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(AP) --  Newly released records show the United States
Postal Service spent $31.9 million sponsoring Lance Armstrong's
team during the height of the rider's Tour de France dominance.

Financial records obtained by ESPN through a Freedom of
Information request revealed the previously undisclosed amount of
Postal Service spending from 2001 to 2004, when the federal agency
heavily promoted the rider. Armstrong won the Tour each year from
1999 to 2005. ESPN reported on the records Friday.

The sponsorship could become an issue in either a federal
investigation into doping in professional cycling, or a federal
whistleblower lawsuit that disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis has
reportedly filed against Armstrong.

Landis has claimed Armstrong among others used
performance-enhancing drugs, which - if found to be true - would
have been a violation of their agreement with the Postal Service.

Armstrong has repeatedly denied doping, and his attorneys have
said there never was any wrongdoing regarding the USPS sponsorship.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)