Friday, 29 June 2012:

Lance Armstrong's legal team says Floyd Landis and Tyler Hamilton, former Armstrong teammates who have admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, are part of the US Anti-Doping Agency's efforts to prove the cyclist doped during his record-setting career.

A letter sent from Armstrong's attorneys to USADA on Wednesday says the agency's alleged evidence against Armstrong includes previously disclosed Landis emails and Hamilton's 2011 interview with "60 Minutes." Both men accused Armstrong of doping.

Armstrong says he's innocent and stresses that he's passed more than 500 drugs tests. USADA has said at least 10 former Armstrong teammates and associates will testify against him. The agency has said it would keep their names confidential to protect them from intimidation.

The letter was the first mention of specific names behind the allegations that Armstrong cheated while winning the Tour de France every year from 1999-2005.

In 2010, Landis wrote an email to USA Cycling chief Steve Johnson alleging he participated with Armstrong in a complex doping scheme when they were teammates. Hamilton's interview with "60 Minutes" aired in May 2011 during a federal criminal investigation into doping allegations against Armstrong. The two-year probe ended in February with no charges filed.

USADA's case against Armstrong is now before an agency review board to determine if there's enough evidence to charge him with violations that could result in a lifetime ban from the sport and strip him of his titles. Armstrong, 40, retired from cycling in 2011.

If USADA files charges, the case goes to an arbitration panel to determine Armstrong's guilt.

AAP