong as he won the Tour from 2000-05 and is
now RadioShack's team manager, referred to Hamilton as a "liar" and
suggested he has ulterior motives in making his revelations now. (he
wants to give away his gold medal and lose all of his friends!
Clearly his motive!)

"Behind his story is something," Ekimov said. "First of all, it's
untrue.(he was always by Lance's side) And behind his story is some
money or some stimulation. Because why did this guy just crack now?
Why didn't he do it in 2005? ... I call these guys liars. First they
lie about the innocence, now they lie about something else.

"I think it's just money. It seems to me like somebody really wants to
kill Lance and put him down. There's all this interest to find people
who will say something."

Hamilton twice has been banned for doping. Armstrong has denied doping
and has never tested positive. (the man the myth)

Hamilton said Armstrong told him of a positive sample he submitted in
2001, claiming the Texan made a deal with the UCI and they "figured
out a way for it to go away."

But the UCI "categorically rejected" the accusation, insisting it had
"never altered or hidden the results of a positive test." The
organization also said Armstrong had never been notified of a positive
finding.

"The UCI can only express its indignation at this latest attempt to
damage the image of cycling by a cyclist who has not hesitated to
abuse the trust of all followers of cycling on several occasions in
the past," the statement said.

"The UCI can only confirm that Lance Armstrong has never been notified
of a positive test result by any anti-doping laboratory. ... Once
again, the UCI wishes to state that no manipulation or cover up has
occurred in respect of its anti-doping procedures."

CBS' "60 Minutes" also reported UCI officials helped arrange a meeting
involving Armstrong and the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited
laboratory at Lausanne which tested the Swiss race samples.

The UCI and its former president Hein Verbruggen, whose 14-year spell
in office ended in 2005, denied such a meeting took place.

"There has never, ever been a cover-up. Not in the Tour de Suisse, not
in the Tour de France," Verbruggen said. "I don't know anything about
suspicious tests. I was not aware of that."

The UCI has said the 2001 Swiss race was clear of doping, and denied
suggestions Armstrong gave it money for covering up a failed test.

Armstrong donated $25,000 in 2002 for the Swiss-based organization's
anti-doping program and $100,000 in 2005 for the purchase of a Sysmex
machine used for analyzing blood.

(folks $125k is pocket change, let's see what the Swiss tax
authorities - is there even such a thing? tell us about the finances
and holdings of UCI primes)

Tour de Suisse spokesman Rolf Huser said organizers knew nothing about
the race test results, which are conducted by cycling federations and
anti-doping agencies.

"We are never in the loop about doping controls. We have to be
neutral," Huser said. "We can't say anything about these rumors from
2001. We had the (race) results and everything was OK."

Hamilton's claim regarding the Tour de Suisse was previously made by
Floyd Landis, another rider who denied doping during his career before
later admitting to using banned substances.

Verbruggen and his successor as UCI president, Pat McQuaid, are suing
Landis in a Swiss court for saying the governing body protected star
riders from doping allegations.

In a separate development on Monday, Italian police carried out a
search on the hotel of the RadioShack team currently competing in the
Giro d'Italia.

RadioShack team physician Nino Danieli told the Cycling News web site
that police questioned him and searched the team vehicles but he
signed a police statement saying nothing of interest was found.
(grubers and fleshlights)

The RadioShack team is backed by Armstrong and has the same management
in place as during his Tour de France victories with U.S. Postal
(later renamed Discovery Channel). Armstrong rode for RadioShack until
he retired this year.

It was unclear if the search was related to the ongoing investigation
into Michele Ferrari, a banned Italian physician who was once Lance
Armstrong's training adviser.

Read mo http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1NEJUBaWv