Lance Armstrong Update: Did Indy Doctors Know He Was Doping?

Two anonymous Indianapolis doctors might have been among the first to learn that the storybook career of cyclist Lance Armstrong was more cautionary tale than legend.

At least, that’s according to a 2006 affidavit from one of Armstrong’s former teammates, Frankie Andreu, delivered to the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Andreu rode with Armstrong from 1992 until 1996, as a member of Motorola’s racing team.

In the 15-page sworn statement, Andreu claims that while visiting an Indianapolis hospital in 1996, Armstrong informed two “men in white coats” that he was on a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs.

Andreu didn’t immediately respond to an email from Indianapolis Monthly requesting an interview to elaborate on the scene he describes in the document:

“A group of us was gathered with Lance at the hospital and two men in white coats, presumably doctors, entered to talk with Lance and began asking questions …. Among the questions asked by one of the doctors was whether Lance had used performance enhancing drugs. Lance responded that he had taken EPO, testosterone, growth hormone, cortisone and steroids.”

The man in charge of Armstrong’s care was Dr. Larry Einhorn, world-renowned oncologist at the IU School of Medicine and personal friend of the cyclist.

Last year, in an exclusive interview, IM asked Einhorn whether he held out hope that doping allegations leveled at Armstrong were false. “I have no way of knowing,” he said.

IM emailed Einhorn in the wake of the recent allegations that Indianapolis doctors knew Armstrong was doping. Was he one of the two doctors noted in the Andreu affidavit?

His two-word reply: “Utter nonsense.”

Photo by Tony Valainis