Six of Lance Armstrong's former team-mates have admitted doping

Six of Lance Armstrong's former US Postal Service team-mates have admitted to using performance enhancing drugs.

Danielson and Zabriskie also currently ride for Garmin-Sharp while Leipheimer, who has finished on the podium of the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, is a member of the Omega Pharma-Quickstep outfit. Leipheimer claims to have ridden clean for the last five years.

Allegations against Bruyneel

USADA also made alarming allegations over Johan Bruyneel, whom Armstrong helped bring to the US Postal Service team as team director in 1999. The Belgian - who along with Dr Pedro Celaya and Jose Marti has chosen to contest the charges at arbitration - is currently in charge of the RadioShack-Nissan team. The decision said: "The overwhelming evidence in this case is that Johan Bruyneel was intimately involved in all significant details of the US Postal team's doping programme. He alerted the team to the likely presence of testers. "Most perniciously, Johan Bruyneel learned how to introduce young men to performance enhancing drugs, becoming adept at leading them down the path from newly minted professional rider to veteran drug user." USADA revealed riders claimed Bruyneel appeared to have "inside information" about the testing. Zabriskie told them; "His warning that 'they're coming tomorrow' came on more than one occasion." Meanwhile, cycling's world governing body, the International Cycling Union (UCI), released a brief statement in response to USADA's decision. It read: "The UCI will examine all information received in order to consider issues of appeal and recognition, jurisdiction and statute of limitation, within the term of appeal of 21 days, as required by the World Anti-Doping Code. "The UCI will endeavour to provide a timely response and not to delay matters any longer than necessary."