People with knowledge of probe: Armstrong team staffer to be called before grand jury

AP Sources: Armstrong team staffer to talk to jury

LOS ANGELES — A staff member of Lance Armstrong’s Team RadioShack, who also has a connection to Floyd Landis, is expected to testify Wednesday before a grand jury investigating allegations of doping in professional cycling, two people with knowledge of the probe said.

Allen Lim, an exercise physiologist whom Landis said helped him cheat with doping during his career, was called to appear before the panel in Los Angeles, according to the two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the investigation was ongoing.

Lim would be the latest witness in a probe that has featured some of cycling’s biggest names, including Armstrong, Landis and Tour de France winner Greg LeMond.

Lim, who joined Team RadioShack for the 2010 season, has denied the allegations by Landis, who also accused seven-time Tour winner Armstrong of doping.

One of the people who spoke on condition of anonymity also told The Associated Press that former cyclist Kevin Livingston also has been subpoenaed and could testify before the grand jury as early as Wednesday. Livingston was a U.S. Postal Service team member with Armstrong in 2000.

Armstrong became a more important figure in the probe this spring after Landis dropped long-standing denials and admitted he used performance-enhancing drugs. In doing so, he accused Armstrong and others of systematic drug use. Landis won the Tour in 2006 but was stripped of his title for doping.

Landis also made his accusations in an e-mail, and Lim was mentioned in it.

Armstrong has vehemently denied the accusations, and his attorney has described Landis as a “serial liar.”

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, declined comment when asked about whether Lim and Livingston were appearing before the grand jury.

Last week, Stephanie McIlvain, a longtime Armstrong friend, spent a day testifying before the grand jury. Her attorney later said McIlvain told the panel she had never heard Armstrong admit that he used banned substances.

McIlvain was present in the hospital room where Armstrong was being treated for cancer in 1996, when former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, claim the cyclist told doctors he used performance-enhancing drugs.

Armstrong has denied that he cheated — or that he made such a statement — and McIlvain has previously testified in a civil case that she didn’t hear Armstrong admit to doping in that conversation.