CYCLING:LANCE ARMSTRONG faced further accusations yesterday that he has used performance-enhancing drugs after it was reported an unnamed cyclist had supported claims the American's former team, US Postal Service, had been involved in "systematic doping".

Detectives investigating claims that US Postal operated a doping programme have spoken to former team-mates and associates of Armstrong, and have been told the seven-times Tour de France winner knew about and encouraged doping within the team, the New York Timesreported.

Armstrong has always denied using drugs.

This year Floyd Landis, the former US Postal rider who was stripped of his 2006 Tour win after failing a drug test, said Armstrong had been involved in the squad’s alleged doping and that such practices were funded by sales of bikes used by the team.

Landis’s claims were dismissed by Armstrong, who said his former team-mate “lacked credibility” because of his history of first denying he had used drugs then admitting that he had.

However, the emergence of a new witness to corroborate Landis’s claims is unwelcome for Armstrong.

According to the New York Times, the unnamed cyclist had never tested positive for drug use but had spoken to investigators, detailing his own doping and that in the US Postal team.

Several other former leading cyclists had been called before a grand jury in Los Angeles, which is considering whether there is enough evidence to charge anyone connected with US Postal with attempting to defraud sponsors by using drugs to improve performances.

Bryan D Daly, a defence lawyer representing Armstrong, said anyone claiming his client had used drugs was not telling the truth.

“To the extent that there’s anyone besides Landis saying things, the bottom line is, if you take away the soap opera and look at the scientific evidence, there is nothing,” Daly told the Times.