one of those riders is armstrong's other close teammate, george hincapie. we're told that now, for the first time, hincapie has testified to federal onvestigators that he and armstrong supplied each other with the blood-booster e.p.o. and discussed having used testosterone-- another banned substance-- during their preparation for races. through his attorney, hincapie declined to be interviewed, citing the ongoing investigation. >> reporter: when it comes to such an investigation, sworn testimony from hincapie is a game changer. quiet, untouched by scandal, he is the only rider to be at armstrong's side for all seven of his tour de france victories. if anyone would know if armstrong was doping, it would be george hincapie. harry? >> smith: armen, this federal investigation goes all the way back to last august. where does it go? >> reporter: well, it could end as early as next month. but what's interesting here, harry, is that the federal investigator involved, jeff novitzky, is the same federal investigator behind the barry bonds balco scandal and we both kn

this is very damaging for lance armstrong because this is a guy, george hincapie, who is inside lance armstrong's inner circle. he is among a number of former teammates and employees who have appeared before a federal grand jury in los angeles investigating doping in cycling. an investigation that was going on for a while and will continue to go on for a while. armstrong has strongly denied all the cheating allegations over the years saying he has taken numerous tests, over 500 tests and all those tests over the years have come back clean. now, the newest part of this story is what happened late friday when he said he never spoke with "60 minutes" and has no idea where they got their information and because of the federal investigation, he cannot make any comments specifically when reporters ask him about it. >> hincapie was one in the inner circle. any reason to think they had any falling out or he wouldn't want to get back at lance armstrong for any reason. >> armstrong was quoted as saying he looked at george hincapie like a brother, in fact. >> it continues to stack up. maybe the

his top teammates, who led him to victory again and again, were tyler hamilton and george hincapie. they were constant companions and kept each others secrets. >> pelley: for the record tell me what you saw-- in terms of what lance armstrong took in performance enhancing drugs? >> hamilton: he took what we all took, really no difference between lance armstrong and i'd say the... the majority of the peloton, you know. there was e.p.o., there was testosterone, so i... and i did see a transfusion, a blood transfusion. >> pelley: all of those things are banned in races and in training. so why would a rider take the chance of getting caught? well, it's hard to imagine the endurance demanded by the tour de france. 21 days, 2000 miles and a vicious vertical climb totaling some 50 thousand feet in all. this ordeal is one reason that cycling became a dirty sport. armstrong won seven times. and in those seven races, all of the second and third place finishers, except one, were at some point implicated in doping. armstrong's story appeared miraculous. he'd won more tours than any man and claim

george hincapie ran alongside him during his seven tour de france wins. he doesn't have character issues much like floyd landes slandess. >> why is this coming up now? >> these people are talking to a federal grand jury, and according to "6 0 minutes," they're saying this is what george hincapie told the grand jury during testimony. now george is saying he never spoke to "60 minutes" and he has no idea where they got their information, and because of the federal investigation, he can't comment. lance armstrong has strongly denied all along these cheating allegations, saying he's taken 500 drug tests and all of those tests have come back clean. >> i heard them debating about this on espn. they said nobody wants to believe that lance armstrong could do this. he's done so much good, raised so much money for cancer research, but there seems to be all this information that keeps trickling out but he's always denied it. >> i think those that are holding onto the pure fact that there are legendary cyclists that have never used, they're barely holding on. and now

. >> reporter: as part of the investigation, pelley broke the news that george hincapie, arm strong's closest, most trusted teammate for all seven of his tour wins, had broken his silence, as well. >> now we are told that hincapie for the first time has told federal investigators that he and armstrong supplied each other with the blood booster epo, and discussed having used testosterone, another banned substance, during their preparation for races. >> reporter: all part of what hamilton portrayed as a cycle of deception. complete with code words and secret cell phones. >> did lance armstrong have a secret phone? >> yes. >> reporter: before it was over, "60s" report also appeared to put an end to armstrong's most powerful defense, that he's never failed a drug test. >> i know he's had a positive test before. >> positive for what? >> for epo. >> when and where? >> tour switzerland. 2001. >> how do you know he had a positive test? >> he told me. >> reporter: armstrong, who declined to be interviewed by "60 minutes" has posted a response on his publicists website, facts for lance.com. he

george hidd george hincapi is another person who's allegedly spoken to investigators. he's one person people feel is unassailable. and if he corroborates, it's going to be really damaging to lance armstrong's case. >> one of the things about this new testimony from these guys, because they have all -- >> they've been caught lying and cheating before. >> first. they were either cheating and lying about it, or they were lying -- it makes it a tough witness. >> right. individually, it's easy to pick apart an individual like tyler hammilto hamilton. the problem for lance armstrong, what tyler has said corroborates what other people have said and what other people will say. and what we say in our story, it's time to move on to the question of whether lance doped and try to tackle the more complex question of what his legacy is. he's this great anti-cancer evangelist and still is one of the greatest bike racers to ever level. >> but the bottom line is, if he supposedly doped as often as some of these witnesses say, why was he never caught? >> there's lots of people that were

. >> how potentially damaging is hincapie's testimony? >> he is, for lack of a better term, kind of the rosetta stone here. he's the game changer. george is the only rider to ever race with lance side by side on all seven of his tour de france victories. he's untouched by scandal. he's very quiet. unassuming. but he knows, if anybody knows, it's george. >> the federal investigation is still playing out at this point. how is that going from what we know? >> well, that's a good question, russ, because it -- the grand jury proceedings could wrap up as early as next month. but i'm having a hard time, as a lot of other people, trying to figure out what the government is really trying to accomplish here. lance last raced in 2005 in the tour. he's been retired for a number of years now. and they're not even going to get him on doping charges. it's going to be something to do with defrauding his sponsors for things that happened in another country. so it's going to be very interesting, if there is an indictment, and that's a big if, just where th