Lance Armstrong’s former physician denies all doping allegations

Michele Ferrari, Lance Armstrong’s former physician, denied accusations that he led a doping ring that included the seven-time Tour de France champion.

Ferrari’s statement, released on his website, also attempts to discredit six key witnesses against Armstrong: Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton, Christian Vande Velde, George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer and Tom Danielson.

“The false accusations that the six cyclists mentioned threw at me are ALL based on ‘visual’ testimonies of each of the six witnesses telling of events that concerned only me (‘Dr Ferrari’) and the ‘witness’ himself,” Ferrari said. “They NEVER evoke the presence of another witness, whether between the six above, or other persons who may corroborate the veracity of their claims.

“An exception is the declaration of Landis when he says: ‘George Hincapie also had blood drawn by Dr. Ferrari in my presence.’ Too bad that Hincapie, in his affidavit, makes no reference to this serious charge.”

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Ferrari also says USADA’s 200-page report chronicling alleged doping by Armstrong and his cycling team report does not hold up to scrutiny.

“In support of these allegations against me, the massive “USADA Dossier” does not contain ANY objective evidence of doping practices or conducts in Armstrong’s past teams.”

USADA’s report also lists more than $1 million in payments from Armstrong to Ferrari from 1996 to 2006, including payments of at least $210,000 in the two years after Armstrong claimed to have cut ties with the doctor.

“The dossier documented payments of Lance Armstrong to Health & Performance SA, a company for which I worked as a consultant, in 2005 and 2006: simply, those are delayed payments for consultancy in previous years,” Ferrari said.

“As clearly demonstrated in Exhibit A by Jack Robertson, this collaboration consisted exclusively of advice on training, saddle height adjustments, aerodynamic positioning, locations for training programs and competitions: NOTHING to do with doping.”

Ferrari is currently under investigation for criminal charges in Italy, where doping is a crime. He remains barred for life by the Italian Cycling Federation under a 2002 ruling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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