Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour De France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever

by Reed Albergotti

  The butter code name for EPO: Affidavit of Jonathan Vaughters in the USADA report.

  The 50 percent rule: In a 1/12/13 interview with Vrij Nederland magazine, Verbruggen said that some team directors wanted a stricter approach and preferred 47 percent. But UCI lawyers and other experts advised against that approach, because a section of the population has a naturally higher hematocrit level.

  Advanced warnings of drug tests: Several former riders on the USPS said they would often be told by the team when surprise drug tests were about to happen. Sometimes, the warnings came a day or so in advance. Other times, the warnings gave the team just 15 or 20 minutes to prepare.

  Vaughters run-in with Armstrong during the 1998 Vuelta a España: Vaughters affidavit to USADA.

  Armstrong and Bruyneel meeting at 1998 Vuelta: We Might As Well Win, J. Bruyneel.

  Ferrari’s magic wattage number: Ferrari gave numerous interviews and wrote blog entries for Cycling News during the period he was training Armstrong. He explained his wattage per kilogram methodology, as well “vertical ascent per minute.” These measurements became common terms in the hard-core cycling community.

  Early training in the mountains with Bruyneel: We Might As Well Win, J. Bruyneel.

  The plan to use EPO in the 1999 Tour de France: The Tyler Hamilton affidavit to USADA; interviews with Frankie and Betsy Andreu.

  Celaya’s stinginess with drugs: Jonathan Vaughters affidavit to USADA.

  Celaya’s experimentation with drugs: Several interviews with former USPS riders, and affidavits in the USADA report.

  LeMond’s point of view of the 1999 Tour de France: Interviews with LeMond.

  Betsy Andreu’s concern after the Sestriere stage: Interview with Betsy.

  Giving up EPO in the last week of the 1999 Tour de France: Tyler Hamilton affidavit to USADA.

  The UCI’s pressure to test for corticosteroids: Interview with David Howman of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

  The plan to come up with a backdated prescription for saddle sore cream: Sworn testimony of Emma O’Reilly in SCA case 1/31/06. “Will Thomas Weisel, Who Owns Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Team, Get Charged with Fraud?” Bloomberg Businessweek, 1/15/13. Weisel had “no contemporaneous knowledge” that Armstrong was doping, Weisel’s lawyer said.

  Samuel Abt: Shortly after Armstrong was stripped of his titles by USADA, Abt wrote that he didn’t pursue the doping story because he didn’t view that as his job as a sports writer. “Rip Lance Time,” NYT, 8/26/13.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The post-Tour party in 1999: This scene was pieced together from several articles, videos of the event, and interviews with people in attendance.

  The “Just Do It” commercial: The commercial, which featured Armstrong dispelling rumors that he used performance-enhancing drugs, would come back to bite him—and Nike—after his admission to doping.

  Individual deals, list and value: “Armstrong Rolls to Market Gold,” USA Today, 5/4/00.

  Steve Disson’s departure: Interview with Disson.

  The creation of Tailwind Sports: According to the government’s amended complaint in the Landis whistle-blower suit, the life of Tailwind lasted from June 25, 2002, until December 31, 2007, when it filed a certificate of dissolution with the secretary of state of Delaware. The lawsuit notes, “Delaware law provides for the continuation of corporations for a period of three years after their dissolution, however, for the purpose of prosecuting and defending lawsuits.”

  The perks of being a Tailwind investor: Interviews with Harvey Schiller, Richard Cashin, and other investors.

  The value of the USPS sponsorship deal: According to the government’s amended complaint in the whistle-blower lawsuit, Tailwind collected around $40 million from 1998 to 20004.

  Tiger Williams and his investment: Tailwind Sports, board meeting presentation, 2/1/02; people familiar with his thinking.

  Details of Ochowicz’s management of Verbruggen’s money: Interviews with Ochowicz and a former UCI employee with knowledge of the matter; “New Twist in Armstrong Saga,” WSJ, 1/17/13. Ochowicz, who was hired by Thomas Weisel Partners in 2001, confirmed in an interview that Weisel’s firm managed the Verbruggen brokerage account. “There was no hanky-panky,” he said, adding that Weisel didn’t have “direct access” to Verbruggen’s account. He declined to say how much money was in Verbruggen’s account. He added: “I have no recollection of talking about Hein’s accounts with Thom Weisel.” Ochowicz said he traveled to UCI’s Aigle, Switzerland, headquarters “three times in my life.” Verbruggen and Ochowicz often talked about the investments with Weisel’s firm, according to a person familiar with the meetings. In interviews with us, as well as Dutch magazine Vrij Nederland, Verbruggen said he didn’t personally know Weisel.

