Investigation files reveal claims, Andreu describes them as completely false
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Lance Armstrong rode with Astana when he made his TDU debut(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Lance Armstrong climbs during the 2010 Tour of Flanders.
Lance Armstrong, Frankie Andreu and Alvaro Mejia remember Fabio Casartelli the day after his tragic death.(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Betsy Andreu
Frankie Andreu(Image credit: Toyota United Pro)
The transcript from a recent Lance Armstrong testimony became public Monday following the filing of court documents by the US Federal Government that revealed the former seven-time Tour de France winner claimed his former teammate Frankie Andreu "doped for the majority of his career".
Contacted by USA TODAY for comment, Andreu said the 44-year-old's testimony was "completely false".
Andreu admitted to a limited amount of doping in his career in 2006, having retired in 2000, but raced for the majority "completely clean".
"A lot of riders made bad choices in that time," Andreu told the American news publication. "I raced for a long time completely clean, and then even in the window when I was taking EPO, it wasn't all the time. It was off and on. It was still wrong. I realized that, and I know that."
Armstrong's testimony was part of a pretrial deposition in a US Federal Government whistleblower case brought forward by former teammate Floyd Landis that could see him lose up to $100 million. The transcript published by USA Today relates to Armstrong being asked whether he "owed an apology to Frankie Andreu".
The rift between the two former teammates and Betsy Andreu relates a testimony the Andreu's made in 2005. They have always said they overhead Armstrong admit to doping when asked by a doctor at a hospital room in Indiana in 1996 as he was being treated for cancer. Armstrong has denied the conversation ever took place.
The Armstrong transcript reads:
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"Well, I have apologized to Frankie. Frankie was the first person that I apologized to. But what I said on Twitter was true. We know that to be true. I didn't - - I didn't - - at this point in time, there's no more lies here. That what I said on there, if I -- if I said that Frankie doped for the majority of his career, that -- that is absolutely the truth."
USA Today also reported that Armstrong testified he is a changed man following his "dishonorable" behaviour in part due to travelling the world and apologising to people since his 2012 Oprah Winfrey confession.
Frankie Andreu's wife, Betsy, also spoke to USA Today, stating that they do want an apology from Armstrong but for him to stop "lying".
"I don't know what drives Lance's obsession with us," Betsy Andreu said. "Maybe it's because the truth we told for so many years -- the truth that he fought so hard to suppress -- has been shown to be fact. His attempts at revisionist history is just a continuation of his pattern of deception."
"We don't want his apology anymore. Just stop lying about us... Who you going to believe: a pathological liar or people who have been telling the truth for well over a decade?"
