LONDON — Lance Armstrong paid for a motorcyclist to deliver the banned bloodbooster EPO to him during the 1999 Tour de France, former teammate Tyler Hamilton said in a BBC radio documentary broadcast Monday. American Armstrong, who won the Tour a record seven times from 1999 to 2005, has been stripped of his titles by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which has accused the 41-year-old of being a central figure in an elaborate doping conspiracy. “Yeah in ‘99 we had a motorcycle driver ... we had him follow the Tour around for the better part of three weeks,” said Hamilton, who was one of Armstrong's US Postal teammates from 1998 to 2001. “He'd stay close enough to where we were staying at the hotels to drop off at any key moment. “We knew other people were going to take risks so we were gonna take it too,” added Hamilton who said they put the used syringes into drinks cans before crushing them. “Lance paid him between $15,000-20,000 to do it. Then, as Lance had won the Tour, we would all club together to buy him a Rolex watch. Somewhere out there he's wearing a gold Rolex watch.” Hamilton, who was stripped of the 2004 Olympic time trial gold medal, gave evidence to the USADA inquiry which published its findings in a report last week and concluded Armstrong was one of the ringleaders in US Postal's sophisticated doping scheme. Armstrong has always denied taking banned substances but decided not to challenge the USADA charges. The American's team manager during his Tour wins, Johan Bruyneel, is among four other people accused of doping violations by USADA. Bruyneel is contesting the case. Armstrong's former soigneur (masseuse and assistant) at US Postal Emma O'Reilly, who also gave evidence to USADA, also told the BBC how she once drove from France to Spain to pick up some tablets for Armstrong. In 2003, O'Reilly spoke to journalist David Walsh about doping for a book on Armstrong co-authored with Pierre Ballester. Armstrong sued her for libel. “Afterwards, oh my, I've never felt more hunted in my whole life,” said O'Reilly. “There were lawsuits that affected not just me but other people, like my boyfriend. The libel laws protected him, the rich, while I was dragged through the courts. I knew Lance was bullying me, and all I was trying to do was clean up the sport.” British rider David Millar, banned for two years in 2004 for doping, said he was confident cycling had changed for the better. Australia wants tougher anti-doping body Australian Olympic chief John Coates Tuesday renewed his calls for the nation's anti-doping body to have the right to compel witnesses to give evidence as it probes doping in cycling. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) said Monday it will launch an investigation after former Olympic cyclist Matt White admitted involvement in the Lance Armstrong doping conspiracy. In a letter to Sport Minister Kate Lundy sent Tuesday, Coates welcomed her recent comments affirming ASADA's commitment to protecting athletes' health and the integrity of Australian sport through the elimination of doping. “I suggest that the government should again consider strengthening ASADA's powers to investigate allegations of doping practices by including the power to compel witnesses to attend and give evidence and to produce documents relevant to such investigations,” he wrote. Coates said he could not comment on a report released last week by the USADA on Armstrong “given my positions as President of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport and Court of Arbitration for Sport which hears all appeals under the World Anti-Doping Code.” — Agencies