  USADA view that the financial relationship was a conflict of interest: Interview in January 2013 with Tygart, who said: “To have the head of the sport, who’s responsible for enforcing anti-doping rules, in business with the owner of the team that won seven straight Tours de France in violation of those rules—it certainly stinks to high heaven, particularly now, given what’s been exposed that happened under [Verbruggen’s] watch.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Hiring of Viatcheslav Ekimov: Ekimov was a star in cycling circles when Gorski was competing in the 1980s and had been a major competitor of Armstrong’s during the Tour DuPont in the 1990s. Armstrong needed veterans like Ekimov around to show the Americans—even him—how the professional circuit worked. Despite Armstrong’s success, he was still very much a guest in a foreign sport.

  The development of the EPO test in 2000: Affidavit of Jonathan Vaughters; interviews with Floyd Landis. Landis explains in his second amended complaint in the whistle-blower lawsuit that “Armstrong also explained to Mr. Landis the evolution of EPO testing and how transfusions were now necessary due to the new test, i.e., EPO could no longer be used during races in large quantities.”

  Kristin’s complicity in the doping: Jonathan Vaughters swore under oath that she knew and even participated in the program. In Landis’s second amended complaint in his whistle-blower suit, the complaint says Lance “gave him a package of 2.5 ml testosterone patches in front of Mr. Armstrong’s wife at the time, Kirsten Armstrong [sic].” Later, the lawsuit says that in September 2003, Landis ran into Lance, Kristin, and their three children in Girona. “Armstrong then handed Mr. Landis a box of EPO in full view of his wife and three children.”

  Encounters with drug testers: Every Second Counts, L. Armstrong. Dialogue according to Armstrong.

  The 2000 blood transfusion: Affidavit of Tyler Hamilton to USADA.

  The 2000 Tour de France: Pieced together from CN live blogs, video of the races, and news articles.

  LeMond’s reaction to the Actovegin controversy: Interview with LeMond. Julien de Vriese has denied having any knowledge of doping on the U.S. Postal team.

  The 2001 EPO test: A person with direct knowledge of the test and an interview with Travis Tygart. Since 2001, the practice of drug testing has changed. Now, every time an athlete tests positive on a laboratory test, the World Anti-Doping Agency is notified independently. In theory, WADA is supposed to keep track of the number of positive tests announced by each signatory, and make sure they match with the numbers reported by the laboratories.

  Steve Whisnant and the Lance Armstrong Foundation: Interviews with Whisnant.

  Mark Gorski’s conversation with Jonathan Vaughters about Actovegin and mad cow disease: Interview with Vaughters. Gorski says he does not remember the phone call.

  E-mails between Haven Hamilton and Betsy Andreu: Andreu mailed her old, broken laptop to us in 2011. In exchange for extracting the data from the hard drive, she allowed us to use information in her e-mail inbox for our reporting.

  Lance’s relationship with John Korioth: Interviews with Korioth.

  Landis’s introduction to the US Postal team: Interviews with Landis.

  The Yellow Rose: Landis described the scene at the
Yellow Rose and party at Stapleton’s office in detail, and his account was corroborated by other riders who were there. “Armstrong had no contact with strippers or cocaine,” his lawyer, Tim Herman, told us in July 2010. “Blood Brothers,” WSJ, 7/2/10.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Landis’s VO2 max test: Interview with Landis.

  Landis training with Armstrong in St. Moritz in summer 2002: Interview with Landis.

  Landis as the chief domestique at the 2002 Dauphiné: Interview with Landis.

  Bruyneel’s role in Landis’s first doping experience: Landis’s second amended complaint in his whistle-blower lawsuit against Lance, Bruyneel, et al. “Mr. Landis was approached by Mr. Bruyneel in his hotel room in Grenoble, France. . . . Armstrong would give him some testosterone patches. . . . ‘Dr. Ferrari’ would help him extract a half liter of blood to be reinfused during the Tour de France.”

  Description of the 2002 Tour de France: CN live blogs and other news stories.

