(1) He said that he never knew or discussed, with his then best friend Kevin Livingstone, that Kevin was going to Michele Ferrari for treatment, or later that he was under investigation as being one of Ferrari's clients.
(2) He said he hadn't any suspicions whatsoever when the Gewiss 1-2-3 occured, eventhough it was the talk of the peleton and the sport, what Ferrari, the Gewiss doctor had said the day after.
(3) In 2004 he said this about the Simeoni incident:
I was protecting the interests of the peloton" to French TV after the stage and continued by saying, "The story of Simeoni is not a fair story...there's a long history there. All (journalists) want to write about is parts of the story. It's a long history...a guy like (Simeoni), all he wants to do is to destroy cycling...and for me, that's not correct. And I when I went back to the group they said 'chapeau'...thank you very much. Because they understand that (cycling) is their job and that they absolutely love it and they're committed to it and don't want somebody within their sport destroying it. So...for me it's no problem to go on the wheel, to follow the wheel."
In 2008 this is what he said:
“First off, I did not chase Simeoni down, I was simply following his wheel. That is the truth of the matter. I never bridged across to Simeoni. He was in front of me, people were attacking, he accelerated, and I stayed on the wheel. We have footage of the race that will back that up. There was never more than bike length between us. There was no gap closed. There’s a big difference between following wheels and closing a gap.” Armstrong said he’d naturally expected the peloton to follow, and was surprised to see that the pair had opened a gap when they reached the day’s breakaway a few kilometers later.
Armstrong also admits it as being one of the biggest mistakes of his career. If he was just 'following the wheel', why is it such a mistake?!!!
(4) There is a witch hunt against me in France.
(5) Le Monde is a tabloid.
(6) Ferrari was used to measure his body fat percentage.
(7) For two weeks he was asked at the Tour de France of 1999, do you have a TUE? The answer was always no. Then a prescription appeared from the forst few days for corticoids.
(8) What’s your VO2 Max?
Today? I’ve no idea.
What was it?
I don’t know.
You don’t know?
I did some tests back when I was 16.
You don’t know your VO2 Max?
I haven’t done a test in a long time.
What was it?
The best I can remember, the low 80s.
What’s the highest haematocrit you ever registered?
Er…I don’t know. Maybe… 45, 46.
Haematocrit is a tricky number. In 2003 I started the Tour at 39. It varies greatly depending on effort the day before, dehydration, altitude.
In the last couple of years I’ve been 47 48. It doesn't mean I’ve been out taking illegal drugs. I think starting the Tour at 39, that’s a compelling number.
Do you have any Therapeutic Use Exemptions?
No. Never have.
Never? What about the cortisone?
Well, obviously there was the cortisone
Do you believe that Floyd Landis doped?
No.
You made a gift to the UCI back in the early 2000s to buy anti-doping equipment. How much was it?
Er…Well, I can get you an exact number. Around 25,000 dollars. This was a long time ago.
Vino hasn’t expressed remorse and denied everything. Do you see that as a problem?
Listen, if he doesn’t believe he did it…
Did you ever put pressure on Trek to discredit Greg Lemond?
No. Discredit him? Or get rid of his line? Neither.
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