Yaroslav Popovych testifies in Lance Armstrong probe
Ukrainian cyclist Yaroslav Popovych testified to the grand jury in Los Angeles on Wednesday, 3 November, regarding the ongoing US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) investigation into Lance Armstrong and the US Postal Service (USPS) cycling team.
His lawyer, Ken Millar, told the New York Daily News that the rider denied having witnessed any illegal activities. The rider is not personally a target of the investigation.
"He doesn't know anything about what the focus of the investigation is. He did testify and he's happy to have it behind him."
Popovych first rode in support of Armstrong at the Discovery Channel team in 2005, the year of the American’s seventh consecutive and final Tour de France victory. He rejoined the champion when he came out of retirement at Astana in 2009 and followed him
to the new team RadioShack in 2010.
The Ukrainian was served a subpoena on 22 October, during the Livestrong Challenge charity ride in Austin, Texas in the US. He opted to remain in the US and work with a lawyer.
"How he was served struck me as a little peculiar," said Miller to the Los Angeles Times. "It was effected on a guy at a charity ride who was going to leave Texas for a vacation with his girlfriend. A guy from Ukraine who doesn't speak great English
and didn't really understand what was going on. I don't believe he knows anything about what the grand jury is investigating."
The investigation has its roots in claims by Floyd Landis that Armstrong, Johan Bruyneel and others at the USPS team were involved in a sophisticated doping program.
Popovych is the latest to testify, following former teammates Tyler Hamilton and Kevin Livingston, physiologist Allan Lim and Oakley representative Stephanie McIlvain. The US Attorney’s office and Jeff Novitzky, the federal agent in charge of the FDA investigation,
declined to comment.
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