  Floyd Landis: Much of this chapter, at least where it concerns Landis, came from extensive interviews with him in the spring and summer of 2010. Where the facts were contentious, we made efforts to corroborate them with other sources.

  Lance’s suspicious test in the 2001 Tour de Suisse: In an interview, Verbruggen described the test finding as “suspicious.” In his federal whistle-blower lawsuit and USADA affidavit, and an interview, Landis said Armstrong told him the test result was positive. Armstrong and Verbruggen both deny that there was ever a payoff or a cover-up of a positive test. In a 1/12/13 interview with Vrij Nederland magazine, Verbruggen said UCI doctor Mario Zorzoli and Lon Schattenberg, a member of the UCI anti-doping committee, contacted Lance, who immediately tried to bluff his way out. “He said that the test was faulty. He didn’t use doping. The test was shit,” Verbruggen said.

  Lance’s relationships with his mother and J.T. Neal: Interviews with several friends and ex-girlfriends of Armstrong’s and a person familiar with Neal’s thinking; some aspects of Armstrong’s relationship with Neal were covered in Images of a Champion, Armstrong’s book with Graham Watson. In No Mountain High Enough, Armstrong’s mother describes her conversations with Neal about Armstrong.

  Mike Anderson’s relationship with Armstrong: Interview with Anderson.

  Landis’s bike crash: Interview with Landis; Positively False, F. Landis.

  Landis’s surgery: Interview with Landis.

  Blood transfusions in Girona, Spain: Interviews with Landis and the affidavit of George Hincapie to USADA.

  David Walsh’s book: Interviews with Swart, Betsy and Frankie Andreu, O’Reilly, Walsh; and Seven Deadly Sins, D. Walsh.

  E-mails between Andreu and Armstrong in the 2003 Tour de France: Provided by Betsy Andreu, cited in the USADA report.

  The 2003 Tour de France: CN live blog, news clips, and videos.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Armstrong’s meeting with equipment sponsors at the Standard Hotel in 2004: Interview in 2009 with Toshi Corbet.

  Walsh’s call to Andreu: Interviews with the Andreus and e-mails between the Andreus and Armstrong at the time; interview with Walsh.

  Andreu-Armstrong e-mails about the David Walsh book: E-mails were provided to us by the Andreus and later included in the USADA report.

  Emma O’Reilly’s arrangement with David Walsh: Walsh asked O’Reilly to fact-check a 47,000-word transcript and parts of his manuscript. After she spent a considerable amount of time fact-checking, Walsh and his coauthor, Pierre Ballester, agreed to pay O’Reilly a percentage of proceeds from the book, which came out to 5,000 British pounds for the work. In addition, Walsh explained to O’Reilly that if she were sued, she would be provided with legal protection from the publisher.

  The Daniel Coyle book: According to Landis, Coyle eventually fell out of favor with Armstrong, who instructed Landis to stop providing access to Coyle. Landis, however, ignored Armstrong’s prohibition. During his reporting, Coyle became friends with Tyler Hamilton, whose autobiography he would later coauthor.

  Landis’s outburst and subsequent conflict with Bruyneel and Duffy over the bike parts: Interview with Landis and another person who witnessed many of the events. Trek confirmed that it had become concerned about the underground bike sales in Europe. A spokesman for Trek says it was unaware of doping on the team. Its concern about the bike sales pertained to its belief that the sales undermined Trek’s business in Belgium by taking sales away from bike dealerships.

  The Andreu tape recording of Stapleton and Knaggs during the 2004 Tour: A transcript of the audio tape was included in the USADA report.

  Crow’s flight to Belgium for the blood transfusion: A person familiar with the matter.

  Simeoni’s conflict with Armstrong: Simeoni’s affidavit in the USADA report.

  Simeoni’s final-day attack: Live blog on CN.

  Floyd’s conversation with Tiger Williams after the 2004 Tour: Interview with Landis; a person familiar with the matter.

  Landis’s contract negotiations with Lance, Stapleton, and Ochowicz’s involvement with his Phonak negotiation: Interview with Landis in 2010.

  Landis’s magic pill at the 2004 Vuelta: Interview with a rider familiar with the matter and later confirmed by Landis.

  Hamilton’s positive test in 2004: Interviews with people close to Hamilton; The Secret Race, T. Hamilton and D. Coyle.

