Lance's agency says it provided clean results

DALLAS — Lance Armstrong's management agency said it provided clean drug test results more than a month ago to a company withholding a $5 million bonus owed Armstrong for winning a record sixth straight Tour de France.

"Lance has made it unambiguously clear that he does not use, nor has he ever used, performance-enhancing drugs," said a statement issued Friday night by Capital Sports and Entertainment, the Austin, Texas-based agency that manages Armstrong's U.S. Postal Cycling Team. "The baseless and mean-spirited doping allegations against Lance are not supported by any facts."

In refusing to release the money, SCA Promotions Inc. of Dallas has cited allegations in a French book that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs and said the company needs to investigate the claims by reviewing Armstrong's medical records.

Chris Compton, an attorney for SCA, told the Associated Press on Thursday, "We've requested (drug) test results to disprove the allegations — clean test results that should be easily attainable."

But Friday's statement refuted what the management agency labeled "SCA's disingenuous and self-serving quote."

"SCA is not interested in valid and authenticated 'testing results,"' the statement said, claiming it provided that documentation to SCA in mid-August.

Rather, SCA has demanded "every medical record and medical provider of Mr. Armstrong; his complete medical history; all records of all Armstrong's past bonus awards; and all contracts" involving Armstrong and a number of individuals and entities, the statement said.

A telephone message seeking a response from SCA was not immediately returned Friday night.

SCA points to doping allegations contained in "L.A. Confidential, the Secrets of Lance Armstrong," published in June by La Martiniere. Armstrong has denounced the book's claims as "absolutely untrue" and launched defamation lawsuits against the publisher and authors.

Armstrong's team filed a lawsuit this month in state court, claiming the SCA didn't have the right to question Armstrong's Tour de France victories, which were upheld by cycling authorities.

The team, jointly owned and managed by Tailwind Sports and Capital Sports and Entertainment, hopes to resolve the dispute through arbitration.

The book, written by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, relies in part on allegations by a former Armstrong assistant, Emma O'Reilly.

In it, she claims Armstrong once asked her to get rid of syringes and give him makeup to conceal needle marks on his right arm. She acknowledged that she didn't know what was in the syringes.

After Armstrong's third Tour victory in 2001, Tailwind paid SCA a $420,000 premium to insure the risk for his bonuses in future years would be met by SCA.

SCA paid Armstrong $1.5 million in 2002 and $3 million in 2003.