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New book further dents Armstrong's reputation

A new book published today accuses Lance Armstrong of being involved in widespread doping © PA Photos

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The shredding of the reputation of Lance Armstrong continues with the publication today of a book by former US Postal Service team-mate Tyler Hamilton which alleges he was a man who openly used drugs as a short cut to success.

In The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups and Winning at All Costs, published today in the United States, Hamilton states that Armstrong was part of doping on a shocking scale and that attempts by the authorities to stamp out such cheating were so easy to circumvent as to be almost pointless.

Armstrong has repeatedly maintained that he "never doped" and that he has "passed more than 500 drug tests and never failed one". But Hamilton's book says that is not true and explains at length how the authorities were duped.

It includes lurid claims as to how rampant doping in cycling was, how the team avoided testing positive for drugs and how Armstrong used his power to influence and intimidate those who might reveal his secrets.

"Lance worked the system," Hamilton wrote. "Hell, Lance was the system."

Hamilton is one of more than ten former team-mates of Armstrong who have testified under oath about doping in cycling. US federal prosecutors dropped the case, but it was taken up by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which charged Armstrong and five others.

USADA banned Armstrong for life last month and stripped him of his titles, although the UCI, cycling's governing body, is waiting to see the evidence before making its own decision.

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