Vande Velde Admits To Doping Cyclist Christian Vande Velde of Lemont, who was among the 11 former Lance Armstrong teammates who admitted to doping during testimony under oath in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency investigation of Armstrong, has received a ban of six months from the agency. In an affidavit, Velde said he had doped from 1999 through 2005 and made regular use of testosterone and the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO), both banned substances, and also received injections of human growth hormone (hGH), another banned substance, and of a banned corticosteroid. The cyclist received a ban of six months, retroactive to September. His ban started from September 9 2012, and he has lost his results from June 4, 2004 through until April 30 2006. Meanwhile, Tom Danielson has been banned from September 1 2012, and loses his results from March 1 2005 until September 23, 2006 and David Zabriskie's ban starts from September 1, 2012 and he loses all results from May 12, 2003, until July 31st 2006. The penalties on Velde also include an agreement not to accept a spot on the 2012 Olympic team. The USADA provided details on how it reached at the conclusion that Lance Armstrong was the leader behind organized doping in the United States Postal team. Thereafter, the cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned him for life from events governed by the World Anti-Doping Code. Vande Velde said in a statement released by his current team, Slipstream Sports that he is deeply sorry for the decisions he made in the past. The 36-year-old cyclist rode with Armstrong’s U.S. Postal team during all of his first Tour victory in 1999 and started the 2001 Tour for the Postal team but withdrew after he crashed into a post during the seventh stage. Vande Velde said in the statement that he as a young pro rider competed drug free but made the wrong choice when he was presented with a choice that seemed like the only way to continue to follow his dream at the highest level of the sport and that is a decision that he deeply regrets. USADA said in a statement that it takes tremendous courage for the riders on the USPS Team and others to come forward and speak truthfully as it is not easy to admit your mistakes and accept your punishment. After the 2003 season, Vande Velde left US Postal and went on to complete the Tour de France seven more times, taking fourth place in 2008 and eighth in 2009. The cyclist testified to first-hand knowledge of widespread doping by several USPS riders and Lance Armstrong, the seven-time winner of Tour de France, was one of them. Vande Velde never had a confirmed positive test like Armstrong and most of the others. Vande Velde, in his affidavit, said he first knowingly violated anti-doping rules by taking testosterone at the 1999 Tour de France and then started taking EPO (erythropoietin) at the end of 2000, under Italian doctor Michele Ferrari's doping program..