  SCA and Bob Hamman’s inquiry into doping: Interviews with Bob Hamman and Jeff Tillotson.

  Trek’s response to LeMond and efforts to purchase Merckx bikes: Internal Trek documents made public in the Trek-LeMond lawsuit.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  American riders and their falling-out with Armstrong: Tyler Hamilton’s tension with Armstrong was more personal than professional. Hamilton told people he thought Armstrong was hitting on his wife. Armstrong would later go on a date with Haven after their divorce. Leipheimer and Zabriskie both left US Postal for largely contractual reasons, but Armstrong viewed anyone who left the team as a traitor. Kevin Livingston fell into that category, but had retired.

  Armstrong’s taunt of Landis at the Tour de Georgia: CN and an interview with Landis.

  Zabriskie’s initiation into the doping culture: USADA report.

  Zabriskie’s crash and Armstrong’s refusal to wear yellow: CN live blog, video of the race.

  Hincapie’s stage win: Video of the race, CN live blog.

  Betsy’s relationship with Hamman and the involvement of Stephanie McIlvain: Interview with Andreu in 2013.

  Tillotson’s mind-set during his deposition of Armstrong: Interview with Tillotson, 2013.

  The SCA arbitration and hearings, Betsy’s deposition: Transcripts of the testimony and interviews with Tillotson.

  Vrijman’s relationship with Verbruggen: Verbruggen denies he was friends with Vrijman and says they were merely acquaintances. Paul Scholten, another lawyer who worked with Vrijman on the report, said Verbruggen and Vrijman were friends.

  The Penthouse model at the football game: Interview with Tillotson.

  Andy Rihs’s involvement in the Phonak team’s doping program: Interviews with Landis. In 2010, Rihs denied any knowledge of doping on the team through a spokesman. Rihs said in a July 2011 interview with The Australian: “I still try not to think about it anymore. It is a very sad story. Nobody wanted to believe what happened with Landis.”

  The 2006 Tour de France: Videos of the race, CN live blogs, interviews with Landis.

  Armstrong’s offer of $20,000 to work against Landis: Landis told us this in an interview, and one of Landis’s teammates confirmed that Landis had mentioned it during the 2006 race. However, the riders who Landis says approached him said they did not remember any such offer.

  Armstrong’s call with advice to Landis: Interview with Landis.

  Vaughters early conversations with Landis: Interviews with Landis and Vaughters.

  Landis’s meeting with Ochowicz and the threats of extortion: Interview with Landis in 2010. Landis’s second amended complaint al
so describes the scene. “The two met at Sheryl Crow’s house in California. . . . Landis openly referenced the doping program of the US Postal Service team. . . . Mr. Ochowicz did not express any surprise regarding Mr. Landis’ references to doping on the USPS team, implicitly indicating he already was aware of the fact.”

  The help from Armstrong’s wealthy backers: Interviews with Landis and several of the backers who helped out. Landis claims that many of the backers knew there was rampant doping on the Postal team, but the backers deny any direct knowledge of doping.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Lance’s attempt to purchase the Tour de France: “Lance’s Plan for France,” WSJ, 3/27/09.

  Amaury’s feud with the UCI: Interview with people directly involved in the feud.

  Trek-LeMond lawsuit: “Feud Sends Cycling World Spinning,” WSJ, 6/10/09.

  Armstrong enlisting public strategies: Public Strategies was listed as the creator of a Trek slide show shown to bike dealers that attempted to discredit LeMond. Later, Trek hired Public Strategies to conduct PR work.

  Armstrong’s work with Don Catlin: We attended the announcement of this testing program at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City in 2008.

  The plasticizer plot: Two people familiar with the plan; “Officials Pursued Armstrong for Years,” WSJ, 8/25/12.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Floyd’s admissions to some of his wealthy backers: Interviews with Landis and other people familiar with the matter.

  Landis’s conversation with Steve Johnson in 2008: Interview with Landis. Steve Johnson has said he had no knowledge of doping in the sport prior to Landis’s admission.

  Baker’s alleged hacking: Baker said that he received the documents from an anonymous source. Instead of officially releasing the documents to the media, Baker says he sent the e-mails from an anonymous account he created. The e-mail was easily traced back to his IP address. Baker and Landis were both convicted of hacking in France and handed down a suspended prison sentence.