Lance Armstrong handed another cyclist a cake box stuffed with $100,000 in cash to throw a $1 million, multistate race, the rival rider said Friday.
Italian cyclist Roberto Gaggioli, 51, said the now-doping-disgraced champion gave him the dough to make sure Armstrong won the 1993 event.
“He offered me a panettone [cake] as a present and wished me a Merry Christmas. In the box there were $100,000 in small bills,” Gaggioli told the Italian paper Corriere della Sera.
“Lance said that my team, Coors Light, had agreed to it. I understood that it had all been decided,” he said.
So Gaggioli eased off pedaling as the two zoomed toward the finish line at the final event of the Million Dollar Race, he said.
“Two laps from the end, I was in a breakaway with Lance, Bobby Julich and some Italian riders from the Mercatone team,” Gaggioli recalled.
“When Lance made a sign, I turned away as if not to see that he had escaped. He broke away to win on his own,” he said.
The race, also known as the Thrift Drug Triple Crown, was made up of three smaller races. Armstrong had already won two of the three — so he stood to win the “triple crown” bonanza of $1 million at the finale in Philadelphia.
Gaggioli, who had not yet won any, stood to win only $25,000.
The fixed win was crucial to the then-little-known 22-year-old Armstrong, who had not yet won a Tour de France championship.
He ended up taking home the million-dollar prize.
The alleged bribery violates game-fixing statutes and is considered a criminal offence, a legal source said.
But a spokeswoman from the Philadelphia DA’s Office said it would not likely pursue criminal charges in the case.
“The statute of limitations has most likely run out if these alleged actions did take place. As to whether or not it was being investigated, this office does no comment on any case unless charges are filed,” she said.
The Million Dollar Race was made up of smaller races including the Pittsburgh Classic, the West Virginia Classic and the CoreStates race.
The accusations come after the seven-time Tour de France champion this year admitted to using illegal performance-enhancing blood-doping methods.
A spokesman for Armstrong did not return calls and e-mails by press time.