FORMER LANCE ARMSTRONG teammate David George will have the opportunity to reveal how and when he took the blood-boosting drug EPO and if he used it while racing with the Texan more than a decade ago.
George admitted to using EPO on Tuesday, shortly after the announcement of a positive test by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport.
He was provisionally suspended by Cycling South Africa for failing an out-of-competition test on 29 August and faces a two-year ban, pending a hearing.
Any information George provides will be weighed in deciding his discipline, said Khalid Galant, SAIDS’ chief executive. George cycled on Armstrong’s US Postal Service team in 1999 and 2000.
“He can name people,” Galant said.
SAIDS said it had no evidence against George before his positive result and no authority to question him on events before that. But Galant said the former South African Olympic rider and two-time Commonwealth Games medalist was free to tell how and when he received the drug.
“He can come forward and tell how he received the drug, if there was an infrastructure. We treat that confidentially,” Galant said.
Armstrong was banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles following a report by the US Anti-Doping Agency. Other former Armstrong teammates testified against him in the USADA report, which said Armstrong used steroids, EPO and blood transfusions.
Since the report, the International Olympic Committee is considering whether Armstrong can keep the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Sydney Games.
George said he would not challenge the positive doping test because he knew the B sample result would be the same. He has lost two of his sponsors since admitting to doping. He will have to pay back the $14,500 in prize money from a race he won after he tested positive and his place on the podium will be rescinded, Galant said.
