Federal prosecutors have a tape of a 2004 phone conversation recorded by cycling champion Greg LeMond in which a woman close to Lance Armstrong discusses being present in 1996 when others allege Armstrong told his cancer doctors he used performance-enhancing drugs, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The tape is expected to be presented to a federal grand jury probing charges of widespread drug use in cycling, sources told the paper. Prosecutors have subpoenaed the woman, who sources identified as Stephanie McIlvain, a liaison for Armstrong team sponsor Oakley Inc.
LeMond, a three-time Tour de France champion, was calling McIlvain about a business matter when he asked what she heard in Armstrong's Indiana hospital room.
"I know what I heard from a source outside of the group here of what, um, happened at the hospital," LeMond is heard saying. "I'm not asking you to do anything you would never want to do, but, you know, if I did get down where it was ... a lawsuit ... would you be willing to testify?"
According to the paper, McIlvain answered: "I was in that room. I heard it. ... My whole concern is my loyalties to Oakley. ... They say I was never in there. And I know I was in there. You know, I totally know I was in there."
The account of what Armstrong said to those doctors has been in dispute since 2004, when a book reported that former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, claimed they heard Armstrong's hospital room admissions. No one else has corroborated the Andreus' version.
In a 2005 Texas civil case deposition, McIlvain denied hearing Armstrong make any admissions of doping or PED use.
McIlvain did not return messages left by the paper. Her attorney, Tom Beinart, said she does not have any evidence that "would represent incriminating information about Mr. Armstrong on blood doping or performance-enhancing drugs."
LeMond provided the tape to prosecutors in response to a subpoena. The paper reported LeMond denied to McIlvain that he was taping their conversation.
Armstrong, who won seven consecutive Tour de France titles, has repeatedly denied using PEDs or blood doping. He came under renewed scrutiny in May after Floyd Landis, a former teammate on the now-defunct U.S. Postal Service team, accused Armstrong and others of doping.
"Greg LeMond's illegal tape is the stalest of all the stale news to emerge from this inquiry so far," said Mark Fabiani, a member of Armstrong's legal team. "Ms. McIlvain disavowed this during her 2005 sworn deposition, and Mr. LeMond violated California law when he made the tape in yet another of his pathetic attempts to settle old cycling grudges."
