American Lance Armstrong suffered defeat in London's Court of Appeal on Friday, just five days after his record seventh victory in the Tour de France.

Judges ruled that London's Sunday Times newspaper was entitled to argue that it could print a story containing allegations that Armstrong had taken performance-enhancing drugs. The cyclist has denied taking banned drugs.

The judges agreed with the paper that it was entitled to argue such a story was privileged on the basis it was in the public interest and the newspaper had a duty to publish it.

The Court also ruled that when the case comes to court the paper can argue a number of points which it says justified publication of the story.

The High Court had earlier struck these out, along with the public interest defence.

The Sunday Times had challenged a High Court ruling in December in which a judge rejected its claims that the allegations, which had originally been made in a book, were a matter of public interest and the paper was therefore protected from being sued for libel.