21 May 2010

Landis admits to using drugs, accuses others, including Armstrong

7:28 am on 21 May 2010

Disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has confessed to using performance enhancing drugs and accused some of the biggest names in the sport, including Lance Armstrong, of also cheating.

Landis, who was stripped of his win the 2006 Tour de France after failing a doping test, had always protested his innocence but says he's finally decided to come clean.

Landis told ESPN that he wants to clear his conscience, after making his confession in a series of emails.

He says he doesn't want to be part of the problem any more.

In the emails, which Landis says were also distributed to USA Cycling and the International Cycling Union, the UCI, the American provides implicit details of a variety of drugs he had used during his career and who supplied them to him.

He says he witnessed a number of other top riders also using performance enhancing drugs, including his former team mate Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France.

Armstrong has never failed a doping test and has always maintained his innocence despite years of accusations.

He was not immediately available for comment but was expected to face the media after Thursday's fifth stage of the Tour of California.