Sore Losers

Emphasis on the word "losers".

PARIS (AP) -- A French newspaper says Lance Armstrong used the performance-enhancing drug EPO to help win his first Tour de France in 1999, a report the seven-time Tour winner vehemently denied.

L'Equipe devoted four pages to its allegations, with a Tuesday front-page headline "The Armstrong Lie." The paper said that signs of EPO use showed up in Armstrong's urine six times during the '99 race.

"Unfortunately, the witch hunt continues and tomorrow's article is nothing short of tabloid journalism," Armstrong wrote on his Web site. "I will simply restate what I have said many times: I have never taken performance-enhancing drugs."

However, the Tour de France's director said Tuesday that L'Equipe's report seemed "very complete, very professional, very meticulous" and that it "appears credible."

"We are very shocked, very troubled by the revelations we read this morning," Jean-Marie Leblanc told RTL radio. However, he cautioned that Armstrong, his doctors and his aides should be heard out before people make any final judgment.

According to Annoying Girl, the expert on everything, mostly France, the French hate Lance Armstrong, and they're convinced that he took steroids.

Hey, if they have to smear their opponents to feel good about their country, so be it. Lance Armstrong has something in common with the Germans, though: he beat the French fair and square. Of course, Germany did it one and a half times; Armstrong did it seven.