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U.S. antidoping authorities issued a blistering report Wednesday accusing seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong of creature at the median of "a massive team doping contrive more nationwide than any previously revealed in professional sports history."

The 202-page report, which includes current testimony from 11 former teammates of Mr. Armstrong,namely the culmination of a yearslong and highly contentious investigation into professional cycling and the methods back the success of an its greatest teams.

The report was issued by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in support of its decision in August to ban Mr. Armstrong from competition for life and strip him of his titles. It cited testimony from former teammates of Mr. Armstrong on the U.S. Postal Service cycling crew including George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie. All of those riders have quickly admitted catching banned substances.

Mr. Hincapie, Mr. Armstrong's approximate friend and teammate during entire of his Tour de France wins, broke his lull on the matter Wednesday, issuing a statement in which he confessed to doping and acknowledged providing testimony to investigators.

Fellow Armstrong teammate Mr. Leipheimer, in a letter to The Wall Street Journal,too admitted doping for the 1st duration

He said that the culture of doping was so ingrained in cycling during his phase that he believed it to be "a sport where doping was so accepted that riders from vary teams—who were competitors aboard the road—coordinated their doping to reserve up with other riders act the same entity"

Mr. Armstrong, who couldn't be reached for elucidate aboard Wednesday, has steadfastly denied doping during his calling His attorney Tim Herman criticized the report, saying, "USADA has continued its administration funded hag hound of only Mr. Armstrong, a elderly cyclist, in violation of its own rules and deserving process."

The report laid out guarantee for what USADA said was a vast network of organized doping orchestrated by Mr. Armstrong and a handful of associates. It said that Mr. Armstrong "acted with the help of a small army of enablers, including doping doctors,narcotic smugglers, and others in and outdoor the sport and on his crew

However, the certify namely too explicit that Mr. Armstrong had ultimate control over never only his own personal drug use, which was nationwide,but too over the doping civilization of his team"

"It was insufficient that his teammates give maximum effort aboard the bicycle he also important that they adhere to the doping agenda outlined as them alternatively be replaced," the report said.

After Mr. Armstrong was banned from the sport in August, cycling's international governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, asked USADA for an explanation of the charges against him.

The resulting report, said USADA Chief Executive Travis Tygart,is meant to shed light aboard doping and, ultimately, to correction the sport's civilization"We have heard from many athletes who have faced an unfair dilemma—dope,or don't contend at the highest levels of the sport," he said.

The report and supplement affidavits are filled with stories nearly alleged interactions between Mr. Armstrong, his teammates,team doctors and former troop guide Johan Bruyneel nearly using banned methods for boosting performance. Mr. Bruyneel, who was formally charged by USADA in June as allegedly facilitating doping, didn't immediately respond to an email seeking elucidate His attorney has formerly declined to annotate

The report describes an alleged encounter among Mr. Vaughters, a teammate of Mr. Armstrong,an evening in Mr. Armstrong's motel room in Spain during the 1998 season. According to the report, which cites Mr. Vaughters's affidavit, Mr. Vaughters watched as Mr. Armstrong "injected himself in front of Vaughters with a syringe accustom as EPO injections, saying 'Now that you are perform EPO also you can't go jot a paperback virtually it.' From that point forward, Armstrong was open with Vaughters almost his use of EPO." The use of EPO, which boosts the digit of red-blood cells,is banned in cycling and most other sports.

Mr. Armstrong's attorney asserted Wednesday that his customer has passed 500 to 600 analgesic tests over the lesson of his career.

The report,whatever cited what it said was a great many tactics used by the riders to foil the French police and analgesic testers, such as burying drugs in the woods to hide them from police, dumping drugs off a ferry and texting one afresh to warn of surprise visits from analgesic testers.

The report also said that the riders injected EPO into their veins instead of their peel so that the anesthetic would depart their bodies faster,Kate Spade Outlet, reducing the possibility of a affirmative test. Some EPO users, it said, diluted their blood with saline injections to mask the effects of EPO from testers drawing blood samples.

It alleged that riders were advised at the crew coach Mr. Bruyneel, to never answer the door whether a tester showed up after they had acclimate EPO.

The report contained current allegations about the relationship between Mr. Armstrong and Michele Ferrari, an Italian doctor whose assign had surfaced in some of cycling's most notorious doping cases barely who remained a fixture nearly Armstrong-led teams as years.

Dr. Ferrari was formally accused at USADA in June of engaging in an a doping conspiracy aimed along ensuring the Postal crew would conquer the Tour de France.

