Cycling's world governing body and one of Lance Armstrong's former teammates have come to the seven-time Tour de France champion's defence following fresh doping allegations.
Tyler Hamilton, another ex-teammate of Armstrong's, claims he saw the American take performance-enhancing drugs during or before the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Tours while with the US Postal team.
But team rider Viatcheslav Ekimov says he never saw Armstrong do any of the things Hamilton described.
The International Cycling Union also denies claims from Hamilton that it helped cover up a positive sample Armstrong submitted at the Tour of Switzerland in 2001.
