Lance Armstrong case: The key players in the affair

Usada said it “has found overwhelming proof that Dr Michele Ferrari facilitated doping for numerous members of the US Postal Service and Discovery.” The report showed that Armstrong had paid more than $1m to a company controlled by the Italian and said that Armstrong had conceded he met Ferrari on a monthly basis. Riders testified that he supervised blood transfusions, EPO injections and the use of testosterone. Ferrari was quoted as saying: “If I were a rider, I would use the products which elude doping controls if they helped to improve my performances.”The team director: Johan BruyneelThe report says: “Lance Armstrong was instrumental in bringing Johan Bruyneel to the US Postal Service.” It adds: “One of the first things the riders noticed was how focused he was on their blood values. He became displeased when he learned a rider was doping without his knowledge. Levi Leipheimer realised this was because doping unsupervised by the team doctor put the team at a higher risk of a positive drug test. The overwhelming evidence is that Bruyneel was intimately involved in all details of the doping programme.”The team doctors: Luis García del Moral and Pedro Celaya“Moral and Bruyneel worked hand-in-hand in implementing the team-wide doping programme on US Postal from 1999 through 2003,” says the report. Christian Vande Velde said he “would run into the room and you would quickly find a needle in your arm”.“Celaya’s affable nature was an asset in helping to convince some young riders to try new drugs,” says the report. Panicked over a possible drug bust and helped flush “’tens of thousands of dollars of doping products down the toilet of the team camper”.The witnesses: Floyd Landis and Tyler HamiltonLandis was Armstrong’s protege: “He gave Floyd the keys to his apartment; Floyd watched over their blood bags while Armstrong was out of town. They shared doping advice from Ferrari and when Floyd needed EPO, Lance shared that too,” says the report. “Armstrong explained how blood doping had become necessary due to the EPO test. He made his apartment available for the first extraction of Floyd’s blood [by] Ferrari.”After testifying to law officials, “Hamilton was physically accosted by Armstrong in a Colorado restaurant. Hamilton has testified that Armstrong said: ‘When you’re on the witness stand, we are going to fucking tear you apart. You are going to look like a fucking idiot.” Hamilton testified that Armstrong also said: ‘I’m going to make your life a living … fucking … hell.’ [They] plainly constitute an act of attempted witness intimidation.”The victims: Filippo Simeone and Christophe BassonsThe report says Armstrong attempted to intimidate Filippo Simeoni, who had testified against Ferrari in Italy. It says that during a stage of the 2004 Tour de France, Armstrong told Simeoni: “You made a mistake when you testified against Ferrari … I can destroy you.” As the pair returned to the peloton from a breakway, Armstrong made what Usada describes as a “taunting ‘zip the lips’ gesture.” Simeoni found himself ostracised from the sport.Christophe Bassons wrote newspaper columns discussing doping during the 1999 Tour, including one in which he said the peloton had been “shocked” by Armstrong’s performance the previous day. The report says that on the stage to Alpe d’Huez, Armstrong “rode up to Bassons and berated him, calling him a disgrace and telling him he should get out of cycling.” Bassons found himself shunned and ostracised, and eventually quit the sport.