Not only did Lance Armstrong use banned substances to boost his cycling performance, he helped lead a systematic doping program on his team by encouraging and promoting the deception along with managers and doctors, according to a 60 Minutes report. "He obviously was the biggest rider in the team and he helped to call the shots," said Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate, in an interview last night that expanded on earlier revelations that he saw Armstrong take EPO. The 60 Minutes investigation also examined a report of what close Armstrong friend and former teammate George Hincapie allegedly told a grand jury investigating doping in cycling, reports the AP.
Among the other 60 Minutes accusations:
- Team leaders and doctors supervised blood doping and use of performance-enhancing drugs;
- Doping was going on inside the US Postal team even before Armstrong joined in 1998;
- Armstrong had a banned blood transfusion in 2000;
- Cyclists received their performance-enhancing drugs in white lunch bags;
- Team members were met at the airport, driven to hotels, and told to lie down and give blood that could be transfused back into their bodies at a later date.
Armstrong's lawyer repeated his strong defense of the cycling champ, pointing people to their website,
www.facts4lance.com. "Throughout this entire process, CBS has demonstrated a serious lack of journalistic fairness and has elevated sensationalism over responsibility," said Armstrong's lawyer. (More
Lance Armstrong stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
