Image 1 of 2 Yaroslav Popovych has had a difficult winter. (Image credit: Barry Ryan) Image 2 of 2 Yaroslav Popovych slays himself to pull Lance Armstrong back into the race. (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Yaroslav Popovych has denied information published by Sports Illustrated that performance enhancing drugs and recent emails linking Team RadioShack to Dr Michele Ferrari were found in his house during a search by Italian police.

The accusations were used as part of the introduction to the 12-page article called ‘The Case Against Lance Armstrong.'

“It’s not true. I don’t want to go into details, otherwise the story will go around and around. I’ll let my lawyer speak for me,” Popovych told Cyclingnews from Tenerife, where he is training for the new season.

Popovych’s lawyer is called Michele Re and is also his agent. He told Cyclingnews: “I’ve read the Sports Illustrated story and I can say that it’s absolutely not true that performance enhancing drugs were found in Yaroslav’s house when the Italian police carried out the search last November.”

“The only thing found were medicines, 15 pills to be exact. The Italian public prosecutor has had these examined and they have been confirmed as being pills for cramp.”

“It is also not true that the police found evidence of links between Armstrong and Dr Ferrari. That’s because the electronics expert who has been asked to study the contents of two laptops and two mobile phones has still to submit his report to the magistrate Benedetto Roberti.”

Re confirmed that the police search of Popovych’s house was carried out two days after he returned from the USA last November, where he testified before a grand jury in Los Angeles as part of an investigation into doping in cycling. Italian police are reportedly collaborating with FDA agent Jeff Novitsky on the investigation.

“The search was ordered by Roberti but it probable that it was linked to the USA,” Re admitted.

“But Yaroslav is not worried. We’re still in the preliminary investigative phase and no charges have been made. The legal process takes time in Italy. Yaroslav is training hard and hopefully he can have a good season after a few ups and down in recent years.”