In a statement on the Discovery Channel website paceline.com the retired
US rider Lance Armstrong attacked Irish writer David Walsh. Walsh latest book, "From Lance to Landis," is
about Armstrong and doping accusations. The book is an English follow-up to his "LA Confidential," published in French
in 2004.
Here is the statement:
A statement from Lance Armstrong:
Predictably, on the eve of the Tour de France, I will be the subject of a
repeated, baseless attack in yet another unobjective book by David Walsh. Trying to jump on the bandwagon of current publicity
surrounding cycling, Walsh now issues a recycled version of two earlier French books that were likewise founded upon a demonstrably
false string of sensational, untrue and fabricated allegations.
This latest attack will be no different than the first two - a sensationalized
attempt to cash in on my name and sully my reputation by people who have demonstrated a consistent failure to adhere to the
most basic journalistic standards or ethics. We proved in Court that Walsh and his sources have no credibility. Walsh bolstered
his first two book’s accusations by knowingly using false, backdated and manufactured diary entries and documents. He
violated fundamental principles by paying his sources for “information”; he then compounded his unethical conduct
by lying and denying those payments until confronted with irrefutable proof to the contrary.
The allegations and sources in the latest book remain just as baseless, unreliable
and manufactured as they were in the first two books. Continuing a pattern of distortion and fabrication started in the other
books, the new book takes recycled allegations from the first books and cherry-picked allegations and testimony from the losing
side of a court case I won and attempts to portray them as facts. I responded in court to these allegations, most of which
are made by a handful of grudge holders, axe grinders, and a so-called “expert” whose graduate degree turned out
to be by way of correspondence courses -- and I proved them false. I was awarded 7.5 Million dollars in actual and punitive
damages by a professional panel of legal experts who received all the evidence and heard from all the “eyewitnesses”.
Every allegation and witness was confronted thoroughly, lawfully and fairly. I was vindicated yet again.
I raced clean. I won clean. I am the most tested athlete in the history of
sports. I have defended myself and my reputation and won every court case to prove I was clean. Yet another Walsh book with
baseless, sensational and rejected allegations will not overcome the truth.
Like most fair minded people, I am sick and tired of those who try to profit
off the tactics of smear and guilt by innuendo or association.
Lance Armstrong
