Lance Armstrong Ergogenic Aids
Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a (then) record seven consecutive times between 1999 and 2005 before being disqualified from those races and banned from competitive cycling for life for doping offenses by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2012. The USADA report concluded that Armstrong engaged in "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." On October 22, 2012, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the sport's governing body, announced its decision to accept USADA's findings. Armstrong chose not to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and in January 2013 he admitted doping in a television interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey, despite having denied it throughout his career.
For much of his career, Armstrong faced persistent allegations of doping. Armstrong denied all such allegations until January 2013, often claiming that he never had a positive test in approximately 600 drug tests he has taken over his cycling career. Armstrong was criticized for working with controversial trainer Michele Ferrari. Ferrari claimed that he was introduced to Lance by Eddy Merckx in 1995. Tour de France organizer Jean-Marie Leblanc said, "I am not happy the two names are mixed." Following Ferrari's later-overturned conviction for "sporting fraud" and "abuse of the medical profession", Armstrong claimed he suspended his professional relationship with him, saying that he had "zero tolerance for anyone convicted of using or facilitating the use of performance-enhancing drugs" and denying that Ferrari had ever "suggested, prescribed or provided me with any performance-enhancing drugs."
In June 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) accused Armstrong of doping and trafficking of drugs, based on blood samples from 2009 and 2010, and testimonies from witnesses including former teammates. Further, he was accused of putting pressure on teammates to take unauthorized performance-enhancing drugs as well. Armstrong was initially suspended and eventually banned from participating in sports sanctioned by WADA. He chose not to appeal the decision, and publicly admitted to the doping in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013. While admitting in the interview to the things he did, he also said it was absolutely not" true that he was doping in 2009-2010 and that the last time he "crossed the line" was in 2005. He admitted that his drugs program centered on using EPO and some other oxygen-boosting drugs and methods, such as blood transfusions. "My cocktail, so to speak, was EPO, transfusions and testosterone."