Greg LeMond suggests Armstrong was Mechanical Doping

The Tour de France was the flagship event of Lance Armstrong during his professional career. Did he resort to mechanical doping in France?

That is what Greg Lemond suggested in the 60 minutes televised show that aired recently. Johan Bruyneel, the Sporting Director at US Postal and the Discovery Channel defended the former seven-time winner of the Tour de France.

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and admitting doping.

Greg Lemond a former Tour de France winner, suggested that Lance may have used mechanical doping during his career. It was during the broadcast of the television program "60 Minutes" that he made his revelations. According to him, Lance Armstrong may have hid an engine in his bike.

Hungarian engineer, Istvan Varjas, could have designed the mechanism in 1998. He said he sold the invention for two million dollars to keep quiet for 10 years. he claimed he didn't know who the end buyer was.

Johan Bruyneel defended Lance in the Belgian newspaper, Humo "I do not know what's wrong with LeMond but he's obsessed. With him, all problems related to cycling are the fault of Lance Armstrong. Varjas said nothing but tried to make him speak by attracting attention. LeMond tries to manipulate everyone by suspecting Lance but it does not work. "

“We were tipped off in advance and they were bound after a letter from Armstrong’s lawyers,” Bruyneel told Belgian magazine Humo. “Initially, the program would have been much more aggressive,”.

“But to put force in their initial assertions, they asked Varjas to install a motor in a bike like the one that Lance won the Tour on in 1999."

“It’s ridiculous, because they used technology from 2016. With the batteries in 1999, you could not have them hidden in a bicycle frame. They were too big. I have people who know something about this.”

Bruyneel was also critical of Greg LeMond, saying he was "trying to damage Armstrong with claims of hidden motors."

“He has realised that people are less and less outraged by Lance, because it has become clear that he was only one of many who were doping, and that’s why LeMond is now looking for something new with which to tarnish his name,” Bruyneel said. “But he’s not going to manage it. They can keep trying until the year 3000 they’re not going to find any mechanical doping."

“It seems strange that LeMond travelled to the Tour de France with his wife to investigate mechanical doping with the French police – like he was on some sort of mission. They have prepared all of this. They’ve tried to manipulate everything to spread suspicion about Lance once again.”

In addition, the 60 minutes televised show suggested Team Sky were possibly mechanical doping too. The British team led by Chris Froome could have to resorted to mechanical doping at the Tour de France 2015.

The rear wheel used for the time trial weighed 800 grams more than normal, which could have indicated the use of a a small magnet based engine.

That year, Chris Froome won the Tourahead of Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde.