BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong crashed out of the Amgen Tour of California in a bloody heap not long after the peloton left the central farming town of Visalia on Thursday, a day that began amid a media swarm as he rejected accusations by disgraced former teammate Floyd Landis that he had used performance-enhancing drugs and was involved in blood doping during his years as the world's leading cyclist.
Reports from the road said Armstrong and RadioShack teammate and three-time defending Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer were involved in the crash with riders from at least four other teams. Most of the other riders got up and returned to the peloton as it moved toward Bakersfield, but Armstrong and veteran Stuart O'Grady from Team Saxo Bank quit the race and went to a local hospital.
RadioShack team director Johan Bruyneel said via Twitter that Armstrong had scrapes and bruises and was taken to a local hospital for x-rays. Photos from the scene showed blood running from a cut under Armstrong's eye when he was helped from the ground and put in a RadioShack team car.
The cycling community that had gathered in Visalia for Stage 5 of the Tour of California was stunned by the allegations made by Landis, who lost his own 2006 Tour de France title because of a failed doping test and was subsequently banned for two years despite his persistent denials of wrongdoing.
In a story published online late Wednesday night by the Wall Street Journal, Landis not only admitted his own use of performance-enhancing drugs during races but said he had sent e-mails to cycling and anti-doping officials detailing how fellow American riders Armstrong, Leipheimer, U.S. road racing champion George Hincapie and current Tour of California leader Dave Zabriskie schemed to engage in blood doping.
Armstrong, who last won the Tour de France in 2005 and returned to competitive cycling last year after a three-year retirement, denied ever having been involved in doping or using performance-enhancing drugs.
"I have nothing to hide," Armstrong said at a hastily called news conference prior to the start of Thursday's competition. "I think history speaks for itself here."
"I would say I'm surprised, but I'm not," he said, adding that he and Landis had exchanged e-mail and text messages for nearly two years and that in the last month those messages had "reached a fever pitch."
"He has no proof," Armstrong said. "It's just our word against his, and we like our word. We like where we stand."
As the Team RadioShack bus pulled into the staging area before the start of Stage 5, a crowd of reporters mixed with supporters closed in. He and Bruyneel, a longtime Armstrong coach whom Landis claims taught the ins and outs of blood doping, were greeted by cheers. Some people held signs of support: "Lance for President" and "Floyd Landis cheats."
"Floyd needs help," Bruyneel said. "I can only speak for myself. I completely deny the allegations. The ones against me are categorically false. What kind of credibility does Floyd have after telling another story for four years."
Leipheimer, meantime, stepped off the bus, hopped on his bike and ignored shouts from reporters as he pedaled to the start line.
Jonathan Vaughters, manager for Zabriskie's Garmin-Transitions team said, "I don't have much to say right now. Dave just wants to keep racing this race."
Even before Armstrong crashed four miles into the 121.5-mile stage, Landis' charges had cast a pall over the Tour of California, although Andrew Messick of tour sponsor AEG was eager to get on with Thursday's stage.
"We don't know what to believe," he said. "These are incredibly serious allegations against people who are riding our race. And it seems there is no real evidence in these allegations. We are awaiting something we can react to, other than an accusation by somebody who clearly has an agenda in this whole thing."
Asked to comment on the timing of Landis' announcement, Messick said, "I can't comment on Floyd's motives. It's inappropriate to do so.
"We have a race to run, a good one, and what we know now is that we have a clean race," he said, adding that the Tour of California employs the most advanced testing approved by the World Anti-Doping and U.S. Anti-Doping agencies.
Landis told the Journal and later ESPN that he had sent e-mails to the USA Cycling Federation and the International Cycling Union, among others, detailing the allegations against his former teammates.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that federal officials had talked with Landis in the last few weeks about his allegations.
In those e-mails, one of which was seen and confirmed by The Times, Landis detailed extensive, consistent use of the red-blood-cell booster erythropoietin (commonly known as EPO), testosterone, human growth hormone and frequent blood transfusions.
Landis claims he first used EPO in 2003 while riding for Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team in the Tour of Spain. He also claimed he obtained the drug directly from Armstrong and that he started using HGH that he bought from a team trainer during that same period. When Landis won the Tour de France in 2006, he was riding for the Swiss-based Phonak team, and accused that team's manager, Andy Rihs, of helping the riders use performance-enhancing drugs.
Repeated attempts to reach Landis went unanswered.
Rihs, who now owns Hincapie's BMC Racing team, denied the allegation.
"Neither I nor the management of the team knew that Floyd Landis was doped," he said.
Meanwhile, the International Cycling Union (UCI) rejected all of Landis' accusations, in particular, it said, an allegation that Armstrong had tested positive during the 2002 Tour of Switzerland but that Armstrong, Bruyneel and former UCI President Hein Verbruggen conspired to keep that test result secret.
"Deeply shocked by the gravity of this statement," the UCI said, "which considerably impinges on the honour of all persons who have dedicated themselves to the fight against doping, the UCI wishes to clearly state that it has never changed or concealed a positive test result.
"The accusation by Mr. Floyd Landis, guilty himself of a breach of the Anti-Doping Rules in 2006, is thus completely unfounded and the UCI can only express its outrage at this new attempt to harm the image of cycling. Our sport has long paid a heavy price for the fraudulent behaviour of individuals such as Floyd Landis and we cannot accept the principles governing our work being challenged in terms of their ethics and honesty by a person who has not hesitated to breach such principles.
"... The UCI would like to point out that Lance Armstrong did not participate in the 2002 Tour of Switzerland."
Pat McQuaid, president of the UCI, reiterated this in a phone interview Thursday.
"This is a sad situation. Mr. Landis has already been condemned in court. I don't accept anything he says as true. He has an agenda and seems to be out for revenge." McQuaid confirmed he was one of the people who received the e-mails from Floyd.
USA Cycling, meanwhile, reiterated its zero tolerance for doping.
"In accordance with the World Anti-Doping Agency's Code of Athlete's Rights, USA Cycling does not and will not discuss doping allegations, investigations or any aspect of an adjudication process," USA Cycling Chief Executive Steve Johnson said in a statement. "There are many accusations being circulated, and we are confident these will be thoroughly investigated by the appropriate authorities. Cycling is the most aggressive sport in the fight against doping, with some of the most diverse and innovative monitoring and testing programs, including in- and out-of-competition urine and blood tests, medical monitoring for Pro Tour and Pro Continental teams, and the biological passport program."
The World Anti-Doping Agency issued a statement as well, saying it would be looking into the allegations.
"WADA is aware of the serious allegations made by Mr. Landis," the statement said. "We are very interested in learning more about this matter, and we will liaise with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and any other authority with appropriate jurisdiction to get to the heart of the issues raised. WADA looks forward to these further investigations and enquiries by those responsible."
For years, Landis had fought the charge that he failed a drug test while riding to the 2006 Tour de France championship, taking his appeal all the way to the World Court of Arbitration. He ultimately served a two-year suspension and has been trying to get on another world-class cycling team, but without success.
Landis even wrote a book, "Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France," which was published in 2007. He asserted in the book that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.