Hamilton claims he saw Armstrong inject banned drug

Lance Armstrong’s former team-mate Tyler Hamilton claims he saw the embattled seven-time Tour de France winner use banned drug EPO the first year he won the race in 1999, CBS News reported.

Hamilton told “60 Minutes” that he witnessed Armstrong using EPO (erythropoietin), which is designed to increase endurance by boosting production of red blood cells.

“I saw it in his refrigerator,” Hamilton told the American news programme in the interview to air tomorrow.

“I saw him inject it more than one time like we all did, like I did many, many times.”

The programme decided to release excerpts from the show on Thursday.

Armstrong has vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs during his controversial cycling career. He reiterated that stance yesterday using his social networking page Twitter to get his message across.

“20+ year career. 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case,” he said.

Hamilton also tried to debunk Armstrong’s defence of never having failed a drug test. He told “60 Minutes” that Armstrong told him he failed a test 10 years ago at the Tour de Swiss, just prior to competing in the 2001 Tour de France.

Hamilton, who admits using performance-enhancing drugs, retired from cycling in 2009 after a second positive drug test.

He says Armstrong took a blood-booster before the 2000 and 2001 Tour de France races.

Armstrong “took what we all took... the majority of the peloton,” Hamilton told “60 Minutes”.

“There was EPO... testosterone... a blood transfusion.”

Armstrong is the subject of a probe by investigators who are trying to determine if the US Postal team owes much of their success to a systematic doping programme.

The 39-year-old Armstrong retired in February.

He initially retired after the 2005 Tour, but returned to competition in 2009. He finished third in the 2009 Tour and most recently placed 67th in January’s Tour Down Under in Australia.

Hamilton, a gold medallist in cycling from the 2004 Athens Games, is just the latest in a growing list of former team-mates, ex-associates and co-workers to accuse Armstrong of cheating.

In 2010, former team-mate Floyd Landis launched a series of damning allegations against Armstrong, with whom he rode in the US Postal team for several years, claiming Armstrong had used banned substances throughout his career.