No, I don’t believe him at all. Read this thread for a discussion about it from three years ago. I’m linking to page two because you should pay attention to Boo Boo Foo ’s posts. I haven’t reread the whole thing but I think his two most significant points were these:
I’ve heard him say a million times “I never once took a performance enhancing drug.” I think he’s actually telling the truth - well, his version of it. But by his own admission he was on a truckload of anti-remission therapies after he returned to pro cycling, and still is. And let’s not forget something either… recombinant EPO was invented specifically to fight anaemia after cancer radiation treatment. It was the first drug of choice while he was recovering from all those drill holes in his head. I don’t have a problem in the world with someone taking EPO to save their life. He had a great run, almost 15 months of training without a single drug test - and back in 1998 - 99 they couldn’t even test for EPO back then.
So he never took a drug which he got busted for? So what? He took drugs, lots of 'em - granted, for medical reasons. Hey, if they helped him stay 8 kilos lighter than he ever was before he lost his nuts, in my book, that’s taking drugs to win a race. But I think that’s largely irrelevant. Blood doping is the scourge of all high end cardio sports in 2007 - from track and field to pro cycling to soccer to cross-country skiiing. I reckon Armstrong used to filter 20 litres of his own blood each year and whack it in while he was doing all that secret training while everyone else was busting their guts in the real races. He just never got caught.