The report cites bank records that it says show that Mr. Armstrong was still connected with Dr. Ferrari after he said publicly in October 2004 that he had severed the relationship.

The report said that bank records show that payments from Mr. Armstrong to Dr. Ferrari's Swiss company, starting in 1996 and most recently in 2006,exceed $1 million. Dario Bolognesi, Dr. Ferrari's solicitor declined to annotate saying he needed phase to review the report.

Mr. Vande Velde,repeatedly teammate, said in an affidavit that Mr. Armstrong criticized him for not following Dr. Ferrari's agenda Mr. Vande Velde said the conversation left him certain that the only access to flee Armstrong's doghouse was to obtain entirely aboard embark the doping agenda

The USADA report said Mr. Armstrong attempted to intimidate former teammates and latent witnesses in the associated allied culprit investigation, which was dropped earlier this year

In an affidavit, Mr. Hincapie,quickly aged said that in July 2010, during the Tour de France, Mr. Armstrong suggested to him that he stay in Europe "a micro longer" and to avoid testifying at all times I could."

Former U.S. Postal rider Michael Barry said in his affidavit that Mr. Armstrong emailed him to ask him whether he would allege that there was not systematic doping aboard the U.S. Postal Team. Mr. Barry, who said in his affidavit that there was systematic doping on the troop said he told Mr. Armstrong to contact his lawyer

Mr. Leipheimer said in his affidavit that he learned from his agent that his contract wouldn't be renewed on Mr. Armstrong's Radio Shack crew because Mr. Leipheimer had testified in the allied investigation.
Ashby Jones, Jared Diamond, Kevin Clark, Scott Cacciola and Stacy Meichtry contributed to this anecdote.
Write to Reed Albergotti at

A version of this anecdote appeared October eleven 2012,aboard sheet A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal,Bottega Veneta Prix, with the headline: Drug Case Against Armstrong Detailed.

The report impartial includes other appendices that in edge comprise an affidavit from George Hincapie. As formerly excellent Hincapie was closer to Armstrong than anyone, and has not oral publicly before His testimony,as many,is the most pivotal.

Here are excerpts:

Around this duration we got crushed in the Milan-San Remo race and coming family from the contest Lance Armstrong was quite upset. As we drove home lance said, in substance, that, "this is ox shit,folk are using material and "we are getting killed." He said, in substance, that he did not deficiency to get crushed any more and something needed to be done. I understood that he meant the troop needed to get on EPO. [...]

Our performance began to improve Lance started to do better. [X] did quite well along the Vuelta a Espana. We all routinely acknowledged that the improvements came nearly amongst use of EPO. [...]

I understood that at 1996 Lance had also begun working with Dr. Ferrari,Sacs Chanel Pas Cher. [...]

I was generally aware that Lance was using testosterone throughout the period we were teammates. For instance at a race in Spain in 2000 Lance indicated to me he had taken testosterone. Lance told me that he was consciousness comely and recovered, that he had just taken some fuel When I heard that narcotic testing officials were by the hotel I texted Lance to warn him to avoid the district As a result Lance dropped out of the marathon [...]

Lance told me that he stopped using hGH afterward his cancer. I understand,whatever that he acclimate hGH onward he contracted cancer. [...]

I was conscious that Lance Armstrong was using EPO in 1999. [...]

In 2000 while on a education ride I asked Lance Armstrong nearly Dr. Michele Ferrari. I felt that I had been putting in a great handle of go merely not getting the results that I ought have been skillful to accomplish Lance told me that he would contact Dr. Ferrarri aboard my benefit [...]

I spoke with Lance in 2001 about opening aboard the blood doping programme [...]

In 2003 Lance Armstrong contacted me almost needing to do something private by my apartment in Girona for he had guests by his apartment. I agreed and Lance came to my apartment with Dr. del Moral. Lance and Dr. Del Moral went into my bedroom and Dr. Del MOral was carrying what I thought was a blood sack He asked to borrow a coat hanger and Lance and Dr. Del Moral closed the door back them. They were in the room virtually 45 minutes to an hour which is about the phase it generally takes to re-infuse a sack of blood. I know from experience that when blood is re-infused a common practice is to tape the blood bag to a coat hanger and hang the hanger on the wall to facilitate transfer of the blood into the vein Although we did never dispute the incident I believed that Dr. Del Moral was re-infusing blood for Lance as Dr. Del Moral had followed a alike agenda while re-infusing my blood on prior occasions.
Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (R) namely pictured with former team mate George Hincapie in this data photo from May 20, 2010 in Visalia, California by the Tour of California. Photograph: Anthone Bolante/Reuters